NOTE:This post will undergo continuous editing immediately after posting as new and additional information becomes available.
Rescue operations for victims of Typhoon "Ondoy" ; People tired of waiting for rescue decide to brave neck-deep flood waters. ; Kids and elderly, helpless in disaster.; Celebrities like Cristine Reyes not spared (sits on the roof of her house waiting for rescue). ; Twitter trends deluged with "NDCC", "Ondoy", "Dick Gordon" and "LRT" topics as Filipinos everywhere tweet frantically.; Facebook becomes more than a social network site for sharing personal photos and becomes an efficient way to exchange critical relief operations information replacing clogged phone networks.
Friends from cyberspace were able to compile and consolidate helpline numbers aggregated from Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. Others were able to write a blog about it so instead of putting everything here, I will just send you to their blogs. Please refer to list of helpful blogs below:
Important/Emergency Numbers:
NDCC (National Disaster Coordinating Council)
911 1873 / 912 5668 / 911 1406 / 912 2665
For SOS (calls for rescue):
EMAIL all messages relating to relief, rescue efforts to: ndcchelpdesk[at]gmail[dot]com
Ways To Help Typhoon Ondoy/Ketsana Victims: Online and Offline
How You Can Help — MLQ3‘s post on how to help, who to coordinate with, where to drop your donations, plus bonus compilation of photos shared by everybody online.
List of Verified Relief Centers / Drop Off Centers for Donations — a compilation of verified relief centers. Wherever you are in the country, Luzon, Visayas or Mindanao, you can help. But if you are within Luzon and near these areas, so much better, maybe you can actually go there and help in the packing of goods or help out any way you can.
OndoyManila – Typhoon Ondoy/Ketsana Mapping Team is a group of volunteers from around the globe, spearheaded by Serge Gregorio, currently disseminating important and urgent information to help the victims of Typhoon Ondoy/Ketsana with the use of Google Maps, in real-time.
Rescue InfoHub Central – An online spreadsheet which is citizen-edited, real-time, which houses information on where to donate, missing/found persons, SOS: calls for rescue and emergency numbers.
NDCC HOTLINES FOR MISSING PERSON:
(Please report missing persons specific to the area).
Marikina: coordinate with Mon Santiago at 0920-9389914
Quezon City: coordinate with Teresa Amarillo at 0921-6555262
Pasig City: send text to 0918-9356318
Cainta:0917-5606241.
Ondoy Google Maps Situationer – another citizen-powered/edited online map, group posting updates on the situation caused by Typhoon Ondoy in Metro Manila, Philippines based on what they gather from various sources, such as radio, tv, internet, etc.
Red Cross Donations via SMS - Texters all over the Philippines can donate via their mobile phone. We are the world’s texting capital. Let your texts save our fellowmen affected by typhoon Ondoy…
How To Donate To Red Cross (Ondoy Victims) through SMS/Text:
1. Just text RED<space>AMOUNT
2.Send to 2899 (Globe) or 4483 (Smart).
For Globe, you can donate in these amounts P5, P25, P50, P100, P300.
Rains have stopped here in Calamba, and I’ve heard and read in reports that some areas have already seen the sun shine this morning. But could this merely be the so-called “calm before the bigger storm”? Let us hope not. But let us not let our guard down just yet.
This message from Facebook shared by Ms. Julie Javellana-Santos , originally written by Ms. Inday Espina-Varona may be alarming indeed and yet it is very important and not to be ignored.
After "Ondoy", seems like new storms are brewing
See direct link to storm satellite photo here shared on Facebook by Binky P. Siddayao.
*****
A SERIOUS WARNING FROM ONE WHO KNOWS: ATTENTION GIBO ET AL!!!
Yvette Lee, a veteran diver, and the friend I rely on for weather forecasts, has never been wrong yet about which way the wind blows (or how much rain will fall). Many times, she has told me to disregard Pag-asa because various other satellites, including those used by the US military, are showing different storm tracks. On Friday, she said winds would be light but waters very heavy and to prepare for serious floods.
Tonight, with some urgency, she asked me to contact Gibo, if I could. I’ve texted her message en toto to a defense reporter, but am posting it here anyway in the hope someone who does know Gibo or the AFP Chief or some such top gun can relay it. They may know what Yvette knows already but she is worried due to the absence of clear-cut warnings on TV and radio news. She would post here but has no Internet access at the moment. I’m tagging as many people I know that cover Crame and Aguinaldo (or who are there, thus the soldiers). Perhaps, other media people can check with their own sources and issue warnings that people can heed.
