My dear friends, this is the map of my country, with the darkened areas severely affected by the Typhoon Ketsana over the weekend. 12 hours of rain (a month's worth), 20 feet of sweeping, muddy floodwaters in Marikina, Pasig, and Antipolo, and over 300 thousand lives displaced.
This is an excerpt from the letter of my friend Melodie of Immateur Anthropologist, to me, and I forward it to you.
If anyone from abroad is planning to send donations in cash or in kind to any of the relief organizations in the Philippines, please be informed that at this point, the relief orgs prefer that assistance from abroad be sent in the form of cash/funds.
Help is needed ASAP and relief orgs do not have the time / personnel / resources right now to arrange for the release of any shipment of goods from customs. They need the funds to purchase food, medicines, drinking water, toiletries, blankets, mosquito nets, etc.
Click here for an updated list of verified relief orgs. (More organizations are setting up their own operations.) Some of them do not accept cash donations of course as they are government agencies. But maybe you can send help through your relatives here.
Here is the link to the Philippine National Red Cross.
We thank you for helping us help our countrymen. Please contact any Filipino in your neighborhood, and see if their church accepts help by any means. Thank you so much.
(photo lifted from Yahoo Pictures)
32 comments:
Hi Cherie, I just saw pictures from your area on TV. The devastation looks horrible. I am so sorry. Are all of your family and friends there okay????
Thanks for the links. My love and prayers are with everyone there.
Hugs and Prayers,
Betsy
The Typhoon was so strong in the TV, we are safe but not the people down there.
My love and prayers are with everyone there.
I heard about this in our local newspaper. Just a few months ago our state was attacked by flood too. Many lost their homes but thank God there were no lost of lives. Even my house was almost drowned. I posted it in my blog before.
I hope people over there will be okey.
How sad. I will pray for those who are suffering from this calamity. God bless.
This is so sad, Cherie! Are your relatives ok? Please know that my prayer are with them..
I was very concerned for all of your people and particularly your friends and relatives cherie. I pray for all and will do what i can.
I have not heard from my two sisters yet, but I am confident they are all right. However, the Philippine government has already declared that it cannot cope with the magnitude of this crisis - and its aftermath: diseases, looting, and the biggest, financial nightmare. We are appealing to your kind hearts to spare $5, $10, $20. They will go a long way.
I cannot bear to look at the pictures for too long.
I bless you and thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will continue to post updates (personal and national) as they come. Thank you, my friends. Your prayers are highly appreciated. Much love, Cherie
Che thank you for posting this, it's really sad what happened to our country...
my family in Cavite including my daughter in Las Pinas is Thank God, they are all safe...
Let's all pray and hope this will never happen again...
Sweetie, thanks for posting this too. I posted the same in my blog but mine wasn't as specific as yours.
We too experienced the flood though not as high as those in my relatives places.
there's another typhoon coming, i hope it doesn't do as much damage as ondoy.
Cherie, I am going to post a link to your post here so that maybe that will help get you some coverage, and possibly some donations. xoxo
This is just so horrifying Cherie. I am praying that all of your family and friends are ok there?!
Thoughts are prayers with all!
maraming salamat sa paglalagay ng mga relief organizations dito, cherie.
Ang konting donasyong manggagaling sa mga ating mga puso ay malaki nang kaginhawaang maidudulot sa naghihirap nating kababayan.
ipanalangin natin sila
I am very sorry, Cherie, for such devastation in your country and hope your loved ones are safe. Many prayers go out to the Philippines.
Thank you, all, so much! My sisters (a doctor and a nurse) had been (and still are) very busy with medical missions, but they were spared the horrors of the flooding. I can just imagine the diseases that will come about because of this tragedy. We have friends in the heavily damaged areas, some of whom we still have not heard from.
240 dead so far, and the government has opened the palace grounds to more refugees. Everything, to me is a humiliating experience, including my almost begging for help. Clearly, this has a lot to do with abuses in power and the subsequent laissez-faire attitude of the people for years.
I do not attribute the calamity to all that, but I am appalled by the government response while people lay helpless, waiting for death on top of roofhouses for DAYS.
I thank you, Ms. Betsy, Rainfield, Willie, Judy, Icy, Sir Whitemist, Car, Des, Deb, Trudy, Manoy Doro, Ms. Carmen, for taking the time to read this post, feel my and my country's pain, and for just being there. You just don't know how much that means. God bless you.
cherie, grabe ini na nangyari sa aton, mayad ngani kay ok an mga kamanghud mo. kawawa man an iba...
i feel so sorry for those who were devastated...i'm just so glad my family's fine and nothing really happened in our area.
our prayers for everybody...
@cherie, thanks for reposting my letter with the links.
The government has been doing the best it can under the circumstances. The response has in fact been faster than that after Katrina. The rain that fell in 6 hours was more than the average for the usual RAINY month. I saw the water level in the streets rise from 3 inches deep to waist level w/in 30 minutes. The soldiers could not immediately get to the houses because of the danger the strong current brought (ex. huge furniture & cars rammming against the rubber boats, etc.). The calamity area is wide and the number of people to be rescued is quite large.
