I received a call yesterday evening from a friend; he said “Check YouTube. See how the typhoon Ondoy submerged the entire Manila.” I felt weak when I heard the news. But I was completely stunned when I did see the videos posted in YouTube as well as the slideshows about the flood in Pinoy Channel. I found myself whispering, “God, why do my people have to suffer this much?” I couldn’t stop the tears.
This typhoon named “Ondoy” or “Ketsana” shouldn’t have been underestimated. And yet, isn’t the country used to heavy rains once the year approaches the month of December? Isn’t the country used to calamities whenever Christmas is coming? I remembered clearly how terrifying the news was when a landslide caused by heavy rains buried an entire town in Leyte on February 7, 2006. Nearly a thousand people lost their lives. There were plenty of calamities left buried in the minds of filipinos. They are there to embrace.
While the nation struggles to fix its economic crisis, while she works to unite her people, and while she finds ways to manage her meager resources, an overnight rain simply washed her efforts away. Who to blame?
We can start blaming each other and finger pointing, would that help? Would that bring back the homes of the victims and the lives of the dead? Would that pacify the pain of those who lost everything?
So many questions are in my mind. Where will they get food? Will the country be able to feed everyone? Where will they get water if everywhere is stained of flood water? What’s next?
I made a call to my dad worrying if they were in anyway harmed by the typhoon. Thank God it didn’t hit my province, Palawan. My parents expressed their grief about what they saw on tv. My dad is even worried because two more typhoons are expected to come probably in the next weeks. Oh God, bless don’t.
I simply reasoned, it’s geography. We don’t have cover. We are bare against the open sea. We are the best target of typhoons. Now what?
That left me with a question. Is this another catastrophe? Or is this a curse?
