Before reading my post, I really recommend that you watch this video first:
This was shot by university students in the Philippines who were on campus when the floods hit. In the background, you can hear them talking about a man stranded on the roof of his car and another clinging on to a tree for dear life. They also mention the people who were stuck on the lower floors of the building and their friend who might still be downstairs.
I just can’t imagine this happening to me in Singapore.
When you read newspaper headlines like ‘Dozens dead in Philippine floods‘ and ‘Philippines appeals for flood aid‘, you gather that the country needs help, that something bad has happened, and that you feel sorry…after which you move on to the next article, fold up the newspaper, and go back to your everyday life. After all, the storm has never hit your country, the floods have never filled your streets, and you have never had to worry if your loved ones are alive.
Since typhoon Ketsana (also known as ‘Ondoy’) hit Manila on 26 September, I have been keeping tabs on the situation by chatting on-line with my Philippines-based friends. We were all worried that the second typhoon Parma (’Pepang’) would strike the capital again while everyone was still recovering from the aftermath of Ketsana. Typhoon Parma changed course and finally hit the less densely-populated northern region of the Philippines. Lucky, right?
Wrong. People populate the north as well. Most importantly, my family lives in the northern region of Luzon (I was born in the Philippines but have lived here for the last 10 years and am now Singaporean). I have my eyes glued online, chatting with my friends and asking them to keep me posted on new developments. You can’t even begin to imagine how removed this reality is from our lives here as poly students in Singapore. This constant worrying about your family, in the face of something you can’t change or control.
I experienced something new in the last few days, something I’ve never had the misfortune to encounter in blessedly typhoon-free Singapore. It’s a new sort of fear, nothing to do with horror cinema flicks or finding a cockroach in your bag or the impending announcement of exam results. It’s the sort of fear you feel when you call your family and friends and the phone rings and rings and nobody answers. It’s the sort of fear you feel when you log on, do a roll call and one or two people do not respond.
I count myself very fortunate that all those I love are alright and recovering, that nobody I know had to stay on a rooftop while waters rise around them and the rain continues to fall, that there were no casualties and eventually everyone came online and reassured me with their much-missed presence.
The youths in the Philippines are just like you and I here in Singapore. They go to school, enjoy on-line chatting with friends, read comic books, play games and watch TV shows like Gossip Girl, CSI and Glee. These same youths are now rolling up their sleeves and dealing with what’s left of their lives…
(NGL, I cried watching the beginning of this. A man wading
through the waters with his children on his back.)
…wading through water, picking up the pieces (literally), scrubbing away the mud, drying out furniture, salvaging their belongings and calling up to check on the well-being of friends and family.
If a typhoon ever hits Singapore (choy choy choy, touch wood), would you be able to deal with it?
(Found this photo on Tumblr- a supermarket in the Philippines emptied of food. Remember, most home kitchens are on the first floor. What do you think happened to everyone’s home food supplies?)
Anyway, not to sound preachy, but you may wish to think about heading down to the nearest fundraising organisation to offer help and to send over food/provisions/supplies and the sort, like slippers, clothes and soap, only, apparently not noodles since they have too much of it. Here are a couple of links to start with:
Google Aid Page, CNN Page (Featuring Mercy Relief and the bigger organisations), Singapore Expats Forums (freight fees are being waived to send supplies).
Mercy Relief will be collecting cash and cheque donations from 29 September to 18 October to further help the victims.
Donations to the Mercy Relief effort can also be made via phone from 1st October, by calling 1900-112-1010 (for a $10 donation) or 1900-112-1050 (for a $50 donation)
Meanwhile, the Singapore Red Cross (SRC) has launched a public appeal to raise money for the storm victims from 29 September to 30 October.
To kick-start the SRC’s appeal, the Singapore Government has contributed US$20,000 towards the SRC’s Philippines Tropical Storm appeal.
-Channel News Asia
To end off this already long post, let me just say that even in the direst of circumstances, commercialism rears itself. IDGI.
