"I did comment during the initial rains that it was a show off typhoon with heavy water bombs sans the gusts of winds. Now I stand corrected. It's a powerful one and the most destructive, more than Rosing and Milenyo. It was as though it taunted me and said "I'll show you that i can be deadly without the winds in just six hours ..." and he opened the heavy heavens over Manila. For a force of nature, kudos to you Ketsana, but you wrought so much damage and tragedy..." - E.Go

The comment above was posted by my cousin in her Facebook. Little did I know what she really meant until I learned in the news about the horrors of this calamity. Originally, I did not pay much attention that a typhoon was coming on our way because it was forecasted as Signal No.1, which is declared if winds of 30-60 kph (approximately 16-32 knots ) are expected in at least 36 hours. "It's not the worst", I thought compared to typhoons forecasted as Signal No. 2 or 3. Moreover I lived in Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippines on the southern part of the country, and typhoons usually do not take its course towards us. However, it shocked me big time when I heard that a Signal No.1 typhoon has sunk our country's capital Metro Manila in just six hours! How can it be? How can a storm with not so strong winds carry so much water? The resilience of the Filipino people in times like these are tested again.

Here in our place, as citizens of our country not much affected by the disaster, we did what we could, starting with offering prayers in our Church. Because it is innate for us Filipinos to help one another, different organizations were mobilized in the city where I lived to help out our brothers. The Philippine National Red Cross, ABS-CBN Network Foundation, various GOs and NGOs to name a few started to organize activities, donations, events-for-a-cause and the beneficiaries will be our brothers in Luzon (the biggest island in the northern part of the Philippines). Some of my friends started to go to warehouses and donation drop-offs in our city to help pack relief goods. I myself will continue to help out in all possible ways, including hubbing this to gain more support.

As of September 29, 2009, the National Disaster Coordinating Council had released the following statistics:

1. Death Toll - 246 (by 3pm NDCC chairman and Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said 105 casualties were recorded in the Calabarzon region, 101 in National Capital Region, 37 in Region 3 and three in the Cordillera Administrative Region)

2. Missing - 38

3.Damage - Php 4.6 billion (property)

4. Estimated Cost of Assistance - Php 9 million

5. More than 500,000 people were flooded (300,000 in evacuation centers)

As of this writing, continued efforts are still being made to help out for the relief of the victims. Unfortunately, another storm by the name of Typhoon Parma locally known as Pepeng is threatening again, we therefore ask for your prayers that we as a nation can hurdle the coming days and gain support in any way. I believe that Filipinos are strong people, but we are not invincible. I pray that amidst these happenings, God has purposed this to strengthen our faith to believe and trust in Him. It might be a wake-up call for all of us to raise up our standards of living after this calamity: To be more disciplined, especially in being environmental friendly, more obedient to God and to our laws. In the end, I still hope that this might bring all Filipino people to go straight, to start living clean, and to lead our people to live under the authority of God and for all the nations to see how we rise up again into a better nation.

In God we trust, so help us God! By faith I declare victory!