State of Calamity.

I have never been so happy to see the sunrise as this morning. Really, this is a great reason to be thankful and to count even small blessings from the Lord. This is in the midst of reports of a growing number of people killed and displaced by extensive flooding in the metropolitan Manila and nearby municipalities in the Philippines due to the onslaught of tropical storm Ondoy (international code name Ketsana). As of writing, the death toll now rose to 73 based on the TV Patrol World newscast.

Earlier in the day, a state of national calamity has been declared over 27 provinces in 7 regions, as well as in the NCR. The provinces included are Mountain Province, Ifugao, and Benguet (CAR); Pangasinan, La Union, and Ilocos Sur (Region I); Isabela, Quirino, and Nueva Vizcaya (Region II); Aurora, Nueva Ecija, Zambales, Pampanga, Bulacan, Tarlac, and Bataan (Region III); Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon (Region IV-A); Mindoro Occidental, Mindoro Oriental, and Marinduque (Region IV-B); and Catanduanes, Camarines Norte, and Camarines Sur (Region V).

Weather forecasters said that the equivalent of one month’s worth of rain fell on Metro Manila in less than a day. Reports said that about 34.1 centimeters of rain fell on Metro Manila in just six hours, close to the 39.2-centimeter average for the whole month of September.

As of 11 a.m Sunday, the tropical storm has moved on to South China Sea but it left a number of areas still underwater particularly in Marikina, Pasig, the Camanava area and parts of Manila, Quezon City and Rizal.

The sight of people stranded on rooftops desperately waiting for help is heartbreaking. Some of them are on their rooftops since the nine-hour deluge on Saturday. I even saw on TV and on Youtube how the raging flood swept away shanties and even automobiles.

If you are just like me who was spared by the typhoon or the flooding, then you are lucky. It is now time to count our blessings and be thankful to God. But it is also the time to help our fellowmen who have lost their loved ones and their homes. The government is exerting its efforts to help in the rescue and recovery of the victims but we can also do our share. Media institutions and various NGO’s are conducting telethons and fund-raising activities to help the flood and typhoon victims. Let’s do our share to help.

God bless us all!

Here's a video from Youtube taken at UERM in Sta. Mesa Manila.

Photo Credit.