Typhoon Frank

It was a chilling and heart wrenching sight watching the news these past few days. My country, the Philippines, was terribly hit by Typhoon Frank last weekend and it brought much devastation not only on properties and businesses, but a lot of lives were lost. And the greatest news and probably the most fatal is the overturning and sinking of the passenger ferry MV Princess of the Stars, with more than 800 people onboard. It was reported that only 57 people survived this latest sea mishap. This means that hundreds of people were either trapped inside the sea vessel under the sea, or were lost to the angry waves and still not found.

It melts my heart to see the victims’ relatives grieving – completely uncertain of what has become of their loved ones, losing all hope of ever seeing them again. As their grief turn into anxiety, anxiety into despair, and despair into rage, I can’t help but just close my eyes and be grateful that most of my loved ones are still here, and that the only “frustrating” thing that happened was floodwater coming inside our house which had us cleaning for 2 days. I am definitely not complaining!

But this is definitely a time for us to bow our heads and offer prayers for our country and our countrymen greatly affected by this tragedy. It is good to know that most private sectors and non-government organizations have already started coming up with donation drives for the victims and not just wait for the government’s action. At a time like this, pointing fingers on who’s to blame isn’t really gonna solve the problem. Let us just do and give what we can to help and ease the burden. And the rest we leave it up to God.