Typhoon Frank Lashes Iloilo, Philippines

Typhoon Frank hit Iloilo on Saturday, June 21, 2008. 34, 000 individuals are affected (and counting), and 73 were reported dead (and could rise further). For the record, this is the worst disaster in Iloilo.

Our Home
For the first time in history, the first floor of our house were flooded. The knee-length flood hit our home around 6pm. We had to take all of our stuffs and appliances up to the 2nd floor for safety. My parents room is in the 1st floor, so my Mom slept in my brother’s room, while my dad and my brother didn’t sleep the whole night waiting for the next thing that could possibly happen. We had to call our neighbor’s children to come up to the 2nd floor and we let them stayed in my room and in my sister’s room. If the flood could have risen up to the 2nd floor, (which is quite impossible, yet possible) my mom’s plan was to evacuate the area and get a hotel room. Good thing the flood subsided around 4am.

Communication
PECO was forced to cut down the power. My cellphones were running out of batteries. My Globe phone was the first to ran out of batteries. so i had to switch my sim card to my Smart cellphone which was about to go battery empty. What I did was to put it on and off after 10 minutes just to conserve it’s battery for emergency purposes. I didn’t want to lose communication with Hectril because they were stranded in SM City around 1pm until today. The last text I got from him was from 7am today, saying they are still stranded and he’s running out of batteries. Landlines were also dead (both Globelines and PLDT), so there were no means to contact our other relatives who I believe were affected by flood. And whallah! the power were restored in our area at exactly 10am.

The Flood Zone
In the flood zone, were people evacuating, and many were stranded. Authorities had barred all traffic into the city. There were reports of deaths, people stranded, flood, and reports of people killing others just for food. The heavy rain batted the city which have caused to flood, and a very strong wind that downed trees that blocked some roadways. The typhoon left people homeless, desperate for food, water, clothes and medicine.

The most affected areas (for what I know) are Pavia, Jaro, La Paz, Mandurriao. And in some provinces. We live in Molo, reports said, our town is not that much affected. Some areas are, but not really.

The Affected People
Most people around the city walked out the storm, some rode out of their homes, some were stranded on their rooftops. These people were queued up before other people who are not affected. They are hungry, thirsty, worried and terrified. Those whose homes had been destroyed were left to wonder at the random nature of disaster that spared some of their neighbors houses just a few meters away.

The After-Math
The evacuees gathered around our baranggay hall and Day Care Center, complained angrily that food supplies haven’t arrived yet. I could hear some people complaining that Councilor Jed Mabilog, who happens to live near our baranggay didn’t do anything to help these people out. And that Mayor Jerry Treñas is still in Kuala Lumpur.

My parents have decided to cook miswa (rice noodles.. or is it?) and pancit molo to those evacuees. I also had to raid my closet for my unused clothes and blanket that I intend to distribute. I texted a friend who lives in Southville Subdivision if she has unused clothes that she could hand down. Good thing she had to come over and helped. Others then followed, giving the rest of their foods and water to squatters in the Baranggay Hall. Few minutes later, food and water from organizations were loaded in. People were heated, shouting and swearing for the situation.

Volunteers loaded in more foods and medicines. There were also cops, fire trucks and army trucks checking for the area and for people. I’ve talked to one of the cops, and they said they had been spending 24 hours doing a lot of monitoring, identifying areas of great need and making contacts to help avoid conflicts or riots that may possibly happen to desperate crowds.

THIS IS WHAT ILOILO has become. A typhoon hits, the city floods, and humanity was put into test. Black turns into white, white turns into black. This story will never die.

For every rich people who enjoy the luxury of life, there were a lot of stranded victims who could share their last bottle of water. For every ideologue who designates the efforts of volunteers, there are a lot of people who will sacrifice to help others… even to visit an evacuation center to deliver food and clothing to those in need. For every person despairing for their loss, there are dozens returning with humor and the hope to rebuild.

Of course, there is confusion, corruption, incompetence and fear. But there is also human goodness, and that is what will stand.