Experiencing Typhoon Yolanda

It pains me to watch the news and front pages of national news bearers as I see my fellow Visayan Filipinos suffer from the devastating wake of the recent typhoon that swept some regions of the country in pieces, leaving thousands of casualties homeless, hungry and in the brink of mental breakdown.

Typhoon Yolanda, or known as Haiyan as it’s international name, is the largest typhoon recorded to ever come across the face of the earth and it’s way was centered on the Visayan group of islands of the Philippines, according to some media sources.

November 7, Thursday afternoon. Signal number 1 was already announce to the city of Iloilo and students, as well as employees of the government and private offices, were relieved of their responsibilities for the day to prepare for the incoming downpour, as advised by the city mayor.

A few of my batch mates who are living in dormitories and boarding houses were carrying bagfuls of grocery items in case the typhoon hits us and cause a massive flood. The city has been prone to flashfloods in the recent storms that had passed by.

I live outside of the city to a humble town protected under the grace of the Immaculate Conception and I had a premonition that it will be like Typhoon Frank a few years ago, that we will be left unharmed.

It turned out my gut was right.

Starting at the hour of four in the afternoon, the downpour had commenced until ten in the evening, nonstop. My father prepared gas lamps in case the electricity will have to be cut for safety reasons. It was a long night, my father and I kept on checking the water levels of the drainage, afraid that it might overflow and we’ll be forced to evacuate to some place safer.

The tenth hour came and the rain abruptly stopped. No hurdling wind, no sound, nothing. Just still silence.

Yet, I never knew what it is like in Samar. People trying to seek refuge from the deep level of the flood. There was nowhere to go.

And the worst of all my realizations are that I could only donate in cash and in kind, sympathize with their pain through the segments they flash on the television yet I could never alleviate the pain and suffering of my countrymen.