WE INTERRUPT THIS BROADCAST

[whynot]

A few days ago, Typhoon Ondoy hit Manila and surrounding areas, and flooded the city over. Worst floods in 40 years, so bad that cars just swirl around in the currents with passengers still inside them, so bad that some places are submerged under 20 feet of water. It was 85 km/h winds, and a month's worth of rain that fell in 6 hours. I mean, we're already pretty rainy to begin with.

My folks are fine but there's already at least 51 people dead, and around 280,000 people displaced. ETA: That's like if every citizen of Barbados or the Maldives got displaced. We can make a new country with the displaced.


WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1. Help for Typhooon Ondoy Victims in the Philippines - This is a good place to keep up with news, with active situation map and a list of ways you can donate. If you scroll down, there is a list of US-based donation drop-off points, though it's just California, New York, and New Jersey. You can also do credit card and PayPal.

2. Ondoy Places to Donate Relief Goods - This GoogleDocs has a more comprehensive list of how to donate under the 'Online/International' category.

3. SPREAD THE WORD.

ETAs: I guess the rest of the world is calling this one Typhoon Ketsana. What's with that, why do our typhoons get named twice. Here are brief news clips about the state of affairs in Manila from BBC and Al Jazeera. The president continues to be extraordinarily inept, and our own urban planning continues to fail us.

Comments

[briar_pipe]

I'm so relieved to hear you and your family are okay, sweetie. I was going to PM you this evening if I didn't hear from you today.

Y'all were getting hit the same time we were, but we got lucky. All my family lives on high ground, so although some of them were trapped in their houses for a week, at least they weren't living at the church.

*hugs* and I hope the water level drops soon so y'all can get started sorting things out. Please stay safe.

[miakun.livejournal.com]

Holy shit, hon. I totally missed this post. I'm glad you and your family are all right -- I can't believe I didn't get word of this on the news this morning. :/

[be-themoon.livejournal.com]

oh, good! I was worried about you when I heard about it. D: I know you're here, but I was hoping your family was all right.

and man, it's times like these when I desperately wish I had a PayPal and more importantly, money. arrrrrgh. I shall at least try to spread the news. (tomorrow morning. mom's forcing me off to bed now.)

<333 *hugs* I hope you're feeling okay!

[vagabondsal.livejournal.com]

My favorite part of all this is how the government is trying on the old "We warned you guys! It's your own fault you didn't evacuate!" bit. Big words coming from a national weather service that doesn't even have Doppler radar.

Fucking hell. When do we start revolutionizing up in this joint?

[mrinalinee.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad your family's okay, bb. I thought I had said that earlier, but I guess I didn't. Fail.

280,000 people? Jesus fucking Christ. I'm just going to go process that for a while.

[mumblemutter.livejournal.com]

Have donated to the WFP, I hope it'll go where it's needed. Sending many many good thoughts to you and your loved ones and everyone. 280,000! What! /o\

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear your family's okay. (I've been running around like a crazy person all week so I hadn't heard about anything until a couple days ago, but damn, those photos are *scary*.) I reeeeeally hope that this isn't, like, a sign of Worse Things to Come where the weather/climate change are concerned.