When we brought relief goods to a colleague yesterday, SHE had to walk miles to get to us bec our car could not be driven in the foot-high mud. Lawyer-friends who work in the most prestigious firms are now knee-deep in mud trying to clean up their houses. It is that difficult but people are doing what they CAN.
Those of us here who are doing our little bit to help are frustrated at how some media outlets prefer to pick up on the complaints & criticisms rather than the successes in rescue & relief efforts and the resurgent bayanihan spirit of the Pinoys. Sadly, AS USUAL, this is the face of the Philippines that foreigners get to see. Yes, we KNOW that the govt's & private sector's efforts are not enough and much is left to be desired but what is needed right now is HOPE that help is coming, not negative talk that it will not.
Cherie,
I was visiting Deb's blog and saw her post directing me to yours. I am sorry about the devastation your country and you personally are experiencing right now. If you don't mind, I have posted a link to your blog to try to get some more funds sent your way, I hope it helps! I'll be keeping you, your family and your country in my prayers!
Jackie
Hulat, bagan IKAW an intatamuyaw ko sa comment koh, hahaha! Sorry sa rant. Nauuyamon na kaya ako sa mga nahapot pa sin, nag-aano an gobyerno? Para saakon, it's an affront to the soldiers who have sacrificed their lives.
hi Che! can't bring myself to roam around in the blogosphere for the past few days. kahapon lang kami nabunutan ng tinik, at long last we were assured that Mond's mom and sis are now safe at home. they stayed inside a mall since Saturday noon and only able to go home on Monday. nakakapanlumo ang aftermath ng bagyo, been keeping ourselves updated too. bless the hearts of the people from all walks of life touching lives of the victims. i'm so proud of you and your family.
ps.
thank you so much for the love and prayers. may all the families in the world be safe for now and always. take care...
big hugs,
cher
The Typhoon was horrible !! We got to see it in International News Channel !! My Prayers...Unseen Rajasthan
To all bloggers and online-related individuals, let us coordinate our actions through this website, rescue117 – For real-time chat, visit rescue117.chatango – Feel free to volunteer as well! Thanks and feel free to pass this information!
hi ho hi ho! I am back :P.
After a long break I am sure you knew hehehe...
May God guide them and help them through this ordeal.
Hope they get through it.
So sorry to hear about this! I hope all your family and friends are okay.
cherie, i have not seen you post in a few days and am worried about you and your amily. Are you and they okay? Or have you not heard because of the communication problems and are worried?
amo, makamumundo ini na nangyari, grace. luuyunon ako sa mga tawo - mga batit, mga bados, mga gurang, mga may sakit, makaluluoy sinda.
thank God for that, aying. sobrang nakakaawa ang iba, nakakapanlumo.
you are welcome, melodie. rest assured that i appreciate you and your efforts (pati si nono nan an indo friends). do not worry a thing. you are free toe xpress yourself here.
jackie, i cannot thank you enough for what you did. every little help counts. God bless you.
cher, salamat sa pagpunta. i am happy na nakontak mo na sila. napakatindi nitong nangyari. sana wag naman ng maulit kay peping.
i know, unseen rajasthan. it is sad. my family and friends are doing all our best to extend a helping hand. thank you so much for coming by.
salamat po ulit, manoy doro. will forward to my other friends.
LV! am i glad to see you here. i'm also glad to know you're safe. i know. everybody's trying to pick up the pieces.
thank you so much, jenn.
thank you, sab. the devastaion is beyond my imagination, but my family and many of our friends are safe.
i'm right here, sir w, just nursing a heavy heart. i will be fine. i promise to collect myself and blog soon.
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR PRAYERS, CONCERN, THOUGHTS, OPINIONS, CONTRIBUTIONS. SPECIAL MENTION TO MS. DEB AND JACKIE, AND IF EVERYONE ELSE CAN POST A LINK TO MY POST - OR JUST MENTION A POST SCRIPT TO YOUR BLOGS ABOUT THIS POST, IT WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.
ALSO, PLEASE CLICK ON THE NAMES OF MY FRIENDS BUDAY AND MANOY DORO. THEY HAVE MORE INFORMATION ON THEIR SITES.
THANK YOU SO MUCH, EVERYBODY. GOD BLESS YOU. HUGS. Cherie
This is dreadful news! I haven't read a paper or heard the news since we've been on vacation; am totally out of touch ...some would say that's normal for me... so this is the first I've heard.
The hat and quilt are ready to be mailed next week...when we get home...and I'll send something to help out as well.
it, is, ms. sandy, and also the recent devastation in indonesia. please use any of the links in the post for your contribution. thank you so much. God bless you.
I do hope your friends and family there are OK. The darkened area of the map showing the devastation made my stomach turn. I am sending all my best to you and all that are living in these devastated lands.
thank you, RL. i do not know the English equivalent of the deep sadness and feeling of hopelessness that engulfs the country right now. i feel it even thousands of miles away.
Hi Cherie, I have this post linked to my post. Please come by and check it out.
Thanks.
maraming salamat po, ate ebie. nakita ko na po. malaking-malaking tulong po yun. God bless you.
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