Typhoon Frank

I thought June 21, 2008 was just an ordinary rainy Saturday with nice cool weather for me to fully enjoy oversleeping on my comfy bed, but I was wrong. I was only informed about the fury of typhoon Frank when I decided to buy batteries for the old almost forgotten radio.
I was really shocked that radio stations were all talking about Typhoon Frank and the flashflood. I heard news that I never thought would happen here in Iloilo like rescuing people who are on their rooftops and finding headless corpse.

After the typhoon, a lot of people are still talking about Frank. Their stories were just like fiction. It was really hard to embrace the reality that Iloilo is badly hit resulting to the increasing number of homeless and hungry Ilonggos. I just feel lucky I was spared from the suffering brought about by the disaster.

The typhoon is not just about disaster though. I think this is God’s way of testing human values. With the rapid improvement in technology, men have become too arrogant. We disturbed the river to build dams and bridges. We cut the trees to give way to housing projects and business establishments. Hah! With just a few hours of strong winds and heavy rains, infrastructures that took years to complete are gone. Nature is indeed superior to the arrogant man. We should have been more considerate to our natural resources because when natural disasters occur we are helpless.

I also believe that God sent Frank to relay a very important message, that is, to detach ourselves from our material possessions and to value to people around us. Several properties, which many people thought to be their valuable possessions, are now destroyed with muddy water. But these people still survive, because of the good Samaritans around them. Without the car and the bungalow, flood victims survived but they will live a different life. It will be a life full of sympathetic people and not full of unresponsive material possessions.
Though I am not a flood victim, I also experienced some discomforts like the lack of electricity and the scarcity of potable water. On the positive side, the lack of electricity gave me the opportunity to talk to my co-boarders who are usually watching television. I also have the time to exercise by fetching water at a nearby well. I realized that typhoon Frank gave me the chance to reflect and to value the people around me. I experienced serene moments that are free from technological advances like cellphones and internet.

However, what is depressing is that some people took advantage of the situation. Some would grab this opportunity to advance their political career or to promote their business. Others still have the nerve to steal the properties of typhoon victims. Nevertheless, I salute those who have sincerely helped.

I believe we only have to embrace this disaster because it happened for a purpose. Though it brought diseases and even death, it also brought out the best of some people.