Contributions+from+The+Claret+School,+Quezon+City,+the+Philippines

=Typhoon Sendong report and videos sent by Mr. Rox Cosico who is a teacher at the Claret School in Quezon City in the Philippines.=

There's a lot to be learned in the recent typhoon. Just some facts about the devasted areas because it also have some connections one way or another to the people living in the United States. One of the biggest pineapple and banana plantations in the world can be found in Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon. These products are harvested, packed and shipped to the US under the labels of Del Monte and Dole. To date the typhoon was the worst to hit our country in 12 years, much worse than Ondoy. The death toll has risen to 2,000 and missing to over a thousand. The exact number could never be determined as many were swept into the sea. These places are seldom hit by typhoons. Climate change, global warming,people living beside the river, illegal logging and lack of preparadeness of local officials are some of the reasons for the high death toll. Inspite of it all, Filipinos helped one another as shown by the outpouring of aid that continued up to this day. Nurses and doctors from Manila and other cities spent their Christmas in tents in the affected areas. Thanks also to the foreign community who generously helped us. Here's a real life heartwarming rescue by these Filipino seafarers. They stopped their ship to rescue a group of people that were washed away by the flood in the open sea. I translated some of the dialogue for you.

media type="youtube" key="DanrfZkUrRM?rel=0" height="315" width="420"media type="youtube" key="_lgSYQNHXYQ?rel=0" height="315" width="420" The day after Typhoon Sendong left the country. Along Iligan Bay a passing cargo ship MV Yang spotted some people in the sea. The ship stopped and sent out a rescue boat. They are speaking in a local dialect called Cebuano. I know how to speak Cebuano so I translated some of the dramatic dialogue in the rescue effort. They first rescued a father and her 2 year old daughter. The rescue team went around to pick up survivors mostly children. One of the crewmen said should I swim towards them or what? The Officer said no, we will bring our boat closer to them. Then the officer told the girls on the water do you know how to swim? They said no. They were told to relax because they will rescue them. They were too weak to climb the boat. THey were told to climb one at a time. The Captain of the ship radioed telling them to return to the ship since they are now overloaded. The Captain told the crew not to give cold water just lukewarm water. One of the crew asked if they were in the water since this morning. They replied they were in the water since last night!

The crew asked were they came from. They said their houses were swept away by a huge flood that came from the mountain. They were swept away 12 miles from the shore it’s good that they were seen by the crew of the big ship. The boat’s propeller got stuck from the debris and they have to stop the engine and use oars instead. They found another girl from a distance and rescued her The Captain again told them to come back, but they told their captain that since most of the rescued victims were children the boat can handle the weight, they crew were concerned that the victims still in the water are already so tired and they needed to be immediately rescued. One woman they rescued was holding a plastic jar, the crewman said just drop it, the other crewman said just bring it with you maybe it's important. When the woman was on board she started crying. The woman was crying because she could not hold on to two of her young children last night in the water and they were gone. She was holding a jar of chocolate, the only thing that she was able to grab. She probably fed her children with these chocolates last night before they disappeared. The crewman tried to comfort her and told her they will look for them. To make things lighter the officer asked for their names and make some typical Filipino jokes and asked them not to worry anymore, there's plenty of food and blankets in their ship. then they went back to their big ship These crewmen were heroes. If not for them these people would be swept further away and would probably will not survive. The ship was able to rescue 3 adults and 5 children including a 2 yrs.old girl.

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