Bagyong Ondoy and Facebook

Like all of us, I felt my stomach drop and a feeling best described as panic and disbelief spread throughout my body as I opened the news and watched the devastation and destruction that Bagyong Ondoy left and is still leaving behind.

I woke up late and was blissfully unaware of the destruction brought upon by Bagyong Ondoy until I looked out my window and saw a car being carried away by a huge amount of water. I had to blink twice because I could hardly believe what I saw – never ever has there been flood in my area. I quickly opened the news and felt cold all over when I realized that things were so much worse in other parts of the Metro.

Even until now I still can’t keep a coherent thought in my head so I’m just going to post random mutterings in the face of Bagyong Ondoy.

Like some others who wanted to help and was stuck at home, I helped through Facebook. I was never really a big fan of Facebook and only joined less than a month ago but this time, I really appreciate its value. I scanned through the posts and saw friends and friends of friends posting and requesting for help because they were flooded and trapped inside their houses. I joined the Red Cross group in Facebook and reposted all the messages that I could find there hoping that Red Cross and others could lend a helping hand.

Also through friends I was able to know the hotlines of all the Rescue Centers such as NDCC, Red Cross, etc. One of my friends was stuck on the roof of their house because the water has engulfed the first 2 stories of their house. Through Facebook I was able to learn of the hotline numbers and when I was unable to get through, I posted her plight in Facebook and some other person called NDCC and Red Cross for me. Thank you Facebook.

Not only that, you could see first-hand photos and videos from different people uploaded in Facebook. You could see the devastation in the videos and photos in Facebook that you couldn’t see in the news. Whenever I saw a video or photo, I didn’t hesitate to share or repost it so that others would know the seriousness of the situation.

Through Facebook, information regarding donation centers was disseminated and different groups were formed in order to help people still trapped by Bagyong Ondoy.

However, through Facebook a Filipino from Dubai managed to ridicule and mock the Filipinos suffering from Ondoy. She said and I quote, “buti n lng am hir in dubai! maybe so many sinners bak der!so yeah deserving wat hapend!”. Within minutes her Wall Post was disseminated from person to person and less than an hour later, a group against her was set up in Facebook and members are growing by the minute. And through Facebook I found out that Mikey Arroyo is such an a**hole. Someone took a picture of him buying liquor in Rustans Supermarket in Katipunan while hundreds of people were stranded because of the storm.