Filipino Expats Qatar

Hi to all fellow aklanons. You may all have heard of the recent catastrophe that hits our beloved Province. Last June 21, typhoon Frank ravaged the western visayas with Aklan as a direct hit. The typhoon left Aklan with more than 60 dead people, no food, water, electricity and with more than 1 billion worth of damaged properties. Aklanons right now are striving to survive this calamity and is calling out to everybody for assistance.

In this regard, I as an Aklanon is appealing to everybody for help.

For additional information and details of what really happened, below is a blog entry from Cheryl in the USA.

Below is the best account of what had happened. Please remember that I have never done news reporting in my life, and my only source of information is my 3 closest friends who are in a state of disbelief, shock, exhaustion and full of mosquito bites. And this is just what happened in Kalibo, and they admitted they know nothing about the fates of Numancia, Banga, Malinao, Makato, Ibajay and all towns surrounding the Aklan River . I am also typing this as fast as I can, ignoring grammar and sentence structure, so that I may be able to reach Akeanons all over the world thru my emails, blogs, texting and non-stop speaking abilities.
So, here goes…

Friday, June 21, evening – People are preparing for the food festival in honor of San Juan Bautista. Radio said it was Signal No1. It started to rain hard, so people just went home.

Saturday, June 22

2am – Heavy rains. Strong winds. Now it was Signal #3. Picture Undang.

5am-6am – Ceiling and rooftops blown away. Aklan River was rising.
9am-10am – Kalibo proper is starting to be flooded, waist deep. Strong currents and non-stop raining. People hold on to bamboos for floatation. To move from one place to another, people jump from rooftops to rooftops. Houses in lower C Laserna are gone.

3pm-4pm – Wind stopped. Water is at 7-8 feet, Kalibo Shopping Center now submerged. The entire Kalibo town was quiet, other than the sound of the falling rain.
7pm-8pm – In the dead of the night, with no lights nor electricity, people are screaming ‘tabang’. Children wailing, women crying. Some people, who owned 2-floor houses, refused to accept their neighbors for the fear that the added weight may collapse the house.
Sunday, June 22
Sunrise– People got out of their shelters to see water and mud, tricycles upside down, boulders everywhere, dead pigs. It was like a scene from a B-rated zombie movie. First thing people looked for: DRINKING WATER.
6am – People start to walk to the market for food. They walked in 2-feet mud. People lined up to buy bread (plastic still covered with mud), canned goods, medicine. Prices skyrocketed: rice that was PhP80 is now PhP150 (good for one day for a family of 6), candles 3 pcs for PhP100, tricycle trip PhP 1000 to-fro Kalibo Airport.
Everyone was in quiet shock, saying a low ‘kamusta’, and moved on to go to where their family & shelter was.
Everyone salvaged what was left. They tried to dry, using water from the rain, their clothing and beddings. Furnitures (tables, chairs) are damaged but usable. Magsig-magsig anay kuno, ah
The Provincial Hospital is damaged too, and the new PhP 45 Million CT Scan equipment is all lost. Where do the sick go? Stay at home and hope infection (feet are scraped and punctured due to walking on mud) doesn’t spread. That is why the corpse are now lying and embalmed at the town plaza, for we don’t have a hospital.

The rest is history. You will hear about it. (Dont blame me for giving the bad news, and I had wished I was just misinformed).

Okay, I asked, how can we help? Here’s what they said:

Prayers. Jokingly, they said are too tired, too loss of words to do this.
Media coverage. If you know anyone in ABS-CBN, GMA, Bombo, Bandera, etc please beg them to cover Aklan. Remember, press coverage and pressure to the government will open emergency funds. Further, call all of our local Akeanon associations for help. If you know even a drop of Akeanon blood, inform them of what happened. If you need to forward my article, please do so, until a decent professionally-written write-up happens. Repost, forward, link on your blog, utilize Friendster/Multiply/Facebook. Anything, everything, everyday.
Send money. Don’t do by bank (as for my write-up), send via Western Union or money order. Send it to your family or a person you know and trust.
Relief goods. Airports are open. Roads to/fro Iloilo are passable. The following are needed:
water
katol or insect repellant
canned goods
rice
lots of blankets
towels
flash light and batteries
shoes
jackets
medicine: anti-diarrhea, vitamins, antibiotic, acetaminophen, cough/cold meds
candles and matches
soap & shampoo, toothpaste & toothbrush
disinfectant
cell phone load
something to pass time: playing cards, books, pen & paper, radio
children stuff (by the way, they are so traumatized)
umbrellas
bible, rosary and religious items
etc
Call them and when you get a hold of them, assure that we are doing something. Assure and reassure. Akeanons are quietly tough and I sensed morale is so low. They felt so alone. They cannot even talk to their neighbors: what for, they asked. Daily text will help and just say ‘Im here thinking of you’.
One last note: I have lived thru several hurricanes in North Carolina and Georgia. Hurricane Fran, Category 5 was the worst I experienced, having no electricity amidst freezing temperatures. But the County of Cumberland had this hour-by-hour Weather Channel and evacuation routes. Further, Americans fill their refrigerators and pantry with food, water and supplies. After the devastation, electricity was up the next day. FEMA came within the next few days.

It is so sad to even think that we don’t have the Red Cross, coast guard, Salvation Army or anyone who can help our fellow Aklanons. This is their 5th day of surviving.

Please help in any way you can. All the way.

Sincerely,

Cheryl Joy Martinez-Avaricio, from Sacramento, California

Kalibo Pilot Elementary School 1980-1985

Aklan College 1985-1989

And a proud Akeanon from Bulwang, Numancia, Aklan

http://kyrienne.wordpress.com/2008

********************** UPDATES *********************

06/25/2008

The much-awaited, “decent professionally-written write-ups” are starting to emerge. Thank goodness!

Unfortunately, these news reports made me more depressed. Kailangan talaga ng tulong! Anyway, below are some newsclips, videos and articles. Thank you all for sharing the link.

06/26/08 - http://www.gmanews.tv/video/24843/Aklan-still-reeling-from-effects-of-typhoon-Frank

06/26/08 - http://www.inquirer.net/specialfeatures/typhoonfrank/view.php?db=1&article=20080626-144971

06/26/08 - http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storyPage.aspx?storyId=123143

06/27/08 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5Yy_qwnbP4

For more details: the link is this.http://kyrienne.wordpress.com/.../.

Hope we can send help soon.