So Down
I am so down. I bought a pack of chicharon and a quarter fried chicken thinking it would make me feel better. I'm halfway through the chicharon now and nothing changed.
Last weekend I think I've upset my mother but I had to text her now hoping to find a little comfort. They're alright, she said. Power's back. They had to hire a private agency to fix the wire because Cagelco can't attend to them yet. Most houses still don't have electricity as part of the damages left by typhoon Vinta. I'm telling myself I don't have to feel that bad about their situation back there because our house is still there (even though the roof in room was broken), my whole family is still there, my whole barangay, my whole town and Cagayan province, they're all there.
I'm considering deactivating my Twitter and Facebook accounts for now because all these Yolanda news make me feel terrible. I've been crying since Saturday. Not cry cry, but everytime I read something or watch or hear something extremely depressing or extremely inspiring, I shed tears. Mababaw lang talaga ang luha ko.
A couple of weeks ago, I chose to spend the holidays in the highlands. Few days before the trip, I learned about the typhoon (Vinta) that's gonna hit the north. But I was so determined to make this trip so no plans were altered. A couple of days before we the trip, I learned that Vinta is gonna hit Cagayan. I thought, yeah, it's just one of those typhoons. Cagayanos are already used to that. I even thought it was a good decision to not go home at all because then I'll just be stuck at home. Now I feel guilty. Because what if Vinta was Yolanda.
So I got back from the trip, a very happy person. All over the news was this super-typhoon that's gonna hit southern Philippines. I am deeply sorry, but, then, I felt relieved. I saw photos of my townsfolk showing the damages typhoon Vinta and I thought, another typhoon this soon could bring Cagayan on its knees. Never in my whole life do I remember our house or a part of our house being torn in a storm, to think we used to live in a small wooden house. It was only this time. I have to put in mind na wala nang regular typhoon ngayon. Iba na talaga ang panahon.
Even though talks about this supertypoon was everywhere (as it should be), I had no idea about the extent of damage it would bring. My biggest concern when I saw the probable path of the typhoon was how the houses are going survive it because those places are among the poorest provinces in the country. Authorities issued warnings and all and media showed LGUs evacuating their constituents so I was very optimistic that there'd be NO casualties.
Friday morning, my friend and I were still able to kid around; with Atom Araullo who was in Tacloban being the top of our concern. It was extra-difficult to work that day with all the updates we're seeing from social networking sites.
Friday afternoon, I was really pissed when I read an article that Yolanda already killed 3 people even before its landfall. Imagine my frustration. I rarely get optimistic on things and this was one of those times but I wasn't getting the result that I hoped for!
That night, even though news programs barely got any updates, everybody probably got the idea that the situation got worse because communications from the hardly-hit places were already cut.
Saturday was a crying fest. When I opened my computer in the afternoon and saw that the number of casualties has reached a hundred, I felt really terrible. I hoped for ZERO casualty. You'll probably call me mad, but I really did. I cried especially for those that died in the evacuation centers. Lumikas sila thinking they'd be safe there, but still, they didn't escape through Haiyan's wrath.
Sorry pero gusto kong kutusan nun yung mga nagpo-post ng "The Filipino is resilient", "the Filipino is strong" etc. Resilient niyo mukha niyo! Whole towns flattened. Barangays wiped out. Yeah right, they did weather it out, look at them now, they're dead. Why didn't we have better contingency plan? We cannot just be resilient forever. I know these are natural calamities, and we couldn't probably do anything about it now. It's probably too late. But we could at least do something to avoid casualties. I mean maybe if we had stronger edifices to evacuate the people, or if we had the mean to evacuate them totatlly from their place. It's a long shot, but when I think of all the billions the corrpt politicians steal from the people, I deem it would've been possible.
At least a whole set of alphabet of typhoons visit the country every year, bakit wala pa rin tayong concrete na solusyon sa mga ganitong sitwasyon.
I hate Pnoy's face.
Last weekend I think I've upset my mother but I had to text her now hoping to find a little comfort. They're alright, she said. Power's back. They had to hire a private agency to fix the wire because Cagelco can't attend to them yet. Most houses still don't have electricity as part of the damages left by typhoon Vinta. I'm telling myself I don't have to feel that bad about their situation back there because our house is still there (even though the roof in room was broken), my whole family is still there, my whole barangay, my whole town and Cagayan province, they're all there.
I'm considering deactivating my Twitter and Facebook accounts for now because all these Yolanda news make me feel terrible. I've been crying since Saturday. Not cry cry, but everytime I read something or watch or hear something extremely depressing or extremely inspiring, I shed tears. Mababaw lang talaga ang luha ko.
A couple of weeks ago, I chose to spend the holidays in the highlands. Few days before the trip, I learned about the typhoon (Vinta) that's gonna hit the north. But I was so determined to make this trip so no plans were altered. A couple of days before we the trip, I learned that Vinta is gonna hit Cagayan. I thought, yeah, it's just one of those typhoons. Cagayanos are already used to that. I even thought it was a good decision to not go home at all because then I'll just be stuck at home. Now I feel guilty. Because what if Vinta was Yolanda.
So I got back from the trip, a very happy person. All over the news was this super-typhoon that's gonna hit southern Philippines. I am deeply sorry, but, then, I felt relieved. I saw photos of my townsfolk showing the damages typhoon Vinta and I thought, another typhoon this soon could bring Cagayan on its knees. Never in my whole life do I remember our house or a part of our house being torn in a storm, to think we used to live in a small wooden house. It was only this time. I have to put in mind na wala nang regular typhoon ngayon. Iba na talaga ang panahon.
Even though talks about this supertypoon was everywhere (as it should be), I had no idea about the extent of damage it would bring. My biggest concern when I saw the probable path of the typhoon was how the houses are going survive it because those places are among the poorest provinces in the country. Authorities issued warnings and all and media showed LGUs evacuating their constituents so I was very optimistic that there'd be NO casualties.
Friday morning, my friend and I were still able to kid around; with Atom Araullo who was in Tacloban being the top of our concern. It was extra-difficult to work that day with all the updates we're seeing from social networking sites.
Friday afternoon, I was really pissed when I read an article that Yolanda already killed 3 people even before its landfall. Imagine my frustration. I rarely get optimistic on things and this was one of those times but I wasn't getting the result that I hoped for!
That night, even though news programs barely got any updates, everybody probably got the idea that the situation got worse because communications from the hardly-hit places were already cut.
Saturday was a crying fest. When I opened my computer in the afternoon and saw that the number of casualties has reached a hundred, I felt really terrible. I hoped for ZERO casualty. You'll probably call me mad, but I really did. I cried especially for those that died in the evacuation centers. Lumikas sila thinking they'd be safe there, but still, they didn't escape through Haiyan's wrath.
Sorry pero gusto kong kutusan nun yung mga nagpo-post ng "The Filipino is resilient", "the Filipino is strong" etc. Resilient niyo mukha niyo! Whole towns flattened. Barangays wiped out. Yeah right, they did weather it out, look at them now, they're dead. Why didn't we have better contingency plan? We cannot just be resilient forever. I know these are natural calamities, and we couldn't probably do anything about it now. It's probably too late. But we could at least do something to avoid casualties. I mean maybe if we had stronger edifices to evacuate the people, or if we had the mean to evacuate them totatlly from their place. It's a long shot, but when I think of all the billions the corrpt politicians steal from the people, I deem it would've been possible.
At least a whole set of alphabet of typhoons visit the country every year, bakit wala pa rin tayong concrete na solusyon sa mga ganitong sitwasyon.
I hate Pnoy's face.
