Typhoon Sendong: A call for Help

..and here I am sitting in front of my PC knowing that somewhere out there from the South, some of my fellow Filipinos are suffering from the aftermath of Sendong.

Typhoon Sendong, international name "Washi" literally washed away everything that went against its path. This typhoon lashed some parts of Mindanao over the last weekend and the magnitude of the effect is really heartbreaking. It was previously reported that the death toll has already risen to almost 927 and I don't know if it went up as I write as of the moment.

Due to the massive death toll, both Iligan and Cagayan de Oro are already considering mass burials because the bodies are already swamping the local funeral parlors. These two places are normally being visited by an average of 20 typhoons per year and they are not that used with floods hitting them. This might be the reason why so many residents were caught by surprise when the flash flood suddenly hit their homes leaving an unimaginable devastation.

In effect, more than 88,000 people have been displaced by the storm and over half of them are now staying in some of the evacuation areas that have been in placed. Authorities compared the impact of tropical storm Washi to Ketsana (Ondoy), one of the country's most destructive storms which dumped a large volume rain on Manila and other parts of the country in 2009, killing more than 460 people.

To all of you my friends all over the world, I am appealing for your assistance (be it monetary or spiritually) to all of my brothers and sisters at Mindanao who are affected. Let's exercise the spirit of Christmas by extending our blessings to all of them who are in need and in suffering as of the moment. I can't imagine how painful it is to have this kind of trial but we can make a difference. There are lots of venues where we will be able to send our financial help to them, I am reaching out unto all of you. If financial help is not possible, may I just request for your prayers for all the people who died out there and for the families that were left mourning for their loss.

Let me just add.. How I wish.. deforestation will stop to avoid these scenarios in the future (sigh).