Category: disasters

“don’t be so quick to judge looters”

Posted by Jom Daclan on Facebook
12 Nov 8:30 am

Reposting from Ninoy Leyran.

This was written by someone in Tacloban. Please take the time to read so you can understand what is going on there a little better.

“I wont be posting my whole experience as theres always some people who think they know better. But i do want to make things clear so you would have an idea what its really like being there.

1. Tacloban prepared for Yolanda, to say that they didn’t because of the their casualty number is a bit disappointing. They had families already relocated in designated evacuation centers even before the storm it was just sad that those places were destroyed as well.

2. Dont go on thinking you know better by saying they should have left the seaside. Im not enitrely sure but even near the heart of the city there are sandwiched cars my guess is the water went as far as there when it hit.

3. Step down your high horse from time to time. Dont be so quick to judge looters, i was looter. I looted medecine for the red cross, milk and food for the children. Walked 4 hours and dug into 2 foot empty plastic bottles to get at least something to drink and bring back some. The people who took flat screen tv’s were the same people who offered to give me a drink and some lugaw. Those who looked like ex-convicts offered me something to eat. Almost all the time they are willing to lend a hand when you said you really need something. What they didnt show on the news was how people were helping each other amidst the catastrophe.

4. These tv personalities and politicians majority are a piece of shit. Mar Roxas and his body guards never helped us retrieve families trapped on the cottages on the hotel that we were staying or assisted in helping the wounded. They just walked around clean tidy as if they couldnt be bothered. Ted Failon ate a hearty meal while some children barely had anything to eat and slept in comfy beds while children slept on marble floors. Love Anover panicked and asked us to go downtown to get military assistance like they were someone special. You dont hear those on the news do you? its all about what was recorded on the shot.

5. It might look like chaos i guess thats what they want to show you, but there are police patrols, i personally went to the police station and ask about the rumors of hostility, they told us that its not true as they have not received any news about it. dont think for once that they are not doing their jobs, their manpower is spread so thin why? Because some of them are dead.

6. Dont for once think that everyone hungry is hostile. Dont you dare think like “oh im trained, oh i have seen this happen somewhere, oh its going to happen here” its not a movie. People just want someone to talk to, hear their story ask them how they are, i found out that listening to what they have to say helps them and it helps you.

7. There are no zombies. You can talk to the people sometimes you would be surprised as to how they can help and how much they are willing to help.

8. No one is special. You might have the best training, equipment, plans or what have you. At the end of the day youre one of them, you are in the same situation as them, to think otherwise. Is i think quite foolish.

9. To think its always going to be this way is foolish as well. Im counting 3 to 4 days if relief and resources cant make it, it will be chaotic.

10. Ego is useless.

The more you find, the less you lose… find something in each person that you meet.

I am no expert, again theres going to be someone here who has tons of things to say because of his knowledge or expertise. This is what i experienced, im not a victim nor a survivor, but for 5 days i was a citizen of Tacloban.”

“WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON IN LEYTE…”

Posted by Elise Aguilar on Facebook
11 November 5:30 pm

PLEASE READ AND SHARE!

Finally heard from a friend who left for Tacloban Saturday morning (through the help of her family’s friends in the military) to look for her family members in the towns of Palo and Tanauan whom she hasn’t heard from since Thursday night prior to supertyphoon Yolanda’s landfall. Below are her exact messages to me.

“My family is safe. Nasa isang spot lang ako where may signal and we have to walk half day para lang mkapunta dito. Not enough food, water, gas. Wasak din bahay namin pero na kina tita kami lahat. We have supplies pa. Planning na makapunta dyan Manila this week.

