As you have probably heard, Tropical Storm Ketsana caused unprecedented flooding in the Philippines, this past weekend, 26-27 September 2009. Locally known as “Ondoy,” the storm poured one month’s worth of rainfall in at least 12 hours.

Though floods are expected in the Philippines during the rainy and monsoon seasons, the country has seen it’s worst flooding in more than 40 years. Water rose to high levels in a matter of hours, submerging two-storey houses, forcing people to stay on their rooftops in the rain, most for hours, waiting for rescue. Stranded vehicles were carried away by torrents, stacking them in mind-boggling positions when flood waters subsided. But most unfortunately, many people died. Some people drowned in their own homes, helpless against the rising water. Some were caught by raging torrents as bodies of water swelled. And some gave up their lives so that others may live on.

Now, the floods have receded and people have started cleaning up, restarting their lives…many from zero. It is really unfortunate that people gave up so much but, as the happy people that they are, are really grateful they are alive.

However, the worst is not yet past. Since it is still in the rainy season in the tropical country, rains are still expected. There are those who are lucky to have homes to come back to but others are not. Aside from the prospect of restarting everything, they still need to bear expected rains, and probably more typhoons.

These people can undoubtedly do it; however, they will need our help. They need to bear this inconvenience so that they can pick up where the storm dropped them off.

And I know a lot of you are willing to help but don’t know how. The Philippine National Red Cross will accept whatever help you can extend to admirable survivors of Ketsana. You can visit the PNRC’s website (here) to view your options. Also, a group of volunteers have utilized the full power of the web to coordinate and facilitate relief, rescue and donations efforts here (click).

In behalf of my countrymen in the Philippines, thank you very much for your help.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 28th, 2009 at 9:24 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.