Oblivious to the Damage from Typhoon to the Philippines

Until MarkB_MI posted a link to a post from Hanky I did not know anything about the damage Typhoon Haiyan or Yolanda caused in the Philippines. The typhoon hit them Nov. 8Th. It had the high wind speeds for a typhoon ever recorded at land fall. That was 190 MPH.

There are over 6000 confirmed dead and another 10-15K missing(Government estimate. Some sites list much higher numbers)in the Philippines alone. Several other South East Asia countries took a hit as well.

In the Philippines Eastern Visayas had over 5600 dead and over 1700 missing, alone. Tacloban City was 90% destroyed. Estimated damage at just under a trillion dollars in US dollars.

I posted that I had friends there. It would appear they did not get hit too bad as they live north of Manila and that is north of the worst damage.

Here is the part that bothers me:

1) They had/have deaths and damage as large or larger that 9-11 was to us. I never heard much if anything about it. No major new reporting that I saw. So the death and destruction of a major portion of a Friendly country is not very important it would seem. That is just not good.

1) Joseph Stalin " One death is a tragedy, a million deaths are just a statistic" would appear to be accurate. That bothers me on many levels.



I don't recognize the poster Hanky. It sound like he is over there helping they with the damage. I applaud him for helping them out.

I can't help them directly but I will be donating to the effort ASAP. May those that can do so too.

The people of the Philippines are a wonderful people. Most of them have warm feelings toward the US. The ones that do not are a small minority.

A long since departed dear friend who ran bulldozer for the army, in the Pacific, in WWII, also spoke highly of the Philippinos (sp?). Which is interesting, because I have read how we brutalized them early on. Maybe that activity was blown out of proportion?

yeah it's sad...we are too busy arguing about pot and marriage laws (in reality it doesn't matter at all who smokes what and who sleeps with who) meanwhile children, as well as adults, are sick, suffering, starving and dying. makes ya proud to be an American don't it???

JD, the typhoon did get coverage at the time, but not much considering the severity. We Americans just aren't too interested hearing about the suffering of those outside our country. To put it in perspective, three or four times as many people died in the typhoon as died in Hurricane Katrina. Of course the Philippines consists of many small islands; I heard that some were pretty much wiped off the map.

Many folk living over there in squalor, long before the hurricane.

But then, we have our own problem areas just down the street here in the USA.

Lot of,problems to work with, if we'd want to......

Paul

amen

yeah - the lack of coverage on this story has amazed me too.

I used to teach english to immigrants a few years back and still keep in touch with some of my students. One of them from the Philippines lost two close family members in that storm.

She was crushed by the news.

Not that she really cares, but I find it embarrassing that most people in America don't even know where the Philippines are, let alone that there was major disaster there.

I don't think it's that people don't care. It's just that, as a whole, americans are so wrapped up in entertainment that we don't get exposed to a lot of real life. Not really faulting anybody for it, but ... wish it was a little different.

Just played a benefit a few weeks back for the Phillipines (one of my other jobs/vices is being a musician - benefits like this are free gigs, we don't take pay, just there to help sell tickets). This was put on by a local Phillipino/American organization. They had a slide show of footage taken by their members on the ground who had traveled there and sent pics back.

1. Wow. The sheer scale of the devastation. Looking at it just from a labor and cleanup task is mind blowing.

2. Hearing the stories of lack of basic services like clean water or seeing the makeshift shelters people were using was sobering to say the least.

3. Lines of communication for a lot of the people are back to basics - word of mouth. Status of friends and relatives unknown still and may never be known.

4. The Phillipino people here - I really don't know them other than through the band I was working with. Even though it was a donated catered event, watching them all pitch in and the way they treat everyone. Seem like good people to me. Amidst it all, they maintain a positive outlook.

Well, that's my take on it. I would agree - could have used a lot more media attention.

Tony

I heard a lot of coverage on NPR and the CBC at the time for about a week, and there have been some followups since then. I listen to the radio and do not have a TV.
Zach

When the typhoon hit there was about 2 days of coverage of how many were dead, etc. Then the news has to move on to the next tragedy, Thousands dead does not phase them. The scandals in DC and the bums in Hollywood take center stage of course.

Yes, Hamilton, many of us ARE proud to be Americans.
According to the U.S. Department of State, FY2013 United States USAID was 51.6 billion. Many of us served in the Armed Forces overseas, have served on the boards and worked for both local, national and international benevolent organizations, and are concerned about the morality of our Country. I, for one, am not ashamed of it, either!
The fact that JDSeller made the effort to bring the subject up makes a point that Americans DO care.
I have several Filipino friends and luckily their families made it through unscathed.

CNN covered it solidly for a week tapering off after that. Fox was about 50% of that and stopped sooner. The truth is that there is so little accounting for individuals and population, that the numbers cannot be accurate. The tragedy is however as real as can be. About 1/7 of the worlds population live within 16' of sea level. Jim

The national news (national TV news, large city newspapers, and weekly news magazines) covered that typhoon pretty well for at least a week. I think the USA had Navy helicopters flying in water, food and medical supplies from several US Navy ships. Many other nations helped as well.

Local TV, radio and newspapers tend to focus on local news, because that is their market. Other sources cover the state, national and world news much better than they can.

What we did to the filipinos wasnt much compared to what the japanese did. I am married to a filipina, and her dad came over about 10 years ago. He is 63..and relates stories his father told him about the japanese occupation.
However..I dont want to get to off topic right here. So I will just say we have been sending supplies and money to her family that is still in the philippines. Her family was on the outer part of the hurricane-lost parts of their house but did not lose all the basic services that the hardest hit areas did. Stayed a couple nights in a shelter and were allowed to go home. So sending a few boxes of clothes and enough money to replace the roof(things dont cost a lot there..probably build a decent sized house for less than 20k.) have not burdened us too much..We have collected enough just from the neighbors and church organizations that all will be ok for them. So if you feel the need to donate..please do so to one of the major organizations..

