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A Couple of our Members are in this Disaster Area...
At least two members of FFN are in the middle of the disaster in Manila, Philipines. Michael Vito is one, the other one I know of is a less active member. This article is the first I knew of what was happening in Manila:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/28/2698995.htm
Not checking the news for three days didn't help me know that Mike was in the middle of this mess. He lives in the eastern half of Manila.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/28/2698995.htm
Not checking the news for three days didn't help me know that Mike was in the middle of this mess. He lives in the eastern half of Manila.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Smoke Eater on
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They will be in my prayers. I hope they come out alright in this.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Vito on
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Hi Guys,
Thanks Tony for your prayers and posting on our behalf. Thank you.... Thank you... Thank you !
Glad to be back and have survived. I'm at the office and back to my "Day-JOB" as of this writing. But technically on leave of absence and going home right now. My house still flooded, no power and NO INTERNET LOL.
But seriously, most of the waters are gone on most areas but our area is still unfortunate. We are the lowest point in the city and we are the mercy of the river tide of both Floodway river and Marikina / Pasig River. Still it is frustrating that in our area has little change of the flood waters level here.
To tell you from my experience, it is once in a lifetime worst flood I've ever experience. The last time was in the 1970's and too young to remember it. In our city, the improve draining system and all of that. We thought a great flood like that is a thing in the past especially in the city and part of the national capital region. BUT WE ARE DEAD WRONG !
Saturday morning we are caught by surprise that the water surge was so damned quick that we have lost some our belongings to the water and no time to move our stuff on our second floor of the house so damn quick. And that goes to the rest of our members of this brigade, their POV's and our tender was not spared. Our tender have damage but few hours later we improvise and put back in service at that night. Our members, those who are available, after taking care of their respective families. We consolidated, volunteered and went back into action.
This is DAY-ONE photo. Saturday busy commute turned into nightmare when the heavy rain and water surge swamp this major road Oritgas Extension Ave one of the major road leading back and forth of the province of Rizal to the National Capital Region. Buses, cars are left there and lot of people walked but become futile and deadly when the water level rises that quick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJO0GFcMZ_s&feature=email
At first day unfortunately, no incident command was setup at that day. So the surviving rescue units have concentrated to the district of the our north and the neighboring city of Marikina in which it was hard hit and ask for the Philippine Airforce to pluck people off the roofs of their homes. Since no ICS was in control.. by default.. The military took over control and especially the Ortigas Ave., Extn. bridge. At that first night, it resembles like ferry scene at the movie "war of worlds" where a barricade was set up by the military to prevent people entering the flood zone and the same time it became a ferry crossing going out the province of Rizal. At that choke point was really emotional and some worried relatives persisted by trying to pass a piece of paper of address to the rescue units present to ask for their help. The east bound road became an entry point for rubber boats, amphibian tanks and anything that can float was used for the rescue effort. Only the following day, the city's command post was set up and the military gradually turn over control to the city command unit.
Day - Three, the flood water receded along Ortigas Ave., Extn. and the lifeline was restored to the province of Rizal. A forward command from the national level was set up to coordinate efforts for the rest of the province and beyond.
As of this writing, the neighboring town of Cainta east of our city have some major roadway restored but still flood waters still present at the interior of the respective subdivisions. My place and including east of our city still in flood waters. Personally, I refused to be called a victim nor felt that I need to be rescue so still I'm glad despite all of this. I and the rest of us try to make a difference in our community. We are now engaging in relief operation to some parts of townships of our city are still cut off from the rest of us.
Mike
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8279801.stm
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090929/ts_afp/philippinesfloods
Police units have joined the rescue effort
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My photos in Day - Two
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Oh I would like to mentioned. We appreciate some U.S. Navy Personnel present during the first and second day of the storm. I have a chance to shake their hand of thanks. Hoo yah ! Outstanding !
