r3roble

Three weeks after we suffered a 7.2 magnitude earthquake, a category 5 typhoon locally named Yolanda hit the heart of the Visayas. Few days before we were warned about the super typhoon. Even the international news makers preempted it's force as it will make landfall and that this is one of the most powerful storms ever recorded.


My wife revisited our 72-hour kit and store it in place that's accessible to grab in case we need to run. We got the idea from our LDS friends. Although we keep this kit now-a-days but we pray that we won't be able to use it in our time.

The typhoon made it's first landfall at dawn of November 8, 2013. Upon waking up, I hastily decided to go to work since the sky is still clear. My wife would not want me to since it's her first time having to experience a super typhoon in Cebu. Although she's quite familiar with strong typhoons as she came from Bicol, she not comfortable if such would hit Cebu.

Upon arriving at work, people are already going home as the media coverage in Tacloban shows that the wind and rain is very frightening. When my boss, ordered to let us go home, I immediately went home as my wife is already calling me because of what she was watching ABS-CBN.

At home, I opened the windows and the door. I sat beside the door watching the trees as the wind suddenly grows stronger. We can even hear the wind howling as if hundreds of plane passed by. We thank God that we endure that day with only our power and water lost. We expected it that way that's why part of our preparation is to store a lot of water and charged our flashlights/emergency lights.

The news came as a shock as we learned that the typhoon ravaged the northern part of Cebu and some places in Negros. What's more dreadful is the tragic report that 10,000 died in Tacloban, 95% of the 220,000 residents lost their houses and that everyone there needs help. I don't know what went wrong with their preparation but with the magnitude that typhoon packed, it won't matter how prepared you are.

Help poured in from within and abroad. But I don't really understand why after a week, there are still some areas in Leyte that has not received any help. I guess some people are busy blaming each other and thinking how they can turn the event to favor their side. With everything going on, it's either you join them or you shut up and help. I prefer the latter.

Each one tried to help in their own ways and stay away from politicians. My share came when evacuees from Leyte are being brought to Cebu by C130s. I'm a member of AMCA so I saw from emails their plans to help those evacuees. My boss supported me to help them so I was able to solicit from my company. I opened up the idea of having to give something to these evacuees to my neighbors and they gladly take part in it. We didn't anymore ask help from our homeowners association's president as we are already traumatized during the first time we asked help from him. It may not be prudent to share that traumatic instance but I can still clearly remember when our association's secretary asked him to open up to the BOD to approve and release us P10,000 to P15,000 so that we can buy relief goods. He said "P2k lang, hindi natin obligasyon ang gumastos ng pera para sa kanila". It pains me to hear these words, even though I was not there when he said it.

So we took on ourselves to organize and plan what needs to be done. Our secretary drafted the solicitation letter and then some visited each houses. For six hours the contributions reached almost P15,000.00, someone donated ingredients for "pansit", juice, water, coffee and milk. We use the money to buy packed food and hygiene kit and coordinated with Col. Perez (Mactan Airbase) to take the dinner slot of November 16, 2013 (Saturday).

When Saturday came, with the 200 pack food, 204 pcs hygiene kit (toothbrush, toothpaste, soap and shampoo), 200 pcs 3-in-1 coffee and 200 pcs swak pack milk, together with my neighbors and my colleagues, we went to the Mactan Airbase where we can personally give these to the newly arrived evacuees at the passenger terminal.

We were so happy that in our own way we we're able to provide help to our fellow Filipinos. It really shows that many of us are willing to help. You can see the "bisdak" spirit of being generous and humble burning in all the people in MAB during that moment. We hope that we keep the desire to help burning without expecting something in return because in this way we rise above our old self and be a better person. We are grateful to all those who contributed, may it be your resources, time and effort. This would not be possible without you. Last but not the least, to our dear Lord for giving us the opportunity to help others. One thing is certain, this is not the first nor the last. As long as someone out there has the ability to reach out and help each other, we will continue this quest.