Friday, January 01, 2010

the day that i want to forget (part 5)

notice: this is the 5th and last part of the blogger's journal on the recent devastation of typhoon ondoy (ketsana) on september 26-27 2009. though based on actual event, some of the people's names, locations, and places were changed to protect their identities.  
 
(continuation from part 4) we've tried all banks everywhere to withdraw money but it seems that everyone's doing the same thing. we've also tried getting money from sm marikina but we were just unlucky. we drove along jp rizal street and saw thousands of marikenos running here and there. they were carrying all sorts of dirty things like clothes, furnitures, and even dirty pets. we saw mud everywhere. traffic was heavy and it took us ages to get to our destination. cars were rolled around.

the following days were hard. we barely had slept because there was no electricity, the water both for drinking and washing was hard to obtain, streets were still filled with smelly mud and debris, and grocery stores were flooded with panicking buyers. it was even more difficult for people who had no money to buy them. we were just lucky that we had some extra money on our pockets on the day of the flood. we didn't have to rely on relief goods for our hunger.
because of what happened, my grandmother, my sister, and ning moved to my grandparent's apartment. but the tenants were still occupying the place, so my grandmother had to live in a cramped room near the apartment for the time being. the room didn't look good but i would still say that they all had lived like princesses. they had this little stove where they can cook their meals, a bathroom with clean water, a single bed, and also electricity for an electric fan and a small tv. it wasn't really much, but it sounded alot to me who had nothing.


my parents decided to stay in our house and look after our things. they're afraid that burglars would take advantage of this occurance and break in our house at night. my brother who's living in los angeles had no job at that time so he couldn't send much to my parents. on daytime, my parents worked non-stop, gathered water from a manual water pump, cleaned the house and washed clothes. on nighttime when it's hard to work because it's dark, only then they stopped working and rested.


me and robin decided to rent a small apartment while waiting for things to get back to normal. edlynn, a friend from church helped us find that apartment. the place was just enough for two people; non-furnished. it had a small living room with a cute window, a small bedroom with a built-in cabinet, too high for a midget, a small kitchen, and a small bathroom. i wasn't really excited about the place but we'd survive, i thought. in the morning, i'd come over to my parents to help them clean up the house and i'd come back to the apartment by nightfall to rest.


things never went back to normal since the flood. life seemed harder. my family was never complete and we never ate together on a single table. finding a good job seemed impossible and endless. 2009 was a tough year for our family. on the night of new year's eve, i looked out our window and gazed longingly at the wonderful fireworks. i asked myself, "what are these people celebrating about?" i was bitter for a minute. then i remembered all the people that helped us during our predicament and realized how lucky we were. then i knew, things will be better for us.


to those who have been following my ondoy stories, thank you. if you noticed, i haven't been posting any photo of the ondoy incident. i preferred not to take any photo and totally forget about the whole thing. it was both sad and scary to photograph. thanks to leon bedista for the photo posted above. you may read my entire ondoy story by clicking here.


i would like to thank all the people that helped us: robin yu, margarette and jeronne francisco, kristine guzman, rhaymond zamorro, christopher lafontaine, tapia family, vega family, melay bagamasmad, kit maza, tolentino family, tuazon family, church members of sumulong and midtown congregation, dennis moya, laura moya, ben rondollo, and to the ihooked katipunan staffs.

3 comments:

marjzpalma said...

watching the news featuring typhoon ondoy at that time was one of the most unforgettable moment of my life. it was like i was one of the victims, i almost had a heart attack. the first move i did was to grab my mobile not knowing who's the first person i should text or call just to know if they are alright. my sister with her family and my best friends were on the same place that's primarily affected as shown on tv. my hand was shaking, i couldn't reach any of them at first. until i was able to... then, i felt a little bit refreshed hearing my sister's voice... my best friends were able to communicate with me, after receiving my text messages, the following day. i was crying then. i was glad they were all fine! i grew up in marikina. i had over half of my life in this place. watching breaking news, tv patrol and all alike, just over TFC, made me so weak. it's hard to see what was happening all over the country at that time. i have seen the news, and i was even the one who informed my sister and my friends what was going on with all the places that are affected, they didn't know it was that awful... because they couldn't watch or hear the news being aired.

Biyaheng Pinoy said...

Thank you markzpalma. Yes, it was a tough time both for marikina and the people surrounding it. I'm just glad that I was actually there with my family when it happened. I could not imagine how crazy it could get if I wasn't there with them, unable to help them. We're grateful that you shared your sentiments on the event.

Unknown said...

Hi Wenz, ngayon ko lang nabasa ito. Biglang nagflashback yung Ondoy sa isip ko and got teary eyed. When I was watching the news that time, wala akong nagawa kundi umiyak esp. nung ipakita yung mga taong naanood sa ilog somewhere, I can't remember na. Yung aunt ko who lives in Vermont Park, who moved in there in June 2009, was also victimized by Ondoy. Trauma talaga sya coz pumasok din sa loob ng bahay nila yung tubig. Hay! Ayoko na talaga maalala.

Comedy ng Lola mo. :)