Friday the 13th of August, 2010: Pakistan receives the wrath of "Phet"

Image above is from the UK's The Metro online issue dated today, 18 August, 2010, four days after Pakistan was hit by typhoon "Phet" which has caused massive flooding and displacement "turning Pakistan into a sea of blue."

My email alert also today from Avaaz.org, an online civic organization, described the aftermath as

"A humanitarian catastrophe of terrifying proportions [is] unfolding in Pakistan, with a fifth of the country under water, and millions of people homeless and desperately needing assistance..."

The figures coming out of Pakistan are huge:

• estimated 20 million people are affected¹
• about one-fifth of the country (is) underwater, almost 900,000 homes have been damaged ²
• destroying hundreds of thousands of homes and an estimated 1.7 million acres (nearly 700,000 hectares) of farmlands;³ (floods have inundated) an area roughly the size of Italy. ⁴

Even more heart-wrenching is the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon appealing like never before, for world aid and action when he personally saw the conditions on 15 August, 2010 and said, almost near-tears,

"I have visited many natural disasters, but I have never seen anything like this."

and that the disaster is worse than the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2005 Pakistani earthquake combined.⁵

Yet global response has so far been much less generous than to other recent natural disasters — despite the soaring numbers of people affected and the prospect of more economic ruin in a country key to the fight against Islamist extremists ⁶ which has been attributed to several reasons:

• the relatively low death toll of 1,500, the slow onset of the flooding compared with more immediate and dramatic earthquakes or tsunamis, and a global "donor fatigue" — or at least a Pakistan fatigue.⁷
• The Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardani was in Europe when the typhoon struck, making time to visit a family-owned chateau in France⁸
• charities said Pakistan was suffering from an "image deficit" partly because of perceived links to terror.⁹

Ironic and sad as it may seem, the bottom line seems to be that the marginalized sector is always sacrificed, in love, war and calamities.

As humans, we will never be able to beat nature's wrath, nor scurry over unbeaten paths while trampling on others in one's haste, as in the case of those in power for legitimate reasons or those who are set to lunge at power for the wrong reasons.

It is unfortunate that in Pakistan's state of hardship, the perceived presence of terrorists, for instance, has petrified the its own government and the world's efforts towards reaching in to their pockets to reach out.

I pray that Pakistan will overcome this tragedy, just as we had ours.

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Ways to help

Donations to the Pakistan Floods Appeal will help the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement provide desperately needed relief items to thousands of people: http://www.redcross.org.uk/pakistanfloods

via Avaaz.org: To send a personal message to key donor governments: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/pakistan_needs_relief/?vl

To donate to the relief effort:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/pakistan_relief_fund/?cl=709083224&v=6971

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¹, ⁶, ⁷, ^{8 http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100816/FOREIGN/708159834/1103
2}, <sup>5 http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/16/pakistan.floods/index.html?hpt=T2

3 http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jX_KetVCMo64AOZxSMudPWArFrJgD9HIRUJ00
4 http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100816/FOREIGN/708159834/1103
9 http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hGvEC2O_u5bTL3OpwF1TpPG8YCPg</sup>

Aftermath and some evening news snippets about Basyang/Conson 14 July 2010

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Power was totally out around 11 pm of 13 July 2010 in Fairview, Quezon City. Before that was intermittent power supply.

As a response to a posted inquiry about the situation in Tagaytay City around midnight of 13 July 2010, I called up the Red Cross hotline [(63-2) 527-0000] at 12:38 am and my call was quickly received. My name and contact numbers were taken down and I was assured of a call back should any news about Tagaytay or nearby areas be gathered.

At 1:21am (time stamp on my phone), a Red Cross volunteer named Angelo called back with a quick  overview of the Tagaytay and Cavite situations. Angelo said that according to their (Red Cross) survey, all of Cavite was without power and some residents in certain areas were evacuated.

Many thanks to the Philippine National Red Cross for its quick response.

............

PAGASA raised the weather alert status in Metro Manila to Signal #2 at 11 pm. By then, power was cut off in many areas of Metro Manila.

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As I posted on Tweeter and elsewhere:

11:59 am
Awoke 6am w power back; internet on abt 30-45mins ago (as w SunMobile).Good thing abt typhoon w more wind than rain,it come&goes pretty fast

(Water supply was off all of morning).

6:00 pm
A friend working in a bank says all banks are offline. She's home, did not report for (online-related) bank work today.

7:00 pm
collection images of Basyang/Coscon aftermath on evening news. can't believe some ppl were actually oblivious to weather conditions.

7:07 pm
NGCP: Restoration of power in Metro Manila/Luzon to be completed after 2-3 days as a result of Basyang/Conson

Others:
Blogging GMA 7's 24 Oras telecast on Basyang/Conson.
(Time stamps based on my clock are of when the news was read over the air.)

7:15 pm
Report of GMA 7 from Binakayan, Kawit, Bacoor and Trese Martires evening of 13 July 2010 of Basyang /Conson showed residents rushing towards the Bacoor National High School for shelter.

7:26 pm

wow. 40-footer container van upturns while in transit during the storm along road somewhere in Cavite. What was wind velocity at that time?!

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"Strong winds causes crane to fall along SLEX"


~ Skyway girder collapses on SLEX along Parañaque City-Muntinlupa City ~
[Video courtesy of QTV-11.
For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV]

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Report of landslide in a barangay in Tagaytay City claiming the life of an infant and his mother.