Here’s her message:
IF YOU HAVE CONTACT NUMBER OF GIBO YOU BETTER LET HIM KNOW TO EXPECT RAINS AGAIN BEGINNING TOMORROW. BAKA KALA NILA WALA NA TYPHOON WALA NANG RAIN. THE WEATHER SATELLITES SHOW RAIN COMING IN FROM THE EAST FOR 2 DAYS AT LEAST.
THEY SHOULD ASK THE PEOPLE WHO WERE STANDING ON ROOFS AND WHO WENT BACK INSIDE, TO LEAVE TILL WATER GOES DOWN TO NORMAL BECAUSE THE WATER WILL RISE VERY FAST AGAIN WHEN IT STARTS RAINING. YOU WATCH.
******
No let up, please. Let us make full use of the good weather we are having right now to hasten rescue operations in Marikina, Pasig, Quezon City and Caint, Rizal and the rest of the Metro hardest hit by the typhoon Ondoy. As I write this, dark clouds are forming where I am. I pray the same is not happening in Metro Manila.
Mayor Strike Revilla of Bacoor, Cavite has also been appealing for help from NDCC (National Disaster Coordinating Council). Apparently, the town where I lived for 15 years, never before devastated by floods of this magnitude was not spared from this disaster.
Volunteers, dear heroes we owe so much gratitude to, please take care of yourselves. So many people depend on your own strength, optimism, kindheartedness and enthusiasm. We have heard of people who have sacrificed their own lives already just to save our kababayans. May God bless you all and give you strength.
I can only cry in deep gratitude for all of you guys going out of your comfort zones to help out. As much as I’d like to help, I cannot leave my little boy in this flood-prone area of Looc, Calamba. I can only help the best I can by donating online to Red Cross using credit card , through SMS and other means and by being an information link, propagating information online for people searching for answers and calling for help.
I’m posting this heartwrenching video on “Ondoy’s Trail of Fury” shared through Facebook by Ding Gagelonia and originally uploaded on Vimeo and YouTube by Glen Omanio. I suppose he also owns the rights to this video and he was kind enough to express on his Facebook link that it’s okay to share and spread it as means of informing everyone and gathering support and donations for our kababayans devastated by Typhoon “Ondoy” (international code name “Ketsana”).
The video is so good because it captures in snapshots and music the tragedy that befell us while at the same time urging us to move into action, to do something and to trust that help is at hand because although we may be ill-equipped, short of supplies and other resources, we rest in the comfort that we have each other. You and me.
This video deserves a wider audience outside of Facebook.
I hope it reaches the far corners of the world wide web and touches the hearts of those who can help either in rescue/retrieval operations, delivery of supplies, lending of equipment and tools, gathering, donation of, repacking and distribution of relief goods to isolated areas and evacuation centers. Don’t ever think that there isn’t much you can do. We need each other’s help here. Every little bit counts. As of last report, relief centers are running out of goods. Our brothers and sisters need us.
To share and/or embed the video on your own blogs and social networks, please click on either or both Vimeo and YouTube link above.
On Sept. 26, the Philippine capital Manila and its neighboring provinces suffered one of nature’s worst beating. Typhoon Ondoy, international code name Ketsana, poured more than a month’s worth of rain in six hours, submerging most parts of… the bustling metropolis, drowning at least a hundred people as of press time. My prayers to the victims, and may we emerge victorious and live by the lessons of this tragedy. Donate now via PayPal at is.gd/3IOATthrough consumer group TXTPower, txtpower.org. All proceeds go to the Philippine National Red Cross. (Photos by Reuters. Music by Ennio Morricone, “Love Theme” from “Cinema Paradiso”).
Wherever you are in the world, you can help by donating online:
If you know of anyone who needs help/rescuing, click here (fill out form, please be as specific as you can) and our heroic IT/Google maps proficient kababayans will update the map for you. It will be of great help to rescuers in identifying which specific areas to go to.
Name RJ Marmol Location Calamba City, Laguna Twitterrjmarmol Bio Web/Tech/Politics enthusiast. iPhone app junkie. Blogging since 2008. RJ doesn't comment or blog anonymously because that's lame and irresponsible.
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