As usual, the weather forecasters got it wrong again. Last Tuesday night, typhoon Basyang struck the main island of Luzon. Forecasters predicted that it would hit the north. Lo and behold! With barelt two hours befor it hit, they changed their prediction. The typhoon would now hit Metro Manila direwctly. Two hours was just too late because by the time they made the new warning, the pwoer was already down. No radio or television transmission. Metro Manila was in total darkness and unaware of the devastation it faced.

Thank Go it was nowhere near Ondoy’s strength which devastated the entire Luzon island. Still it left more than two dozen dead and millions in damaged infrastructure. The next day created chaos but the efficient response of government quickly returned sanity. The light rails did not work as power was down most of the day. Isolated traffic jams were experienced by motorists.

Despite having limited resources, government agencies was able to reach typhoon victims. Even the coastguard was able to recover lost fishermen within the day. We’ve managed to get back on our feet quickly despite the downed power lines and downed cell sites.

Typhoon Basyang is only second typhoon to hit the country after we experienced El Niño. We have an average of 22 typhoons a year with the few last ones being the most dangerous. With the former administration depleting our calamity funds, I wonder how the current dispensation will address the coming disasters? I just hope that God be kinder to us and our new government.

This early, I already thinking of how different Christmas would be thise year. After the two storms that hit has, I don’t think my countrymen would be up and recovered by December. The devastation is just too colossal that it might take a year to rebuild not only lives but property as well. Now I’m thinking of more ways to help out. Everyone seems to know someone who’s a victim of the typhoons.

I just can’t imagine the desperation people are experiencing now. At a time when the economy is bad, these disasters have to hit us. We’ve doaneted stuff but it is not enough. My daughter even volunteered at a relief center. Our government coffers  are empty due to misappropriation and corruption. We have to rely on ourselves. The sad part is that the suffering of the people is even being exploited by our politicians.

We’ve been sharing our Christmas dinner with the poor for several years now. I might have to cancel it this year. So many have lost everything. I guess I’ll focus on them even for just this year.