• Bay, Laguna flooding; Laguna municipalities had 7 casualties total.
• Stranded passengers in the morning on EDSA-North Station MRT as a result of power outage.
• Fish kill on Laguna de Bay.
• Bay, Laguna market flooded waist-high.
• Tree on NLEX in Pampanga hits a tanker, evening of 13 July 2010
• Stranded passengers, some for up to 10 hours, at the NAIA, morning of 14 July 2010
• all Metro Manila hotels are reportedly fully booked (from Twitter);
• many establishments and shops, like at the Araneta center, were closed (from our office assistant).

7:25 pm
50 residents lose home in sea-side town of Noveleta, Cavite

7:31 pm
Large, old tree on Pres. Quirino cor. Leveriza blocks main road. MMDA says soft soil and strong wind caused it to fall.

MMDA CCTV cameras around Metro Manila did not work because of power outage.

7:34 pm
8 Filipino fishermen rescued off an Australian tanker in Bataan; Coast Guard says total of 57 people, mostly fisherfolks, are still missing.

7:43 pm
Barge off Mariveles Cove, Bataan swept by waves hits fish boat 3 fishermen from another boat were hit, 7 more missing. More than 10 other fish boats anchored were damaged.

Oil spill from damaged barge and boats feared.

7:46 pm
Debris from a McDonald's sign in a store in Paranaque hits a car.

Billboard scaffoldings fall on power wires. OAAP denies owners of aforementioned billboard scaffoldings are its members.

*snippets from the 14 July 2010 GMA-7 24 Oras telecast

Basyang/Conson

Images (top and below) from http://www.tropicalstormrisk.com/ of satellite IR as of 14:32 UTC (11:32 PHI) 

From Reuters Alert:

Typhoon Conson struck the Philippines at about 06:00 GMT on 13 July. Data supplied by the US Navy and Air Force Joint Typhoon Warning Center suggest that the point of landfall was near 14.3 N, 123.5 E. Conson brought 1-minute maximum sustained winds to the region of around 120 km/h (74 mph). Wind gusts in the area may have been considerably higher.

According to the Saffir-Simpson damage scale the potential property damage and flooding from a storm of Conson's strength (category 1) at landfall includes:

• Storm surge generally 1.2-1.5 metres (4-5 feet) above normal.
• No real damage to building structures.
• Damage primarily to unanchored mobile homes, shrubbery, and trees.
• Some damage to poorly constructed signs.
• Some coastal road flooding and minor pier damage.

Early in the afternoon, classes were suspended at the elementary (grade school) levels. The storm has stranded over 500 passengers in southern Luzon sea ports.

Potential tsunami impact following the 8.0 Chile earthquake [updated]

Image from The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center

The Philippines is still at alert level 1 but in current radio interview (DZMM, 8am, 28 February 2010) with Dr. Reynaldo Solidum of PHILVOCS, parts of the Philippines Batanes (north), Aurora, Cagayan, Isabela (northeastern), Camarines Sur and Leyte (southeastern) are on level 2.

In Mindanao, coastal areas of Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Davao Oriental, and Davao del Sur are on alert level 1*. So is Palawan.

Hawaii has lowered its tsunami alert.

This is how nature is in our view. It's always a step ahead. There's so much more to learn.

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UPDATE 12:01pm

DONATE TO CHILE

Collated from Mashable and the Huffington Post:

• GOOGLE Crisis Response (using Google Checkout) / Also has PersonFinder
• The American Red Cross
• Save the Children
• Oxfam International
• Habitat for Humanity / Also text CHILE to 25383 to donate $10 (U.S.)

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*Source: MindaNews: Sunday, 28 February 2010 4 coastal areas in Mindanao covered by Tsunami Alert Level 1
A very good collection of tsunami links can be accessed from the USGS site.

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Chile 8.8magnitude sparks tsunami warnings across the oceans

I live in Philippines. I created the magenta box around my location after seeing how far Southeast Asia and Japan are from the 8.8 magnitude that struck Concepcion, Chile sometime around half past 3pm today, 27 FEbruary 2010. (The quake was registered by the USGS site as having come from

"OFFSHORE MAULE, CHILE Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 03:34:14 AM at epicenter" [REF: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/])

Concepcion, Chile is supposed to be the second largest city with a population of 200,000*. As of 10pm, 78 have been reported dead, and Santiago will be closed for the next 24 hours**.

Not more than 12 hours since the quake, tsunami warnings were sent to Alaska, then Peru and Ecuador; later, for Hawaii and the Pacific islands. A short moment ago, warnings were sent out also for Australia and by the PHILVOCS for the Philippines.

A strong quake it is, reportedly thousand times stronger than the recent 7.0 magnitude quake in Haiti on January 12, 2010, to have to issue tsunami warnings from the Americas all the way to Asia Pacific.

REFERENCES and sites that update:
NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center
Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHILVOCS) Tsunami Alert
US Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program

Yoko Ono Donates to Ondoy (Ketsana) victims

When Yoko Ono, artist, widow, mother, Peace advocate and rights activist, posted a Tweet on 25 September 2009 about Ondoy (Ketsana), she did more than just the usual round of Twitter RT's (reTweets).

yokoono | Typhoon victims in Philippines in dire need of food & clothing. Call the American Red Cross to help. 18004357669

Yoko did not pass up the chance to do her duty and personally went to the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo before Christmas (December 2009) to make her donation of ¥5 million (Php 2.5 million) through Ambassador Domigor L. Siazon, Jr. Read about it here.

Thank you, Yoko Ono and to everyone on Twitter, celebrities and unnamed citizens of the world, for your kind thoughts.

Please leave your messages of thanks to Yoko over at her site imaginepeace.com.

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Photo credits: imaginepeace.com and The Philippine Embassy in Japan.