Safe from the typhoon
Most of you may have seen or read news about Super-Typhoon Haiyan, or Yolanda as my country named it. The media says it may be the strongest storm to make landfall in all of recorded history, surpassing Hurricane Sandy and Katrina. Here's a satellite image if you want to a better idea of how huge it was. It practically blotted out the whole Philippines!
Source: Philstar
My province wasn't badly hit, but the central part of the country suffered great damage. The city where I did the fieldwork for my undergraduate thesis is an absolute wreck. People have resorted to looting. Communication lines are mostly still down and I can't contact my friends who live in those islands.
The government was able to issue warnings a couple of days before, and I believe that helped. The sad thing is that some of the evacuation centers (mostly gyms or covered basketball courts) toppled down too. Not sure about the death toll as of the moment, but as of this morning it was 151.
If my area was directly in the path of the storm, our roofing would've been ripped off and there's a great chance that I would've been injured or even smashed to death. My heart breaks for the people who are suffering right now, and I'm so very thankful I am alive and well.
For those who would like to donate, here's the link to the Philippine Red Cross.
Source: Philstar
My province wasn't badly hit, but the central part of the country suffered great damage. The city where I did the fieldwork for my undergraduate thesis is an absolute wreck. People have resorted to looting. Communication lines are mostly still down and I can't contact my friends who live in those islands.
The government was able to issue warnings a couple of days before, and I believe that helped. The sad thing is that some of the evacuation centers (mostly gyms or covered basketball courts) toppled down too. Not sure about the death toll as of the moment, but as of this morning it was 151.
If my area was directly in the path of the storm, our roofing would've been ripped off and there's a great chance that I would've been injured or even smashed to death. My heart breaks for the people who are suffering right now, and I'm so very thankful I am alive and well.
For those who would like to donate, here's the link to the Philippine Red Cross.