Saturday, November 9, 2013

Days of Yolanda


All text for now, guys. The damage is too sad to see so I decided not to put a picture for this one.

We just got out of the monstrosity of that Magnitude 7.2 earthquake that happened 3 weeks ago and now we had to face another: Super Typhoon Yolanda. At first, I just dismissed it as just another typhoon. When I found out that it would be as strong as Ruping (a typhoon that caused a lot of damage in the '90s), I became super concerned. Unlike that one, people were more prepared.

Thanks to PAG-ASA's Project NOAH, the weather forecast for the days when Yolanda would strike, everyone affected was able to prepare. Everyone was panic buying for groceries, people suddenly buying powerbanks so that problems wouldn't arise when we need to call for emergency purposes. This just proves that with the right and accurate information, and swift preparation by the government, casualties could be minimized (even prevented).

On the day that Yolanda struck Cebu, I wasn't just at home. Together with my dad and relatives, we went to my dad's office to get some power supplies. A UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) is a device that provides temporary power to any electricity-powered device in order for them not to suddenly power down and cause problems. Besides that, we just dealt with the situation that we had at our own homes.

It was hard trying to get the latest information on the typhoon because there was no internet due to the brownout, and the cell signal's not enough to handle mobile internet. Good thing I was still able to text for the whole day (Thanks Globe!). As soon as we got the UPS running, we used it to get internet access. Since the electricity didn't come back yet, the internet connection was faster than usual. I saw a lot of pictures of the damage that Yolanda caused, particularly in Leyte.

Even though most of us are okay, there may still be people who need it. People in the Northern part of Cebu are in dire need of food and water. People in Leyte cannot be reached because all lines of communication are down. A lot more need our help. We should do everything we can to give them what they need. They should be our top priority.

As people have said,

"Since Yolanda is the strongest typhoon (of this year), the Philippines is the strongest country."

Bye Yolanda! You won't be missed.

#BangonVisayas.