If any of you were wondering, me and my family are fine. We live on an incline, so we're all good. At the
VERY rare event of the water rising to our garage or living room, that means the whole of Metro Manila would be underwater. My sister went through the flood last Saturday, just to get home from her dorm in UST. She makes it seem like shes a hero, with her formal story telling skills and big words just to describe what happened to her. She wrote about her experience getting home, thinking that what she saw was already rock bottom. The worst. The end. I mean, its fine to tell your story, don't get me wrong, but what she saw was just the good parts of the flooding. Two days after the flood, or Monday, I went out to Ateneo with Danica, and her friends to volunteer. When we got there, the covered courts where they were holding the packaging of the relief goods were full of people. Ateneo really came together for this, and pulled through. At first we were putting clothing together for families, then shortly after we were asked if we wanted to get deployed to the affected sites. Naturally I said yes, out of curiosity. I really wanted to see the damage this storm caused, and I thought this could be a better way of reaching out to people. We moved on to start packing food while waiting to get deployed, which ended our 3 hour shift. Eventually we ended up deciding to go to Cainta Rizal, one of the affected areas. Before we left, we went to a local grocery, but everything was gone! Everything! All the bread, instant noodles, canned goods, and water was all gone. Even the expensive Evian water was gone! But Danica and her friends still managed to get little things. We were off to Cainta, expecting there to be traffic, because we weren't sure if some places were passable. Just 15 mins. into the ride, we already saw the damage caused by Ondoy. SM Marikina's basement was covered in mud, and other kinds of debris. There is this tall sign with what used to be words welcoming people to Marikina, but now its just scrap metal with trash, and mud hanging from it. The bridge we were driving on gave us a clear image how high the water was. The driver said that the water was already going on to the bridge. To give you a mental picture on how high this bridge was, it was perpendicular to the LRT, or elevated train. For even more mental pictures on how high the water was, the lights under the bridge, and the street lights next to them had trash, and mud covering the actual light. After the car got down from the bridge, I tried imagining all the places we passed through filled with water. It wasn't that hard to, because there were cars just left on the street, just like how little kids leave toy cars on the floor. You could see how high the mud went on the water stained walls of buildings. There was a bank we passed by, which had its front glass doors broken. People, towing mud covered cars, people cleaning businesses that got affected by the flood water. I couldn't even tell where the lanes on the road started, and ended because of the mud. I couldn't do anything but to keep quite, and try to put myself in their position. When we got to where we need to get off, we saw a gas station with cars just left lying around. The convenience store in the station was filled with mud, and people were literally shoveling mud out. We started walking towards the house we were going to. The first time i ever felt death just by look around. The smell of mud, and trash filled the air. Mud was just about everywhere, so I couldn't care less if I got a bit dirty. A passing truck gave us a lift to the place we were going to. Looking out at the houses we passed, I could see the little things people got to salvage. They placed it in buckets just outside of their houses, and the other things they couldn't save they would throw in the big pile of mud covered furniture. There was this dump truck propped up on the side walk, with water inside the cabin. A truck of its size would make you guess the driver was trying to rescue people, and failed so he bailed leaving the truck to the mercy of the flood. There was only a block or two left till we got to the house, but there was a car blocking the street, so we had no choice but to walk. While walking I saw everybody outside their house, trying to clean the little they had left, and trying to save their cars. Every house we passed, the people would look at us, and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't look these people in the eye, because if I was in that position I wouldn't know how to start over again. Outside of the house we were going to, there were men trying to clear the mud off the streets using plywood. When we were walking into the house, I saw a lady look up at me while washing what she had in a pail. I couldn't do anything. The fact that you went there to help someone out, when there are other people indirectly asking for your help, makes yourself feel helpless. If I had the power to, I would help you all. But that one stare from that lady made me just put my head down and just nod. These people don't have clean water, electricity, or telephone lines yet. Most of their stocked food were ruined, because of the flood water. Talking to the person that lived in the home, she said that the mud literally closed off the door, keeping the water in the house. She pointed out which pieces of furniture was floating around. When she finished this, I realized she pointed to just about everything in the room. She showed us how high the water went, using her stairs. It became dark out, and you could only imagine what was happening the night of the storm itself. It was pitch black. People in the surrounding houses were using candles to light up their places. On the corner of the street there was a construction crew gathered around a fire. I got used to the smell, and the feeling, but it became hard to find a path with less mud in the way. I used the brightness of the mood reflecting off of the mud to find my way around. It's sad, because there are people who got to save a bit, and when darkness covers the area there are robbers everywhere. Yes, you did save some stuff, only to be robbed of it. When I got home, I was exhausted. These places are quite far from my house, so it was at least 2 hours going home. Lying in bed, I was trying to imagine the water rising up to my bed, with my stuff floating around. I went to the heart of it all. One of the affected areas. It makes someone like me feel helpless for them, but the hope you see in these people are amazing. Its now 4 days since the storm passed through. There are still people waiting to be rescued, or given relief goods. People are still missing, and there are more people being found dead. I could only imagine what the people of Katrina went through. Going to the heart of the news makes you appreciate the comfortable chair you have while you watch it all happen before your eyes.
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