As the water receded (albeit slowly for some places), I got more news about the situation of my friends and their families. The stories were hard to hear. The houses were submerged, people stayed on the 2nd, 3rd floors, and roofs of their houses. Many went without food and water for 12 to 24 hours. And when the rains stopped and the flood waters went down, what was left were mud-and dirt-filled houses. Appliances, clothes, furniture, books, electronics, documents, in other words, everything, damaged or destroyed.
We are now trying to raise funds and gather material donations to help those who are need. Right now, we could only focus on those we know personally. We know that there are others who are worse off… some completely lost their houses while others perished in the waters. Those people we know are just thankful that they and their families survived.
The admirable thing about us Filipinos is how we could come together when faced with tragedy. We rise to the occasion and do the best we can do to help those who are in need. I just wish we could always be like this, even when there is no tragedy.
I hope there won’t be any more rains for the next few days. Lord, please give us some respite. Blow away the coming storms. We need time to rebuild lives.
1 comment:
I didn't see anything from the news because from where I'm at, there's a blackout too. Power came back Sunday almost noon time, and all those time of waiting I was practically getting impatient asking the Lord to get the lights back on.
Little did I know that a tragedy is in progress in Manila and as I come to think about it more, I am ashamed of my narrow-mindedness.
I wept several times thinking how tragic it must be as I remember last year when we experienced the same thing here in Iloilo.
Oh Lord, have mercy.
We stand in the gap of your people in the midst of an announcement of another coming typhoon. Calm this storm, as you calm the storm in us as a people, as a nation.
Amen and Amen!
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