I do not write blog posts often anymore since my schedule is so hectic but I decided to finally put my thoughts online..

Typhoon Parma:

The other day we were hit very hard by a tropical storm, this was a direct hit and many of our firefighters have damage to their houses in some way, shape, or form. Over 700,000 families were displaced from the storm and are in evacuation centers, that is just from the initial assessment and many areas still are flooded and without power and running water. Over 3 million people were affected by last weeks tropical storm. Many areas of Pasig City are still flooded and this means that responding to fires is very difficult due to accessibility issues. As we are cleaning up the mess and providing aid to people, we now are getting ready for a Super Typhoon to hit the Philippines. This typhoon will hit north of where the tropical storm hit but the typhoon will hit at the strength of a Catagory 4 Hurricane. I was at all 4 hurricanes that hit Florida in 2004 and I was at Katrina and the damage here looks to be worse because we do not have the resources and equipment to deal with this large of a disaster.

Right now my medical supplies are at a all time low, can you imagine running out of everything in your bag and not having a place to refill it? Thats where I am at and since we are lacking equipment, I am needing to stay positive and know that there are things that I can do even without equipment and medical supplies. I am trained in disaster management and in disaster relief so I implement a disaster plan and mitigation plan.

Staying in a positive mood while your AOR is being totaled by flooding, fires, and devastation is very important and we need to all act together for relief efforts.

I will try to get more pictures but in the meantime, check out:

http://www.pasig-alliance.co.nr/

and

http://www.firefighternation.com/profile/MichaelVito?xg_source=activity