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Thanks DT, we need all the help we can get. For now, prayers will do. In most areas, flood water is gone at townships (Barangay) east of the City across the Floodway bridge. But still my place and the rest of south east of the City still flooded. It's Day - FIVE, no changes of the water level since last Monday by 6 inches.
In this areas include our City Hall, our City's Fire Department Headquarters (Bureau of Fire Protection ) and most of the key city's government agencies are still flooded. We had two fires last night, good thing is was just a 1st alarm. Unlike DAY - ONE at that night, a fire in Quezon City went into a Task Force Bravo Alarm (mutual aid of couple cities - all hands). Made firefighting effort more difficult trying to stretch a line in a deep flood water. Obviously fire trucks can't enter the area because its heavily flooded. My engine man describe its like fighting a fire in an island with a fire in the middle of it.
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Death Toll Hits 240 in Philippine Flooding
All Maximo Merioles Jr. could think about were his two children. As the floodwaters that had swamped his neighborhood came close to submerging him, he grabbed his two kids, ages 12 and 10, and swam toward another house, clambered up to the third floor, jumped between roofs and climbed down a wall to safety across the street.
Mr. Merioles’s heart sank Saturday as he watched not just the flood but also a raging fire eat up most of the houses in Tatalon, a slum area in Quezon City, one of the cities that make up Greater Manila.
As residents dealt with the aftermath of Tropical Storm Ketsana, the government was facing criticism on two fronts: Did it provide enough warning before the floods, and was it doing enough to help people recover?
To help with the recovery, the government on Monday appealed for international help as the death toll rose to at least 240.
The American Embassy deployed Navy personnel to help out in the rescue and relief operations and also promised $50,000 in immediate disaster aid.
“The system is overwhelmed, local government units are overwhelmed,” Anthony Golez, a spokesman of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, told reporters during a briefing on Monday. “Our assets and people are spread too thinly.”
In Tatalon, unlike the other areas that were ravaged by the storm, what the flood did not destroy, the fire did. Seven residents died in Tatalon, officials said.
Mr. Merioles and the others interviewed in his neighborhood said electrical power remained in their area even as the floodwaters rose above four feet. No one knows exactly how the fire started. “Either you die from the fire or from the flood,” said Mr. Merioles, a stocky electronics repairman.
The tropical storm arrived in the Philippines over the weekend, releasing the largest amount of rainfall in nearly half a century and flooding 80 percent of Greater Manila before moving on to Vietnam, where it has killed at least 23 people, The Associated Press reported Tuesday morning.
Nearly 2 million people in the Manila area were affected, including more than 100,000 who were displaced after the storm dumped 16.7 inches of rain in just 12 hours on Saturday.
In Pasig City, one of the hardest-hit suburbs near the heavily silted and polluted Pasig River, the floodwaters in many communities hardly decreased. “The water is not moving,” a tearful Nene Monfort, 71, told ABS-CBN television in a live interview. She said she and her family, who have been holed up on the second floor of their apartment, could not come down because of the water.
The Health Department warned Monday of a possible spread of infectious diseases, especially in the refugee centers of Manila, which number more than 200.
And as the affected residents tried to rebuild their lives, they were seeking answers as well.
Many, like Rene Anselmo, 57, a retired driver in Tatalon whose three-story house was burned down except for about 5 feet of browned concrete and singed wood, wanted to know “why there was no warning about a flood this big.”
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, the government’s weather bureau, denied in local reports that it had been negligent in warning people, saying it had issued warnings as early as Thursday, even raising storm alert levels the next day.
In an attempt to help deal with the aftermath of the storm, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo decided to open a portion of the grounds of the presidential palace to refugees. “The president has allowed the use of Malacanang itself, her own home, to be a center of relief operations,” said her press secretary, Cerge Remonde. He said the first family would be transferred to another area in the presidential compound.
The government also had declared a “state of calamity” in metropolitan Manila and 25 storm-hit provinces, including many that had not flooded before, allowing officials to use emergency funds for relief and rescue.