Kung meron man relief goods, sa Tacloban City nakafocus. There are hundred towns sa Leyte. People are starving. Imbis na maniwala yang mga officials sa mga hakahaka o balita ng mga taga media na hanggang airport lang naman, sila ang pumunta dito para makita nila sitwasyon. Frustrating! On the first day from the airport, pumara ako sa military truck para makisakay. HINDI KAMI PINASAKAY to think that it was an empty truck! ASAN ANG SINASABING TULONG NG GOVT?! Wag nilang siraan ang mga tao dito na nagiging violent. Looting is simply caused ng mga kalokohan ng gobyerno. Asan ang relief goods?!

Favor pls. Kindly write something and post it on FB and make sure maspread to para makaabot sa lintik na gobyerno natin. RELIEF GOODS ARE NOT BEING WELL DISTRIBUTED. NO RESCUE TEAM. NI WALA KANG MAKIKITANG SUNDALO. KUNG MERON MAN, NASA AIRPORT NAKATUNGANGA. HENCE, STILL NO FOOD, WATER, GAS AND BASIC NECESSITIES HERE. YAN ANG MAIN REASON BAKIT RAMPANT ANG LOOTING DITO. AGAIN, WALA PANG MGA RELIEF GOODS NA NABIBIGAY. ILANG ARAW NA WALA PA RIN. PEOPLE ARE STARVING BUT NOT KILLING EACH OTHER, SO PLS STOP THAT BULLSHIT NEWS NA MGA TAO DAW DITO NAGKAKASAKITAN NA AT MGA TAGA MANILA PINAGKAKAGULUHAN PAG MALAMANG MAY FOOD. I’VE BEEN WALKING FOR 2 DAYS NOW, WITH WATER AND FOOD. WALANG HUMARANG SAKIN. I HAVE TO VOLUNTARILY SHARE MY FOOD AND THEY WOULD THANK ME. SOME WOULD OFFER US A RIDE, YUNG MGA MAY VEHICLE, PERO RARELY LANG MANGYARI KASI WALANG GAS DITO. GOV’T OFFICIALS, STOP BRAGGING NA MAY MORE THAN ENOUGH RELIEF GOODS AND RESCUE TEAM! THAT IS BULLSHIT!

Elise, ikaw ang kilala ko na pwede magpost sa FB para malaman ang totoong sitwasyon ng Tacloban. THANK YOU so much. Mamaya uuwi ulit kami to Tanauan, lakad lang. Kung saan abutan ng gabi dun kami magpapahinga. We have to walk for several hours para maabot ang ibang towns. My family is okay, both sides, but we need to evacuate or else we might die of starvation hangga’t hindi tinototohanan ng gobyerno yang mga pangakong napapako.

Nag-aantay kami confirmation ng contact namin sa Manila when kami makakasakay papunta dyan. Ito lang spot na may signal. Half day namin nilakad papunta dito…

I only have 1/4 of a 12oz of water left, at maglalakad ulit kami pauwi ng Tanaun the entire night. Ganito kagrabe ang sitwason.

Mga sundalo dito ang may supply ng water at food. Mga locals wala. Nakipagbarter na nga lang ako ng food ko in exchange for his water kasi wala na akong tubig..

Wala. Hindi naman nag-iikot and media dito. Ewan nasan mga yun. Passable na ang roads. Di ko gets bakit hindi madistribute yung relief goods.

I’m at the city hall right now. Nakaimbak sa loob karton karton na tubig, pero hindi kami binibgyan. Pero mga sundalo meron. Punyetang gobyerno!”

where’s our sense of priorities? #bohol

boholanos are feeling abandoned, said tina monzon-palma on anc news last night; many devastated boholanos had yet to receive any kind of relief goods and services three days after the quake.  on tv patrol charie villa observed that there seemed to be no foreign assistance coming in, unlike in other disaster ops, and noli de castro said it could be because the government had said we didn’t need help, we could handle it (or something to that effect).  of course it could also be because the roads leading to these neglected towns and barangays have been rendered impassable, and yet ANC was able to get there.  and on dzmm teleradyo’s SRO, doris bigornia asked pointedly why the congressmen of bohol, relampagos and yap, in particular, were nowhere to be seen or heard.

