Wazzup Pilipinas!
William "Bill" Shaw writes about the typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) tragedy but is focused more on the stories of the survivors from Tacloban. I attended his Book Launch a few days ago on the 18th of February at Nuvo Bar, Greenbelt 3 in Makati city.
The book is entitled "Yolanda: The Roaring, The Waves, The Waiting" about the typhoon that happened two years ago but brought a lot of despair throughout the Philippines striking Tacloban as among the worst to be hit by the disaster.
There were several lives and properties lost during that day when the sudden flash floods hit and the worst is for the ones left behind, the survivors, who were left without the presence of their loved ones anymore. The hardest part was the times when they were looking for their families when they got separated during the typhoon and hoping they survived. The saddest is when realizing they are gone, and even more devastating is not finding them at all. There were around 6, 300 recorded dead and maybe more since it is difficult to accurately get the numbers especially for provinces like Tacloban.
I am a victim also of a typhoon but it was Ondoy that struck us here in Metro Manila. I was in Pasig that day when the floods engulfed our business establishment where we run a computer rental business. It was a weekend so our children were with us that day and you can't imagine the fear we had when we couldn't even guess when the storm will stop and how high the waters will get. We were actually on the rooftop waiting to be saved but the authorities would only reach us the following day and would not even make efforts to rescue us as most of our areas were 10 feet or more under flood water. So were left there on the roof waiting for the waters to subside.
When the waters finally went down, we are left with all our hard-earned possessions water-damaged and mostly destroyed. All the computers, around 20 of them, including the printers, scanners, storage drives, and other accessories like bulks of papers, and other school supplies, even the computer tables and chairs, went under water. But we may have lost material possessions, we are still lucky we did not lose any of our lives.
Two of the book's subjects, Dana and Allan Labita was present at the book launch to share their message and recount their experience in Tacloban during and after Typhoon Yolanda. It may have been more than two years already, but I can still feel the hurting inside of them. We will never forget the sorrow especially when we lost a loved one, and I can sympathize to what they have gone through thinking it could have been the end of the world for them.
Also present at the book launch is Dan Stephen Castillo Palami, or Dan palami, the manager football greats we all know as the Azkals. It was my first time to learn that he is also from Tacloban and is affliated with other organizations and endeavors aside from managing the Philippine men's national football team since 2009.
Bill was off to Tacloban the next day to reunite with the people whom his stories were all about. The book is the story of 7 survivors living in Tacloban before, during and after Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan). Bill shares his insights in the book as perceived by a foreigner who was previously an aid worker who volunteered in Tacloban distributing food, relief packs, and helped in the building of homes for the survivors. The book was launche din Tacloban on February 20, 2016 at the "Lighthouse" at Lot 36708, near Payapay bridge.
I still have to find time to read the book as it is the months when bloggers are too busy with so many events like product launches, press conferences, restaurant reviews and many more. Also, it is the generation when most of us now read online and e-books instead of the physical book. Though there is totally a different experience when you're actually reading a book and turning pages rather than swiping through our tablets or smartphones.
Be sure to check out his book and purchase one or two as 80% of the proceeds will go to the disater relief efforts in Tacloban of Kids International Ministries (KIM), the organization which Bill volunteered before.
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
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