It's times like these...
...that make me think of how unfair and horrible the world is.
Read all about it:
1. 2007 Glorietta bombing (Wikipedia)
2. Blast kills 8, injures 126 at a mall in Manila, the Philippines (Wikinews)
3. First person account: ‘People thrown like dolls by blast’ (from GMA News)
4. Mall bomb blast kills 8, hurts more than 100 (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
5. Explosion kills 8 in Glorietta (Manila Times)
6. List of dead and injured in Glorietta blast (Inquirer, as of yesterday, 11:52 pm Manila time)
7. And an update: Glorietta death toll rises to 9 (Inquirer)
Pictures of Glorietta after the bombing: Here
My family owns a store in Glorietta, and I was thankful that none of them got hurt in the incident, that our store was still intact. Good thing he hadn't reached Glorietta at that time. It was a relief that the appliances exhibit at the Glorietta Activity Center was already finished; otherwise, things would be tragic for my family.
I didn't lose any family members or friends. Our store was not reduced to debris.
But still... this incident affected me deeply, and I don't know why.
It was disturbing beyond words. The blast occured at Glorietta 2, an area lined with children's specialty stores and restaurants. It's terrible - really, it is. How many babies and children might have been there at that time? How many families were dining together? And I shudder to think how devastating it would be if my dad chose to eat at Luk Yuen on that day (he frequently eats there). Or if I chose to drink at Starbucks there. I thought of the time my dad and I ate at Luk Yuen, and that one time I went to Starbucks, and there was this friendly barista. And now those establishments are nothing but debris and rubble. Where is that barista now, I wonder? I hope he wasn't one of those who perished.
I was tuned in to the news for almost the entire day. I saw pictures of the devastation, and the impact was so large that I don't know how investigators could have ruled it out as a gas explosion. At first, when the initial reports were relased, I was inclined to think that perhaps it was a gas leak after all, that people were blowing the issue out of proportion. Maybe I was just reassuring myself. But then I saw footage - what looked like shrapnel holes on the ceiling, a crater on the ground floor, the roof blown to bits, and I realized that it definitely wasn't a gas leak.
The news also showed an amateur video taken after the explosion. Glorietta was a shadow of its bustling self. The video was jarry and slightly blurred. Smoke was everywhere, and the mall looked virtually deserted. Meanwhile, whoever was taking the camera must've been running for safety. It was not a pretty sight.
Blood stains. Victims. Dead bodies covered by blankets. A young woman unable to speak to the reporters - possibly traumatized. Images flashed, one after the other.
I read some accounts on the Internet - of people who had close calls, who almost went to Glorietta for lunch. Of people who lost colleagues. Of people who worried about family members. There was even a heartbreaking - and very real - account on a forum somewhere (can't remember where it is) about a woman who was in the parking lot when the blast occured. She saw the dead body of a woman. And then I also read a story about a little girl whose godmother shielded her during the blast. The godmother is currently missing, as far as I know.
This is heartbreaking, it really is. And I'm sorry; I can't express my sadness and anger eloquently enough. My condolences to all those who lost someone in this explosion - be it relatives, friends, lovers, or just acquaintances. What was supposed to be another day of malling turned out to be a day of hell. I hope that the souls of those who died rest in peace. It's unfair that they had to serve as sacrificial lambs for unworthy causes. Situations like this sometimes make me wish, immature as it is, that a Death Note existed, that I could take justice into my own hands and punish the people behind this horror.
Lives were lost yesterday. So were businesses. Establishments. Memories. I don't think the horror of it all will die down soon.
Edited to add: Here's one of the eyewitness accounts I was talking about: Horrors of the Glorietta Blast. I agree with one of the posters in that forum: How do people behind tragedies like this sleep at night? I remembered that yesterday, there were also blasts in Pakistan. Terrible world, indeed.
Read all about it:
1. 2007 Glorietta bombing (Wikipedia)
2. Blast kills 8, injures 126 at a mall in Manila, the Philippines (Wikinews)
3. First person account: ‘People thrown like dolls by blast’ (from GMA News)
4. Mall bomb blast kills 8, hurts more than 100 (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
5. Explosion kills 8 in Glorietta (Manila Times)
6. List of dead and injured in Glorietta blast (Inquirer, as of yesterday, 11:52 pm Manila time)
7. And an update: Glorietta death toll rises to 9 (Inquirer)
Pictures of Glorietta after the bombing: Here
My family owns a store in Glorietta, and I was thankful that none of them got hurt in the incident, that our store was still intact. Good thing he hadn't reached Glorietta at that time. It was a relief that the appliances exhibit at the Glorietta Activity Center was already finished; otherwise, things would be tragic for my family.
I didn't lose any family members or friends. Our store was not reduced to debris.
But still... this incident affected me deeply, and I don't know why.
It was disturbing beyond words. The blast occured at Glorietta 2, an area lined with children's specialty stores and restaurants. It's terrible - really, it is. How many babies and children might have been there at that time? How many families were dining together? And I shudder to think how devastating it would be if my dad chose to eat at Luk Yuen on that day (he frequently eats there). Or if I chose to drink at Starbucks there. I thought of the time my dad and I ate at Luk Yuen, and that one time I went to Starbucks, and there was this friendly barista. And now those establishments are nothing but debris and rubble. Where is that barista now, I wonder? I hope he wasn't one of those who perished.
I was tuned in to the news for almost the entire day. I saw pictures of the devastation, and the impact was so large that I don't know how investigators could have ruled it out as a gas explosion. At first, when the initial reports were relased, I was inclined to think that perhaps it was a gas leak after all, that people were blowing the issue out of proportion. Maybe I was just reassuring myself. But then I saw footage - what looked like shrapnel holes on the ceiling, a crater on the ground floor, the roof blown to bits, and I realized that it definitely wasn't a gas leak.
The news also showed an amateur video taken after the explosion. Glorietta was a shadow of its bustling self. The video was jarry and slightly blurred. Smoke was everywhere, and the mall looked virtually deserted. Meanwhile, whoever was taking the camera must've been running for safety. It was not a pretty sight.
Blood stains. Victims. Dead bodies covered by blankets. A young woman unable to speak to the reporters - possibly traumatized. Images flashed, one after the other.
I read some accounts on the Internet - of people who had close calls, who almost went to Glorietta for lunch. Of people who lost colleagues. Of people who worried about family members. There was even a heartbreaking - and very real - account on a forum somewhere (can't remember where it is) about a woman who was in the parking lot when the blast occured. She saw the dead body of a woman. And then I also read a story about a little girl whose godmother shielded her during the blast. The godmother is currently missing, as far as I know.
This is heartbreaking, it really is. And I'm sorry; I can't express my sadness and anger eloquently enough. My condolences to all those who lost someone in this explosion - be it relatives, friends, lovers, or just acquaintances. What was supposed to be another day of malling turned out to be a day of hell. I hope that the souls of those who died rest in peace. It's unfair that they had to serve as sacrificial lambs for unworthy causes. Situations like this sometimes make me wish, immature as it is, that a Death Note existed, that I could take justice into my own hands and punish the people behind this horror.
Lives were lost yesterday. So were businesses. Establishments. Memories. I don't think the horror of it all will die down soon.
Edited to add: Here's one of the eyewitness accounts I was talking about: Horrors of the Glorietta Blast. I agree with one of the posters in that forum: How do people behind tragedies like this sleep at night? I remembered that yesterday, there were also blasts in Pakistan. Terrible world, indeed.