Mrs. Arroyo earlier announced that her government would not relent in its efforts to help those hurt by the storm.
Criticism of Mrs. Arroyo’s response could affect the presidential election, which is eight months away. The administration’s candidate is Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, who also leads the National Disaster Coordinating Council.
In the narrow streets of Tatalon, residents spent Monday taking out burned trash, dumping it on the main street outside of the slum, where mounds of black debris had been piled, practically blocking the street. Filthy floodwaters snaked beneath the rubbish.
Zoraya Tera, a 39-year-old homemaker, spent hours scrubbing her floor tiles and cleaning up her burned utensils. “Nothing is left, as you can see, but I am glad that none of my children were hurt,” she said, gesturing at what remained of her home, which had nothing in it except the burned and now rusting galvanized iron roofs.
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Michael, I would like to say it's great to hear from you bro!!! I am so sorry about the situation there. I pray for everyone there. No one should have to be put through that kind of horror.
Stay safe brother!!!!
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Permalink Reply by Jason McDonald on
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Well guys, many areas are still flooded and now bacteria is just about everywhere but thanks to the support of you guys and our fellow brothers, we are offering aid to people. We hope to offer more medications, more blankets, and more rice to people in the future.
Thanks for your support everyone.
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DAY - SEVEN, We detached with the main body of our members of my brigade to volunteer to my former fire brigade the Kapasigan Volunteer Fire Brigade in which they were put in charge by the city hall to setup a command post on their sector. Jason and I team up as a medic because the newly formed Orambo Volunteer Fire Brigade was pressed in to service with no training at all and the fire chief of Kapasigan VFB ask us to help them out. Orambo has newly bought ambulance and was manned untrained crew and unexperienced crew. So we formed a four man team, a driver, me and Jason and two guys from kapasigan and orambo respectively. Also it was my first time I've worked with Jason since he joined our brigade. A really cool way to work with a U.S. certified Paramedic.
But before he arrived in a command post by few minutes and just finished setting up the command post. Our composite brigade members responded to a head injury call. We are ill-equipt in which our supplies from the main command post have not arrived. We use a dump truck to get in the flood zone while the ambulance wait on the dry part of the street. As we arrived, the patient is already standing and holding his hand at the back of his head with his t-shirt, wet with blood. I've take a loot at it and he has a nasty cut about few inches. He says he can walk, and I've decided against using the board because there is no strap or no sufficient head block and was raining pretty hard. So I decided to take a seat in front of the dump truck. We turned around and move back at the ambulance waiting. We put him in a gurnery to lie sideways just to keep my hand pressed on his back of his head for control bleeding. We arrived at the Rizal Medical Center couple of minutes later. Turned him over to the ER but they ask me to stay to assist on stitching by the doctors on the ER. I was surprised the doctors ask me for help and was my first time to assist on stitching procedure by keep his head still. While the doctor and nurse do the procedure. I've seen blood and gore before but this time was different because I was praying to hurry up the procedure because I was tormented by the patients cry of pain when the ER guys put some needle and do the stitching. A few minutes later I was glad it was over and the ER doctor release me to go back to station. When I was back in station .... darned then we meet up with Jason and darned he miss it ! I told the command post commander to hurry up with the supplies because we gonna be all busy tonight. Then we have another call from the flood zone.... to a stroke patient.......
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Barangay San Juaquin a township at the southern part of Pasig City. People lined for relief at the township courthouse / relief center.The command post was setup infront of the McDonalds near the church.
By day break on Saturday morning command post. Jason new found friends. Police swat teams as part of the command post security / rescue. Checking him out ......
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Good thing the second storm spared us but hit northern part of the Philippines in Luzon island. I'm glad with the prayers of the brethren out there that the magnitude of the second storm was minimal impact in the area but still my heart goes out to the 12 people who lost their lives on the second storm.
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