This is Marikina, my city. On Sept. 26, Saturday, Marikina and 80% of Metro Manila, the capital of the Philippines, was submerged in water, hit by the worst supertyphoon in four decades. Typhoon Ondoy (International Name: Ketsana) was the nightmare you didn't expect could happen in real life. It was like the end of the world movies, like 28 Days Later or like The Day After Tomorrow, but in real life. In your own city, with people that you actually know, with your loved ones in it.
///HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED:///
CLICK NOW: http://ondoydonation.weebly.com
My friends who have been volunteering everyday since Saturday told me my city is like a ghost town: all mud, piles of garbage and sludge everywhere, no electricity, deserted cars in the highway. Robbery in deserted houses, gunshots in the night, absolute lack of security, poor sanitation in evacuation centers, politicians blocking donations and more horrible things that I wouldn't list down anymore. My city is in a state of calamity, and yes it is that bad. And another supertyphoon (Pepang) is coming tomorrow.
I feel so far away and helpless, yet at the same time, I feel a closeness to everyone else and to a new side of me that I haven't seen before. A rude awakening. I want to make sure that this never happens again to my home. NEVER EVER. People are mobilizing and organizing themselves through Twitter and Facebook. People took out their surfboards and jetskis to help out other people still stranded on rooftops. Civil society became the government. Everything is so raw and so real, in good ways, in terrible ways, and it's not yet over.
I know it's hard to imagine, since there is not much coverage in Swedish or European TV. A friend asked me, "Is it really that bad?" Yes, it is really that bad.
///THE NUMBERS:///
1. Hurricane Katrina (Louisiana) = 380mm of rainfall VS Typhoon Ondoy (Manila) = 410mm of rainfall
2. Twenty-six areas have been declared to be in a State of Calamity.
3. Torrential floods that came within a span of only six hours, but were equivalent to an entire month’s worth of rain.
4. As of Wednesday (numbers according to the NDCC):
Affected Persons: 2, 254, 915
Reported dead: 246
Missing: 42
Cost of damages in Infrastructure: 1.6 Billion Pesos = 23 MILLION EURO
Cost of damages in AGRICULTURE: 3.2 Billion Pesos = 46 MILLION EURO
TOTAL cost of damages: 4.8 Billion Pesos = 69 MILLION EURO
We need all the help we can get. The Philippines don't have that money.
///YOU CAN HELP.///
Friends outside the Philippines have been asking me how they could help, thank you to everyone.
Here's how to donate from abroad:
DONATE ONLINE NOW!
1) Philippine Red Cross through PayPal:
Send money to their official paypal address: give@redcross.org.ph.
2) Philippine Red Cross with your credit card:
3) Philippine Red Cross through Text Power (also Paypal):
http://www.txtpower.org/2009/09/philippines-help-typhoon-victims-in-luzon-philippines/
http://www.txtpower.org/2009/09/philippines-help-typhoon-victims-in-luzon-philippines/
5) Thomson Reuters will match the total amount donated by October 16:
http://www.trust.org/trust.org/page/files/philippinestyphoon2009.html
6) If you have a US/ Canadian credit card, UNICEF USA will match the total amount donated by Oct 6:
https://secure.unicefusa.org/site/Donation2?df_id=5960&5960.donation=form1
DONATE IN CASH OR IN KIND!
Just scroll down for your particular country. Click NOW:
http://moongirl.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/donating-to-manila-from-abroad/
///MY WORDS.///
And if you show me that you have donated, just comment on this note and I will write you a short poem. Maybe a haiku, depends on how many will help out. :) But I promise you, I will write you one. I was thinking of what I could do, being so far away physically, but I realized I have an army of friends all over the world and I have my words. We could help out in our own ways, so let's do this together. Distance (or a super typhoon) is nothing but the echo of seagulls in this ocean of hope, remember?
I love you Marikina, I love you Philippines. Keep your head up!
And don't be afraid. As a friend said, live life meaningfully, never in fear. We're living in a string of uncertainties, still it's true: there is a light that never goes out. There is a light in us that never goes out, and love and hope conquers all. ALL.
Love,
Angel
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