The Filipino after the Storm

Over the past weeks, the Philippines has gone through a terrible beating by two raging typhoons. The country encounters several typhoons all throughout the year but these two have produced some of the worst casualties that it has ever encountered.

Ondoy

On September 24, typhoon Ondoy (international name: Ketsana) made landfall at 55 km/h and brought the worst rainfall to Metro Manila. It didn’t produce strong winds that were enough to cause alarm but extremely heavy rains were said to have surpassed the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina in the United States a few years back.

Because of the heavy rains, flood water levels in the city reached a record of 20 feet high with Ondoy finally causing billions of pesos in damages both in Metro Manila and the nearby provinces and at least 337 reported deaths as of October 9, 2009.

Pepeng

A few days after Ketsana left the Philippine Area of Responsibility came typhoon Pepeng (international name: Parma). The tropical storm has raised the alert levels in the country once more while everyone was still reeling from the effects of Ondoy. A lot of places in Manila and other provinces are still submerged in water but everyone was still advised to get ready for another onslaught of rains.

And rain it did. For the next couple of days, Pepeng hovered over northern Luzon causing total power interruptions in many provinces, landslides in Baguio, Benguet, Cordillera and other upland areas and major flooding in Pangasinan and Nueva Ecija. Because of the heavy downpour, dams had to release a lot of water submerging most of Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija and some parts of Tarlac. Meanwhile, floodwaters which haven’t even receded in Manila continued to rise again. Parma left the country with more damages and at least 200 people killed mostly due to landslides.

Two typhoons later, the sun is shining again and the Filipino is seen in his best – in the midst of the disasters, the country is now slowly picking up the pieces through help from its citizens and from the international community. The flood water in many areas is slowly subsiding. It’s going to be a while before the Philippines is back on its feet again but Filipinos are known for their tenacity and their strength particularly during trying times.