Cookaholics Bulletin Board

thanks, fuzzy

Under normal conditions in the Philippines the power grid comes and goes. I'm sure that the typhoon pretty much destroyed a major part of it. It could be quite awhile before Steve is able to check in. I'm praying for you and yours Steve.

All -

Tatoosh sent me a PM explaining that while he is fine the surrounding conditions are terrible. He will reply to all of us with more details when the stress has lessened.

Wino

He sent me a PM as well. Sounds like Jen's family had some pretty severe damage, but everyone is okay.

Amy

It's good to know he's safe.

Thank you all for your thoughtfulness and good wishes. Jen and I are fine. Baguio City was far from the path of the typhoon. Sadly, Jen's family home was not. She is from Bantayan Island, a small island off the Northwest coast of Cebu. It got hit very hard. Not the fatalities of Leyte, but houses flattened or at the very least, their roofs gone. Five families tried to weather the storm in Jens mother's house, only to have most of the roof ripped away. Only two small bedrooms kept their section of roof and over 20 people, including children, tried to wedge themselves into them. All survived, but when they came out afterwards they found they were "back to zero". That is the phrase used when everything is gone. Houses destroyed, furniture and home appliances demolished. So many of them are truly back to zero.

And as bad as that is for them, it simply does not compare to Leyte where so many died in the surge. The Philippine national government has been a joke. Help has come from families outside the affected areas - even from family outside the country. Two days after the typhoon we had a brother in law on the way with food and water. He arrived with aid for his family there. Six days later and not a single government aid rep has shown their face.

The US military, along with other international teams, are providing real aid. The Red Cross has arrived and started to distribute food and water, even when local politicians tried to stop them and take it away. Can you imagine that? A mayor tried to force the Red Cross to give all their supplies to him so he could distribute to his cronies and locals that voted for him. They refused I am relieved to say!

There are so many heart wrenching stories that we can barely watch tv anymore. Jen keeps a towel to cry in when she watches the local newscasts and reports. Mothers searching for dead children, just so they can give them a decent burial. A father asking anyone to tell their wife working overseas that both their children are gone. It is just so hard to see people that have so little suffer so much. Report after report with mothers that have not been able to feed their children for days are followed with politicians doing "photo ops" in front of huge piles of food that just never seem to arrive where it is needed so badly.

Okay, I will quit. It gets to be too much and I don't want to bring it to the forum. I do want to thank you all for your thoughts. And ask each of you to let the people you care for know you love them. Because it can go away so fast. Take care and be well, I'll be back when things settle down some.

Steve,

So glad to hear that you are all safe...in the end that's all that matters although the loss of Jen's family home must be devastating. We have been watching it unfold on the news and it has been horrifying and heart-wrenching even from here, so I can only imagine what it must be like on the ground.

Take care of yourself!

Steve,
Carey has captured my feelings/emotions perfectly. Do take care of yourself and your family!
Nancy

While heart sick for the devastating loss I am thankful that you still have the important things intact.

Ditto what Carey and Frank wrote....be strong!