The Tragedy in Southeast Asia

14 Minutes ago the new report arrived from Rohan Sullivan in Manilla, Philippines. The Typhoon Parma had slammed into the country and the next level of devastation is taking place now. It is now growing dark very quickly and the huge amount of rain continues to fall as the storm trails away. The rain that has fallen on the high places will now rush in torrents to the low ground for days to come.

Only 8 days ago a previous tropical storm had flooded the country with a gigantic rain storm and many people were killed. Now it is happening again.

One thing that has not been told yet is what direction the Typhoon is going next. Will it be Hong Kong? Will it be Taiwan? Or will it be Vietnam? Wherever it heads – China will get the massive storm as well.

With the advent of the video and the media’s ability to let us see right when it is happening… today’s Typhoons look terrible. The reports this week of the Philippines having TWO storms in a week… seem to shock the western world. It is terrible to see lives lost – but this is Southeast Asia and storms have always come and gone.

Flash Backs…
For me it has offered Flash Backs. We lived in Hong Kong between 1980 and 1985. Typhoons came often. Many times there were two per week during the Typhoon Season. You learned to prepare for it quickly and watch always as to where and what was happening.

Often the Typhoon visited the Philippines first and then bombed Hong Kong.

You likely already know that “Typhoon” is the transliteration of the Chinese expression “Big Wind” (Daih Fung in my Romanized text).

The tragedies in a Typhoon and afterward happen largely to the fringe people that have little to start with. Or another way to say it is they live in make shift homes – often of material that is very loosely put together to keep rain off and offer a place to sleep, eat and live. Because it is so warm the materials need not be heavy.

When 240 kph(about 150 mph) winds come along their simple homes are blown to pieces. If they aren’t then the rush of water down the mountains and through the gullies where many live takes the other toll. People die because of drowning on hillsides… and then in the gullies they are flushed into.

In Hong Kong I witnessed some of the terrible storms that killed hundreds upon hundreds. The people living often in the fringe areas of the city… perched on hillsides and close to gullies… were washed away in the torrents of water running down hills.

The tragedy in Hong Kong was the same as the Philippines is now. The previous storms have loosened the earth by saturating it with water. The earth had been dried out and cracked for months prior to the stormy season. Now with the next storm the entire hill will disappear.

Again in Hong Kong – before we went to live there – an entire apartment building dozens of stories high, perched on a beautiful hillside was toppled and fell to the valley or hillside below. Many, many people were killed.

The Typhoon also makes the sea rage. The giant waves that come with it pick up the gigantic ships and place them on the shore or on the rocks. We watched a number of times where the ship had to be cut in pieces to get it off the rocks… it was only scrap after the storm.

In another storm where many lives were lost it was because of broken laws. The people that had huddled on the fringe of the city illegally were borrowing their electrical power from surrounding sources. Local electricians were paid big dollars to wrap illegal lines around the legal ones and then string power into their friend’s shacks. As the shacks grew more numerous and spread out further up the gully and up the hillside… so did the illegal power lines.

When the huge storm came the water rushed down, the hill gave way and everyone on it came with the tangle of house refuse, old furniture, twisted metal and the illegal power lines. If they were not drowned in the massive water and refuse collection – and they were electrocuted in the water with the wires wrapped around their bodies.

That mess was the worst thing that I have ever witnessed. It was days before the authorities were able to sort that all out. Mixed with the bodies of the adults were the huge numbers of little kids… that could not swim or run or walk out… there was no place to go.

Today’s report rushed at me again. I wonder when it will hit Hong Kong this time? Will they be ready?

It is easy to simply say – they need to flee… get out… run away… get to a safe place. That will not happen because there is no place to go… no way to get there and no one to help.

Waiting until the storm is over is the only way. I wait with them the way that I did in Hong Kong… and pray for so many that will lose so much.. I care but can do nothing but pray.

~ Murray Lincoln ~
www.murraylincoln.com

Source:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i6eatUwlDQQIHZiKqXjLHTmQSrogD9B3IRN80
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2009/2009-10-02-02.asp