Wrath of Sendong

Being far away from home I only get details of happenings around the world particularly home whenever I switch on to Abs-Cbn TFC and in the internet.

We all know that Christmas is the time of the year when every thing falls into place – loving, forgiving, giving, receiving, parties, reunions everything that makes people happy not to miss the real Christian essence of bringing importance to the birth of Jesus Christ – Savior of Mankind.

In the midst of the revelries and the spirit that is Christmas the Philippines was unusually “visited” by a storm – a typhoon. Internationally called Washi and locally called Sendong, it made its landfall around three in the afternoon on Friday, December 16th – suppose to be marking as the first day of Christmas.

from the Accuweather.com 

Tropical Storm Washi has already begun to unleash heavy rainfall on the southern Philippines, and more is on the way.

Several inches of rain has fallen near Butuan, Davao and Hinatuan, on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines. This is very close to where Washi made landfall on Friday.

Washi is expected to track west to northwest across the southern islands of the Philippines over the next 24-36 hours before emerging into the South China Sea.

Washi will unleash locally heavy rainfall and the threat for deadly flooding to the southern Philippines through Saturday.

Moving over the open waters of the South China Sea, Washi will have a chance to better organize and strengthen late this weekend and early next week.

The storm is not expected to reach typhoon status; however, it could become a strong tropical storm during this time.

The Washington Post

Wunderground’s Jeff Masters explains:

…since the rains fell on regions where the natural forest had been illegally logged or converted to pineapple plantations, the heavy rains were able to run off quickly on the relatively barren soils and create devastating flash floods. Since the storm hit in the middle of the night, and affected an unprepared population that had no flood warning system in place, the death toll was tragically high.

and the NASA reports on Tropical Cyclones:

Washi made landfall on the east coast of Mindanao on the afternoon of Dec. 16 as a moderate tropical storm with sustained winds reported at 55 knots (~63 mph). Despite its modest intensity, Washi had a huge impact on the island. As Washi made its way across Mindanao, it dumped heavy rains over parts of the island, which in turn triggered flash floods and mudslides. These turned out to be catastrophic as over 900 people were killed with hundreds more reported missing when entire villages where swept away

In the southern Philippines places like Cagayan de Oro City and Iligan City suffered the most devastating mudslides. In addition to deforestation and weak construction, poor warnings are being blamed for the deadliest cyclone disaster to hit the Philippines in three years. The residents of the southern Philippines see far fewer cyclones per year than in the north, and most of the heavy rain was reported to have fallen over the mountains before flowing down in raging rivers.

These  heartbreaking photos ended up in Facebook and it made a mark… its the clear picture of  Cagayan de Oro and Iligan Cities that will forever be etched in the minds of the people. Sad…painful…Christmas will never be the same in these Cities from now on.

It is not suppose to be the time for putting blames but the Illegal loggers has something to do with this. They may be sitting on gold now but in the end what comes around goes around and the rule of nature will just work on them.

No more blaming. We must all act up and do something for our fellowmen. If we can spare money to have a drink and get merry it would also be best to skip one of two and instead channel expenses for donations to help the devastated survivors of CDO and Iligan City. Let us not wait for the Philippine government to do it because for now they are only busy with their mudslinging and other “activities.”

Let us follow the culture of Japan where I am now while in the midst of a calamity or a disaster they all help each other and strongly stands to get up and prove the world that they can STAND and Recover and that comes from the thought that they want to step on the ashes of any disaster. This we Filipinos should follow.

Let us also follow the resiliency that the Japanese people posses. It is the most effective thing to do and with this I hope that the readers will have a mark in their minds and will eventually make them help the NORMIN people in its process of regaining the self esteem that they posses.

In the future, these places will prosper into  great cities with a history marked by Sendong.  It will forever be marked in their minds what happened on that particular moment when the disaster was etched in history.  Let us find ways to encourage our Fellow Filipino friends to participate in making the move to serve  and support.

Next step is for us Filipinos to tightly hold hands together and help Cagayan de Oro and Iligan Cities rise up to the muds of the Rivers that overflowed and claimed many lives. Rising may be slow and tedious but no matter what happens we must Rise.

Welcome!

This is the first ever entry for this blog and I am hoping that when this gets better I will be followed by readers that will be interested with just about everything written here.

Purple Journey means 2 things to me. Purple being my favorite color and Journey because I will journal here everything that I get to experience, see, feel, touch, taste and smell.

Welcome! I will be threading through this blog and lets see what is going to happen in the process.