Update:

Thank you to everyone who has expressed their sincerest concerns and are taking the time to help out in this effort as much as they can. We cannot express enough how much we truly appreciate it.

These events; however disastrous and haunting it may be to those afflicted, has, in some ray of goodness, has allowed people to work as one and restore hope, and faith in each other; most especially to the usually socially apathetic.

I also appreciate the decency of people to have refrained from making any callous, insensitive, and troll-ish remarks that mean only to attract unnecessary attention and have absolutely nothing helpful to contribute.

Also, please feel free to spread the word and link back to this entry or add some of the contact info to your blogs. Thank you!

Last Saturday 9/26, a typhoon hit the Philippines' national captial region. Being a tropical country fairly used to rain, residents of Metro Manila were shocked to discover flood waters surging from the roadside and rivers, and into their homes. Pretty soon, people found themselves stranded on the road, or at work/school or worse, flocking to the upper floors and rooftops of their homes to flee the rising water.

This was something Manila hadn't experienced before, at least, not in recent history. Having experienced perhaps a month's worth of rain for only 6 hours, Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) became the great equalizer when people: rich, middle, lower class citizens from all over Metro Manila were made victims. Even some local celebrities found that their fame did little to stop themselves needing rescue from their deluged homes.

What is shocking to everyone, especially, the ordinary folk, is how this disaster hit us all where it hurt: at home. And many people unfortunately, could do little to stop it from happening.