My youngest son who is in Marines spent 17 days in mid November flying supplys and people in and out of there.

Wondered how many of them gave a rat's behind about Katrina? Or more to the point how many countries that we have helped in the past sent people to help with Katrina? I think many Americans get tired of doing for the rest of the World and we get nothing in return except a bigger National Debt paying for their problems.Also name one other country in the World that has done 1/10 as much to help other countries as the USA?

Americans are often too wrapped up in themselves to worry about other parts of the world... unless they want to flex their muscles.

(quoted from post at 18:17:36 01/04/14) Wondered how many of them gave a rat's behind about Katrina? Or more to the point how many countries that we have helped in the past sent people to help with Katrina? I think many Americans get tired of doing for the rest of the World and we get nothing in return except a bigger National Debt paying for their problems.Also name one other country in the World that has done 1/10 as much to help other countries as the USA?

Click to expand...

wow i can not say it any better that

Hey Davey Boy.

I don"t think you have much space to talk about anybody being wrapped up in them selves. You are about as wrapped in yourself and your Ego as anybody I have ever seen,or heard. And for the U.S. not helping anybody Who do you think rebuilt Japan and Europe after we saved there A44 from Hitler? So feed your B.S somewhere else.

I don't know how any one could have missed it. A medical mission team that our church supports full time was able to divert there from there regular schedule and got there about four days after. They sent out bulletins to their supporting churches about needs, and my wife and I sent $50.00 to help out, with immediate needs. many others in our church did as well.

Wrongo, SW. America donates more $ to help in tragic events, than any other country, worldwide.

I'm having a hard time trying to decide whether to post this or not, but here goes. The Baptist Church I belong to helps support a missionary family in the Philippines. We received a letter from the Missionary, they were far enough away that they came thru the storm OK. One of the local ladies who works with them said her family had lost everything and they were asking for all the supporting churches to donate money to help the family get back on their feet. We talked it over in Church and decided to send them $1000. My point is; all the money went to the victims of the hurricane. Donate your $$ to Red Cross and the other large help organizations and you help pay for buildings, advertising and big salaries for the leaders. I would rather see all the money go to help the people who need it. After the tornado in Washington, Ill. I called a couple of local churches about sending a donation from our church to help out. One said to make a donation to Red Cross. I said if that was what we wanted to do, I wouldn't have called you. We want all of the dollars donated to go to the people who need it. We sent a large check to a Crosswoods Methodist Church, ALL the money will go to help the families hit by the storm. It's great to help out, but when only 40 or 50% of what you send actually gets to the people? Just my opinion, flame away. Chris

Well I do not watch TV at all. Then about when that was all going on the issues with the wife and my Father had me running in circles. So we did not get to Church for over a month.

It amazes me I did not hear about it. I know most did but I just did not.

Most of the attention went to Tacloban city on the eastern side of Leyte, most other areas were forgotten, just outside of Tacloban lies the small town of Palo Leyte, the town where the Americans landed to liberate the islands from the Japan, everything across the island was pounded hard, when I stepped off the ferry from Cebu in Ormoc I couldn"t believe the damage, they have been bringing supplies to the port in Ormoc and then by truck to Tacloban, they had 2 of those trucks in a big fatal accident a few days ago, on the way into Ormoc, the trucks were still there tonight when I went for a walk to take pictures, one is on its side with an SUV crushed in front against a building.
This damage will take years to fix, some areas will be without power for months, having trouble getting poles and transformers, my wife grew up here and are here on a scheduled "vacation" that turned into work for me, this is a beautiful area to visit normally.
There are 2 of the 3 large grocery stores open in town, Gasiano downtown is still closed, Robinsons and Gasiano Riverside are open, but the shelves empty fast as people from north, south, and east have to come here for supplies, no where else to go, I picked up a hotspot so at least I can have Internet access, I am in the country until January, 24, can"t wait to get home, I will be able to buy and cook what I want for a change.
I have to 100% agree with what has been said about donations, normally very little, if anything reaches the people that need help, and then supplies are stolen and sold, I see Red Cross veichle"s driving around every day, but can"t quite figure out what they are actually doing.
You guys take care, for the first time in my life I missed the cold weather, but have to admit as a Minnesota boy I have had enough of the tropical heat.

Where do you draw the line on just who we're supposed to help, what gets on the news, etc? In places like India, or what used to be Burma or Thailand one storm can kill 5-10K people. Starvation can kill 3x that many in China or North Korea every winter, disease can wipe out whole areas in South America or Africa, gangs can take over and control whole areas of Mexico or other nations further south, ethnic violence can kill thousands or hundreds of thousands in Africa or the Balkans...where do you start?

Meanwhile back home, 2" of snow can "cripple" a state, people who live in flood plains or build cities in swamps demand billions each each it seems, drugs and booze plague most of our country, taxes cripple the middle class, muti-generational families live off the hard work of others, politicians steal their constituents blind, freedoms are taken and replaced with regulation.

I don't know anymore. I know I'll never give a single cent to the Red Cross after seeing them at 9/11 and other events. The individual Red Cross volunteer is a wonderful person, the organization is a bunch of money grubbing power brokers. The Salvation Army is 100% the real deal on the other hand in my experience. I don't know what to think much anymore. I know It's sad when thousands die across the world, but there's not much the individual can do to overturn gov't's that let their people die or to convince people to go to a better area or nation, if their gov't will even let them.

I think the problem is a lot bigger than the individuals pre-occupation with their own problems. I know I've seen first hand how media chooses what is and isn't a story and that's a big part of it.