Day009: Haiyan Journal; No one has ever seen, heard and imagined
November 17, 2013 Leave a comment
Tags: Disaster Relief
Haiyan Path
Haiyan Statistics
– I have 70.03 hours of PTO left [cannot effectively go home and help in two weeks time period]
– need to figure out “other” creative ways to help to the disaster site without leaving my home
“But as the Scriptures say, “No one has ever seen, no one has ever heard, no one has ever imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” Isaiah 64:4” 1 Corinthians 2:9 ERV
When people say that “we’ve never seen this before”, it becomes more of an expression of surprise than anything else. We are just being surprised and could not make out a word or statement. The truth is, there will always be a “first” for everything.
When the typhoon Haiyan was coming to the Pacific islands, the meteorologist monitoring hurricanes in the Pacific front were saying that they had never seen this type of typhoon before. They sent out warnings to the countries that the storm were going to be traveling. The people in the particular countries who were in the path took the advice and did everything they could to prepare. Typhoons don’t hit the town without warnings. There will always be heavy rains with high winds. I grew up in a typhoon battered country where the typhoons are named alphabetically, Haiyan named as Yolanda – meaning it was the 25th to hit the country, we are not surprised anymore with these type of warning. We’ve heard that statement before.
But the storm watchers were dead on about their predictions. The Typhoon landed in the country where I was raised, the Philippines. Oh, it’s not just the country where I was raised, it landed in the place where I spent my first 24 years of my life. I know the town by heart that I can even draw on paper the map of houses and the names of families that lives there
Sad to say that I am now residing in the U.S when the calamity happened. I now have my own family here in my comfortable home for more than 20 years now. But I still have ties to my hometown. We take vacations there from time to time. In fact I’m committed and decided that I will spend my retirement life in the same town. My 81 years old mother and a sister still lives there. My mother reminds me often that my bedroom upstairs is still well preserved and waiting for me.
As the recovery of the typhoon moves on, I can only imagine in my mind how my family and my hometown goes through all the difficulties they face. Sometimes I feel guilty that being the only son in the family of 5, that I should be there to facilitate on the recovery of things. I was trained by my father to act on his behalf, to handle situations and to improvise when impossibilities are up ahead. But guess where that only son is — he is somewhere else and unable to lend a physical hand. My 3 sisters are now the substitute in my absence. They just have to do what I should be doing by now. It is really a sad thing to think that I could be more useful there on the disaster site than where I am now, but I can’t change the fact that I have to help them in some other ways creatively while I am away from the actual disaster site. It really breaks my heart that I could not lift a finger to help someone out there. The pictures in the news does not tell the whole story. When I spoke to my mother and sisters, they told me things that pictures can’t even describe.
In November 5, 1991, the typhoon Uring touched down in Ormoc and claimed roughly 5000 lives in one city. I was there in Ormoc during the incident and saw what a true face of a calamity is. Everyone said that they had never seen that disaster before and many skeptics said that the place needs years to recover. After a few years, the city recovered and the traces of the flood and lost lives and properties vanished as the people diligently work hand in hand to rebuild the city.
As an observer of typhoon Haiyan and through my personal reading of news footage and watching pictures sent through smartphones to social media sites, I can say that the recovery from this disaster might take years or even decades to fully recover. The country is already at a very poor economic state with corrupt politicians mostly taking leadership at various sectors of the government. Most came to office through vote buying and coercion and political leverage. One might ask, where do we start? There is problem with infrastructures like roads, bridges and communication lines. Then there is the problem of basic necessities in life — like food, water, clothing and shelter. Then there is a problem with farming industries where mostly the town depend on — the rice field, the corn field and the coconut farms were destroyed.
I’ve already asked and settled this question with God before and I longtime promised to Him that I will never question His Sovereignty — “His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts.” On that early morning after the flood in Ormoc, I walked alone in the street covered with a 2″ thick mud that I can barely pickup my feet to take another step and on the side of the street I saw lifeless bodies lying untouched. I was speechless and felt guilty at times why I survived and they did not. I persistently ask God to give me a reason why “these” things has to happen. The Word He gave me that “His thoughts are higher than mine” — meaning He has something in mind. We can never truly understand His plans and actions. We can try to imagine and piece together but we cannot fathom what He really is thinking or planning and we will just be generating more questions than answers if we keep trying to find answers. When the World Trade Center was destroyed in September 11, 2001 and when the tsunami struck Thailand on December 26, 2004, I was reminded by the same answer. We can never understand why bad things happen to humanity, why God sometimes allows a disastrous event to happen. Why the already poor family had to suffer more. Why the people that live in uncomfortable homes had to lose their homes. Why the needy had to need more? Why can’t He just make the typhoon zigzag into areas that there will produce less damage to properties and human lives. Why can’t He just stop the storm just like the way He calmed the storm in the Sea of Galilee. Why can’t He …?
To my family and friends and fellow countrymen in the Philippines. Maybe this event is what we are waiting for. We wanted change, we wanted reforms in the government, we longed for a different Philippines.
Maybe this event is the starting point. In our small effort of personal recovery, maybe we can plant a new seed towards our future. This calamity is not the end but a beginning of a glorious recovery of a struggling nation. This moment is where we can start a fresh initiative.
I understand that sometimes the faithful in Christ can sometimes be shaken during this time of despair, but I want to encourage everyone to hold on to your beliefs, doubt sometimes, question Him sometimes, blame Him sometimes but don’t discount that He is not just the beginning of something. When He start something, He finishes it. He is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega.
Truly, “no one has ever imagined what God has prepared for those who love him”. He prepared something. I’m excited of what it is…
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