Typhoon Ondoy

I am blogging about my brother and his family who were stranded in Manila during the height of Typhoon Ondoy (International name Ketsana), the worst flooding in Manila since 1967 (according to the accounts of my dad). They have their own share of story.

At 1pm last Saturday, me and my classmates were supposed to be travelling to Manila for the Bar Ops. It was the last day of the Bar Exams for 2009. Because of the flooding, we cancelled the trip then the Bar Exams was cancelled. I called my brother who drove to Manila the day before. It was Friday. They were on their way home when I called him. They were stuck in EDSA and I relayed to him the headlines in the news at lunch time. EDSA was not passable and advised them to find a decent place to stay for the night because it would be difficult for them to travel. They parked the Revo at the parking lot of Mall of Asia and his family, including his 2 kids slept there, perhaps hungry and definitely tired.

I somehow got relieved upon learning that my brother went back to the parking lot of the mall to spend the night instead of heading back to the province, 250 kilometers north of Manila. I felt sorry for their misery although I felt more badly for those people in Manila who spent their night on their rooftops, chilling and hungry. I was almost sleepless last night, I want to sleep the whole night tonight. It was just so unbearable hearing their pleas which the government cannot do much because on their way to the gravely affected site, they would occasionally stop and provide assistance to people on the way.

Thankfully, they were back home (in Dagupan) around linchtime on Sunday.