maybe it would have been different if the prez had been around — i’m sure south korea would have understood if he had postponed the trip to a better time — and then, again, who knows.  what’s clear lang is that other concerns seemed to have overwhelmed, such as how metromanila would fare if/when the west valley fault acts up, and meanwhile, are manila’s old churches safe? is malacanang palace?  and, of course, back in bohol, the question of bohol’s ruined churches, for which there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and the call for restoration seems to be getting more government attention, as if these were more important than the hungry, thirsty, miserable people of bohol, some of them desperate for loved ones still buried in rubble.

please, first things first.  unahin naman ang taongbayan ng bohol na kalunoslunos ang kalagayan, hindi ang mga simbahan that used to be.  those churches are gone. let’s settle for ruins as tourist attraction, why not, and build new ones on the side, stronger versions.  but all that should wait until life is back to normal for boholanos.  all that can wait until it is clear where the money will be coming from.  meanwhile, church authorities will simply have to fend for themselves and for their parishes, find places to hold mass and other rituals, rain and/or shine.  this is not a good time to ask the faithful for help to rebuild churches, not even the rich parishioners; any available funds and resources should first be poured into helping the people of bohol rebuild their lives.

and speaking of funds.  ano ba ang totoo?  ubos na nga ba ang 2013 calamity funds — break it down, please — and this is why palace spokesman lacierda is saying that they hope to use the “savings” aka DAP to respond to the needs of bohol?  i suppose he was also thinking DAP when he said this:?

“What we need in terms of assistance from international friends would be experts in restoring churches…these are heritage sites. We’re looking at making sure were able to restore churches,” Lacierda said.

“We will appreciate (international aid). We’re not calling for aid. No man is an island. Kagandahan lahat ng bansa, nagtutulungan ang marami. May concern sa bayan kung may maitutulong. We appreciate international assistance although we have enough resources to handle the situation,” he added.

or is it just a ruse to pressure the supreme court to rule on DAP’s legality fast, otherwise kawawa naman ang bohol?  sana naman hindi.  surely mayroong matuwid na paraan.

catholic churches crumbled

it’s a miserable time for the people of bohol and cebu.  apart from the shock and terror of tuesday’s 7.2 earthquake, lives have been lost, homes do not feel safe, life is disrupted.  worst of all, even their churches, sacred places of refuge and spiritual renewal, are either in ruins, or damaged and unsafe.  a dark time indeed.

in anc’s beyond politics, geologist dr. carlo arcilla tried to look at the bright side: this was stronger than the 7.0 earthquake that hit haiti in 2010, but the death and destruction numbers are much much much lower, which he partly attributed (if i heard him correctly) to the building code.

yes, let’s count our blessings, it could have been much worse.  like, if oct 15 had been a schoolday, the kids would have been in school; if it had been a sunday, the churches would have been packed.  thank allah for that muslim holy day.

but speaking of the building code, and barraged with tv images of collapsed facades and towers, fallen roofs and walls, of centuries-old churches that were centers of prayer and worship for a predominantly catholic population, i am aghast at how unsafe these structures were pala.  and i am scandalized to find that church authorities have done very little, if anything, to render them safe for the daily and weekly ritual gatherings of the faithful.  too expensive?  too inconvenient?  easier to trust in divine protection?

this gross sin of omission i lay squarely at the door of the catholic church.  read Catholic Church has billions invested in BPI, Philex, San Miguel.  the catholic church, which does not pay taxes, can well afford the expense of retrofitting, conserving, restoring, old churches without the help of government, and without burdening the faithful with impious requests to dig deeper into empty pockets for the salvation of their souls.

this is not just a matter of history or heritage, it’s also a matter of life and death.

 *

Bohol’s old churches: Nat’l treasures in peril Sept 1998
Historic Landmarks Reduced to Rubble by The Philippines Quake
Destruction of heritage churches lamented