The editor/producer of CNN.com Opinion invited me to write an article related to the Haiyan tragedy. I wrote "Childhood in the Path of Typhoons" - now in CNN Opinion.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/13/opinion/brainard-growing-up-with-typhoons/index.html?hpt=op_t1
The article "Childhood in the Path of Typhoons" inspired Emeniano Acain Somoza Jr. to write the following poem:
Filipinos
whip through
the rain if the moon
the birds
could gauge
how thick and dark the clouds
how dangerous
Signal No. 1 meant rain and some wind, No.
2 meant stronger rain and wind
Nos. 3 and 4 meant
flood; branches of trees break; trees
uprooted, corrugated metal roofing come loose and fly about, electric
power lines break.
That's how it is; that is what the
Filipinos expect
which look too bad:
Streets littered with debris, trees uprooted, cars flipped over on their sides, some roofing damaged, store signs askew.
"We need help. Food and water."
Deep inside,
the reality.
the awful destruction that Haiyan had
wrought in other parts of Philippines.
images of villages destroyed, of people wandering around
of survivors holding up signs begging
dead lying by the roadside or under rubble.
Filipinos respect and love their dead, just
that they can't take the time to bury their loved ones.
I wonder what went so wrong
--
Why have so many people died? Why are survivors left on their own?
fact: The death toll will rise
super
unimaginable.
~end poem~
~~~
Update from BBC
More than nine million people have been affected in the Philippines. Many are now struggling to survive without food, shelter or clean drinking water.
A picture is slowly emerging of the full damage wrought by the storm:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/13/opinion/brainard-growing-up-with-typhoons/index.html?hpt=op_t1
The article "Childhood in the Path of Typhoons" inspired Emeniano Acain Somoza Jr. to write the following poem:
(Because
- for a moment we thought - we have been erased... Here is an erasure
poem taken from 'Childhood in the path of typhoons' by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard. However, due to editing limitations on FB, please click on here to see the full layout.)
Filipinos
whip through
the rain if the moon
the birds
could gauge
how thick and dark the clouds
how dangerous
Signal No. 1 meant rain and some wind, No.
2 meant stronger rain and wind
Nos. 3 and 4 meant
flood; branches of trees break; trees
uprooted, corrugated metal roofing come loose and fly about, electric
power lines break.
That's how it is; that is what the
Filipinos expect
which look too bad:
Streets littered with debris, trees uprooted, cars flipped over on their sides, some roofing damaged, store signs askew.
"We need help. Food and water."
Deep inside,
the reality.
the awful destruction that Haiyan had
wrought in other parts of Philippines.
images of villages destroyed, of people wandering around
of survivors holding up signs begging
dead lying by the roadside or under rubble.
Filipinos respect and love their dead, just
that they can't take the time to bury their loved ones.
I wonder what went so wrong
--
Why have so many people died? Why are survivors left on their own?
fact: The death toll will rise
super
unimaginable.
~end poem~
~~~
Update from BBC
More than nine million people have been affected in the Philippines. Many are now struggling to survive without food, shelter or clean drinking water.
A picture is slowly emerging of the full damage wrought by the storm:
- The exposed easterly town of Guiuan, Samar province - population 40,000 - is said to be largely destroyed
- Three-hundred people were killed in the town of Basey, also in Samar, the provincial disaster office confirmed
- Tacloban, Leyte province, was largely flattened by a massive storm surge and scores of corpses are piled by the roadside, leaving a stench in the air as they rot. Hundreds of people gathered at the airport desperate for food and water, others trying to get a flight out
- Disaster worker Dennis Chong told the BBC that assessments in the far north of Cebu province had shown some towns had suffered "80-90% damage"
- Baco, a city of 35,000 in Oriental Mindoro province, was 80% under water, the UN said.
- Read also
- Typhoon Haiyan: Philippines defends aid response
- Philippines typhoon victims' desperation grows
- Philippines typhoon aid operations pick up pace
- Typhoon Haiyan: Ships head to Philippines
- Typhoon Haiyan: UN launches $301 m Philippines aid appeal
-
- These links give you the names of organizations helping the victims of Haiyan:
How to help Typhoon Haiyan Survivors
How to help Typhoon victims
How to help: Organizations offering relief to Typhoon Haiyan Survivors - All for now,
- Cecilia
- tags: Philippines, Visayas, typhoon, storm, super typhoon, Haiyan, Yolanda, CNN, children
-
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