THANK YOU WORLD, BUT...
October 9th 2009 23:32
An expression of gratitude, especially when heartfelt, should not be qualified. It is either you are thankful - or you are not. I am thankful for all the outpouring of support from other countries for the victims of Typhoons Ketsana and Parma here in the Philippines, but...
Well, let me put it this way: I have just been recalled by my office to do another one of those telco promotions that I always talk about in this blog. So, off I went to Nueva Vizcaya in Northern Luzon.
That is where Typhoon Pepeng (Parma) has decided to persist the past few days – and it is still there as of this writing.
If one would care to look at the path taken by that typhoon (illustration below), one would notice the number of times it went back and forth (3x already) and lingered in the northern provinces of this country – dumping rains on everything all the time.
The other day, a co-worker that I brought along with me started to receive text messages from members of his family about how heavy the rain has been pouring in their town (San Fernando, La Union) and how strong the wind has been blowing.
He began to express concern on how his kids would go to and come from school.
Yesterday, he received text messages from the same members of his family informing him that classes has been suspended in the elementary level in their town. His worries eased up a bit but the messages on how heavy the rain was falling and how strong the wind was blowing in their town continued to come.
I knew, he felt like going back home to look after his family but he cannot tell me directly what he feels since he knows we have work to do where we are (somewhere in the Eastern side of Northern Luzon. La Union is in the Western side)
In a dinner meeting last night, a guy in attendance mentioned that Dalton Pass, a mountainuos area that one has to pass to get to where we are closed to traffic due to landslides. There's no way my co-worker can leave now even if he wanted to. The only other way out is too far. Riskier. And it will bring him right smack into the eye of the storm.
By Eight o clock, those messages came again telling him that his parent's house, where his daughter is staying is now flooded. Water is already waist high. My co-worker began to panic.
By Nine, everoyne in his parents' house along with some of their neighbors have taken refuge in the second floor of his parent's house. The water below has reached more than five feet high. It is rising fast and the current is strong! My co-worker started making frantic calls to everyone he knows in their town whom he thought could help rescue his daughter and his parents.
A number of them came, but couldn't go near the house because of the onrushing water. I helped send SOS messages but in the news we heard that a rubber boat somewhere in the area was punctured and can no longer be used.
Fortunately, help finally came in the form of an inflated tire interior tied to one end of a rope! His daughter, his parents and their neighbors were rescued and brought to an evacuation center. But they are not the only victims of this new round of flooding in the Philippines.
Words reaching local and national radio stations (TV will come in later) say that there are people in Naguillan Town in La Union that are already perched on their roofs. A big portion of the Province of Pangasinan is already flooded and the main road artery connecting the towns and provinces in the western side of Northern Luzon is no longer passable.
Landslides at Dalton Pass and flooding in the Pangasinan area would practically cut-off the whole. North Luzon from the rest of the country by land...
Anyway, the call for help that I made here was a call for OFWs to extend help to their relatives affected by Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) in Metro Manila as relief organizations may take a while before reaching them.
This one is for those who have relatives in the areas affected by Typhoon Pepeng (Parma). Hardest hit are the Provinces of Pangasinan (where a number of people where trapped inside a mall), La Union, and Benguet – where many of the casualties, 150 by last count came from and the number can still climb.
Well, let me put it this way: I have just been recalled by my office to do another one of those telco promotions that I always talk about in this blog. So, off I went to Nueva Vizcaya in Northern Luzon.
That is where Typhoon Pepeng (Parma) has decided to persist the past few days – and it is still there as of this writing.
If one would care to look at the path taken by that typhoon (illustration below), one would notice the number of times it went back and forth (3x already) and lingered in the northern provinces of this country – dumping rains on everything all the time.
Tracks of Typhoon Pepeng (Parma)
The other day, a co-worker that I brought along with me started to receive text messages from members of his family about how heavy the rain has been pouring in their town (San Fernando, La Union) and how strong the wind has been blowing.
He began to express concern on how his kids would go to and come from school.
Yesterday, he received text messages from the same members of his family informing him that classes has been suspended in the elementary level in their town. His worries eased up a bit but the messages on how heavy the rain was falling and how strong the wind was blowing in their town continued to come.
I knew, he felt like going back home to look after his family but he cannot tell me directly what he feels since he knows we have work to do where we are (somewhere in the Eastern side of Northern Luzon. La Union is in the Western side)
In a dinner meeting last night, a guy in attendance mentioned that Dalton Pass, a mountainuos area that one has to pass to get to where we are closed to traffic due to landslides. There's no way my co-worker can leave now even if he wanted to. The only other way out is too far. Riskier. And it will bring him right smack into the eye of the storm.
By Eight o clock, those messages came again telling him that his parent's house, where his daughter is staying is now flooded. Water is already waist high. My co-worker began to panic.
By Nine, everoyne in his parents' house along with some of their neighbors have taken refuge in the second floor of his parent's house. The water below has reached more than five feet high. It is rising fast and the current is strong! My co-worker started making frantic calls to everyone he knows in their town whom he thought could help rescue his daughter and his parents.
A number of them came, but couldn't go near the house because of the onrushing water. I helped send SOS messages but in the news we heard that a rubber boat somewhere in the area was punctured and can no longer be used.
Fortunately, help finally came in the form of an inflated tire interior tied to one end of a rope! His daughter, his parents and their neighbors were rescued and brought to an evacuation center. But they are not the only victims of this new round of flooding in the Philippines.
Words reaching local and national radio stations (TV will come in later) say that there are people in Naguillan Town in La Union that are already perched on their roofs. A big portion of the Province of Pangasinan is already flooded and the main road artery connecting the towns and provinces in the western side of Northern Luzon is no longer passable.
Landslides at Dalton Pass and flooding in the Pangasinan area would practically cut-off the whole. North Luzon from the rest of the country by land...
Anyway, the call for help that I made here was a call for OFWs to extend help to their relatives affected by Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) in Metro Manila as relief organizations may take a while before reaching them.
This one is for those who have relatives in the areas affected by Typhoon Pepeng (Parma). Hardest hit are the Provinces of Pangasinan (where a number of people where trapped inside a mall), La Union, and Benguet – where many of the casualties, 150 by last count came from and the number can still climb.
| 27 |
| Vote |
