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I received this message from Papa IG earlier this week. I think I mentioned before that Papa IG is a director with the Philippine Red Cross. He is 67 years old. This is his general update about the rescue and relief efforts in the Philippines after last week's typhoon.

Hi all. Just to give you an update.

Typhoon Ondoy (local name)  brought more rainfall in six hours than Manila normally gets in one month. It caused the worst flooding in the area in 40 years. Over 350,000 persons have been displaced. The dead now over 100. [The count is now almost 300 ~ IG.] No count yet on missing and injured. In the metro area, Marikina, Pasig, Taguig, Pateros, Cainta, Montalban, San Mateo and Taytay were the hardest hit. Some areas are still submerged. Many are still stranded. We are all okay, although for the first time ever the house in L---- was flooded waist deep. T's brand new car and year-old car were submerged in water.

I have been working since Saturday at the headquarters of the Philippine National Red Cross, R---- chapter. The geographic jurisdiction of our chapter encompasses the hardest hit areas of Metro Manila. We are now on the fourth day. It has become a race against time.

There are still many areas that the responders have not been able to reach and which have had no food, water, or electricity for four days. And there are still children and old people out there. It's pretty grim.

The bright side is the turnout of people from all walks of life who have volunteered to help. We have volunteers who have been working without rest or sleep for four days. Many have skipped meals in this race for time.

We need relief goods, primarily water, canned goods, crackers, and most of all, medicine. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, grocery shelves are empty. Tonight and tomorrow we intend to try to contact the manufacturers and the distributors. We will start tonight.

End for now.

...Because waiting around for our government to come up with answers, while entertaining, would get us roughly nowhere. Witness Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's most recent recommendation for a relief shelter:

Relief Shelter

To quote my BFF-in-law: "What's not to like? Open air, room for the entire family, water resistant, and only about PhP25,000. I think the carabao statues are extra. Oh, so is the porta-potty."

Reposted from here:

Here’s something to cheer everyone up. An American who lives here witnessed what was happening and gave this statement:

“I wish you all could see the amazing community spirit, charity and compassion in the Phils. What I see happening here totally blows away the response to hurricane Katrina. People here have less to give, yet they’re giving ABUNDANTLY. There’s such a greater story than just the ‘death toll’ that the lame american media fails to capture.”

New "super typhoon" headed for the Philippines. Expected to hit sometime tomorrow.  :-(

The IG clan is all right. Cleanup has begun on my sister's house and my nephew never did make it home yesterday, but he stayed safe with friends through the worst of the flood. Papa IG was trapped in his condo by high waters but had the sense to stay put. My BFF and her husband lost power (no TV, no Internet) so they had no idea how bad the flood was until power was restored. I got an email update from them this morning snarking about President Arroyo's (lack of) response to the crisis:

"She didn’t even come out with any sort of announcement. NBN was broadcasting a high-level meeting in which government officials were defending their response time. They were exhibiting a chart showing how the US gov’t took 2-3 days to respond to Katrina and how it only took them 1 day! Of course, GMA was sitting there, indoors, wearing a shiny black raincoat!"

In my family it's been material losses only - floodwater damage to my sister's beautiful house, the death of my BIL's new car, several cell phones dropped in flood water...stuff like that. We've been lucky. Donya M. is very conscious of how fortunate they've been and grateful that she was in a position to shelter and feed refugees at her home in spite of everything.

Here are some pics I grabbed off Facebook this morning plus some information about relief efforts below. The Faceboob, I have to say, has been a real informational lifeline through this. Cell phones and landlines were useless yesterday, but some Filipino was always managing to post an update to Facebook...

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For mariser and the others who asked: here's what I've learned from the Pinoy network on Facebook about how to help.

RELIEF/SHELTER/DONATIONS:

Red Cross donation through SMS: text REDAMOUNT to 2899 (Globe) or 4483 (Smart) or contact your local Red Cross Chapters on how to Donate.

FRIENDS IN THE US AND CANADA WHO WISH TO HELP IN THE RESCUE/RELIEF OPERATIONS,YOU MAY DONATE THROUGH THE AMERICAN RED CROSS. CALL 1-800-435-7669. DONATE THRU THE RED CROSS RESCUE AND RELIEF OPERATIONS OR pinoys abroad they can DONATE THROUGH TXTPOWER'S PAYPAL! http://bit.ly/hQtKH

You may also deposit your donations directly to ABS-CBN Foundation's Banco de Oro account:
*Branch Name: BDO Mother Ignacia
Account Name: ABS-CBN Foundation, Inc.
Account #: 5630060113

Relief Goods can be sent to Caritas Manila Office at Jesus St., Pandacan Manila near Nagtahan Bridge (tel.no. 5639298/5639308). Relief goods can also be brought Radio Veritas at Veritas Tower West Ave. Corner EDSA (tel no. 9257931-40).

Aquino volunteers: contact Jiggy Cruz who is organizing relief goods collection and distribution. Or call Ms. Clare Amador at mobile no 09285205508 or Jana Vicente at 09285205499 for more details regarding Noy/Mar relief efforts.

Roxas volunteers: donations for flood relief can be brought to Balay, Expo Centro, Edsa cor. Gen, MacArthur, Araneta Center, Cubao.

Victory Fort is opening its doors to those affected by the typhoon. Call 813-FORT

Charo Limaco has posted a list of specific items needed and where to donate them:

Water, blankets, shoes, and clothes etc.. are being accepted at the Hillsborough Village chapel for families whose houses were washed out in the nearby sitios.
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Donations of any kind for Payatas communities affected by Ondoy accepted at ARANAZ stores in Rockwell & Greenbelt.
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TeamManila stores in Trinoma, Mall of Asia, Jupiter Bel-Air and Rockwell shall be accepting relief goods (Canned Goods, Ready-to-drink Milk, Bottled Water and Clothes) for distribution by Veritas to displaced countrymen due to Typhoon Ondoy.
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Caritas Manila Office and Radio Veritas (see above) appealing for the following goods: Canned food, rice, used clothes especially for children, milk
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From Kuya Ed Ramirez: SLBTFN is accepting donations already. Please drop it off sa Ateneo Cervini Dorm. Then we will work with groups around the area to assess w/c evacuation center needs help immediately. SLBTFN is Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan Task Force Noah, a disaster response arm.

Terrible flooding going on in Manila right now. Just heard from my sister and niece. It's bad. Sister and youngest son were trapped for hours at my nephew's school because the streets were waist-deep in water. They finally got home, but the flood waters are in the house, the house I grew up in. My sister's beautiful narra wood floors, covered in disgusting swamp water. Donya M. says it smells like Venice in summer. Bleh.

One of my nephews is still stranded all the way across town, at a friend's house. The flooding is horrific everywhere. Stole some pics from here.

Loyola Heights, Quezon City

Ayala Avenue, Makati

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Greenhills, San Juan

Little Baguio, San Juan

Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City

I tried a sample earlier this week (from a company in Texas) and I'm hooked.

Gooey Butter Cake

Just received this in an email forward from Papa IG, who received it from an IG sibling:

Farewell, Cory