[Tonchi]

I'll post what I wrote to Slang in a PM before realizing he had also posted on the thread here.


Thanks for your good thoughts, Slang. At this point the destruction of the communications network in Manila is so extreme that they haven't even been able to assess the damages. Only 28 deaths reported so far seems way short, in a good winter storm they usually lose a hundred squatters to garbage slides at the landfills so I expect the toll will rise. All electricity for 40 million people went out and I lost contact with Luisa's house at the height of the storm (we were texting each other while the typhoon was shaking their house so badly that they thought the roof would go any second). At the time her cellphone failed they still had the roof but lots of water leaking in on the top floor and the air outside was swirling with debris from all the shacks which 50% of the population lives in.

Last night Luisa and her aunt went out and bought a phone card so that we could speak for 15 minutes and they could tell me they survived and the house is still standing. Fortunately they built on one of the highest areas and the floods did not reach them. Their street is knee-deep in debris but they have electricity again, one of the few areas of the city that has, but all the phone lines and therefore the internet is down. She may not be back online for a week, but at least they have food and a way to cook it. The sun is shining and it is a beautiful day outside, she says. It was her birthday when the typhoon hit.

As always, the government will be unable to do anything meaningful. The mayor of Manila is mostly upset because all the trees he planted in the parks are now blown away. There is no word yet how to send aid to the people who didn't fare so well. Even the papers online, like the link I sent you for the Philippines Star, had very little information when I checked last night. I suppose there is a Philippines Red Cross, but right now all offices and schools are closed or have no phones or electricity. If I hear anything else, I will let you know.


Luisa did tell me last night that there is a brisk business in the streets where squatters are gathering up the roofs or furniture of their former neighbors in order to reconstruct their own hovels.

I'd like to again remind anybody that sending "stuff" of any kind to the Phils is futile, they will either steal it or "tax" it to the point that your recipient would be better off with the cash. But you can't send cash through the mail either under their latest "laws". What I do is send a Western Union remittance in $US which can be deposited directly into accounts at several banks, making it impossible for the agency who retrieves your WU from charging you "fees" for the privilege. I'll also remind you that most agencies in the Philippines are as corrupt as any other part of the society there and money sent to them will not necessarily go any farther than the pockets of the officials.