Word of Concern

You may not know it, but we have some very friendly readers from the Republic of the Philippines—good photo folks just like the rest of us around the world. At this moment the poor Philippines—without much protection, and with a large population—are being slammed by a monster storm that makes even Hurricane Katrina pale, a super-typhoon said to be "at the high end" of Category 5.

We're deeply concerned about our Filipino friends and all their countrymen, and send them our thoughts and fervent hopes for their safety.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2013 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

JJ: "Hi Mike, just a friendly reader from the Philippines here. Appreciate the sentiment. There's going to be quite a number of lost homes, and the evacuation centers are going to fill up. But we're resilient, and when the news photographers arrive, you can bet your pool table that we'll have our smiles on, ready for our closeup. God keep us all."

Comments

[Earl Dunbar]

My company has thousands of employees there, I have worked with some of them. Wishing them safety.

[ReD Ognita]

Thanks for your thoughts, Mike. I am currently in Manila and it's OK for now. The other parts of the country are getting the worst of it and there's nothing in TV aside from the typhoon and preparing for it.

That typhoon really looks big!

[Martin Doonan]

Yes, indeed. A lot of work going on here at present (Friday morning) to prepare for this.

News this morning says it is the strongest ever recorded globally at landfall.

[ReD Ognita]

The Filipino Spirit is Water Proof.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/315321_10151135455620831_1402763911_n.jpg

Credits to source

[Tony Roberts]

Amen.

[Bill]

May God bless them.

[Don Spady]

Mike
I appreciate your humanity.
Don

[Sarge]

Thank you, Mike.

It made land fall in Leyte early this morning just South of Tacloban (my wife's hometown) and its eye may have passed right above my hometown (Jaro).

My folks were forewarned and ready when I talked to them last night. Phone lines and cell sites are down since the typhoon hit (my sister-in-law's call was cut off in mid-sentence). Power was preemptively shut down since last night. It will be sometime before we get in touch again with our relatives and friends living there.

I have photographer friends based in Tacloban. I'll be looking up their photos of the aftermath. Here's an aerial photo of Tacloban City by Gerry Ruiz which shows how vulnerable it is to a storm surge.

Gerry has other photos of Tacloban (and Leyte and Samar) in his blog. I hope the super-typhoon doesn't alter the landscape much. That the loss of life will be few. This may be a forlorn hope because Haiyan may be the biggest typhoon ever, and folks in the typhoon belt had been sanguine to its dangers in the past.

[William Barnett-Lewis]

Amen.

Nothing more, nothing less. Just the old word for "God, may it be thus".

Amen.

[Michael Daniel]

I echo your concerns. Whilst I don't know anyone in the Philippines personally, my first thought when I heard of the storm was for Romy Ocon (Liquidstone), whose bird photography I've always found an inspiration. Here's hoping that the impact is as minimal as possible under the circumstances.

[Jordi P.]

I have some Filipino relatives. They are fine and safe but lately it's been quite hard for them. Recently there was an considerable earthquake and given climate change the storms are progressively getting more violent, which doesn't help at all.

Thoughs and prayers for all.

Went there a few years ago and the experience was really inspiring.

[Kiko Reyes]

Thank you for this post, Mike. Although i myself am on the very edge of the huge storm, the wind and rains come and go. I can just imagine how it is in the center. Whats worse is that the places hit recently with a big quake which destroyed some beautiful old churches, are right in the middle of the storm.

We can only hope for the best.

[Carlos L. Esguerra]

Thank you, Mike for your concern for the people of the Philippines. Although based in New York, I am a Filipino who has been following your blog for many years.

I just returned from there after a two months stay. I went through 4 typhoons, 2 of which were back to back within my first month.

Mabuhay ka!

[Alex Vesey]

Amen. It is a beautiful country with wonderful people, but it sits astride a common storm track for typhoons that continually take lives and disrupt infrastructure. May they recover soon.

[Tzen Xing]

Best wishes for their safety

[Tom Simonsen]

This hurricane was a bad one; the worst one ever measured hitting land, according the last report. So there will a lot of damage and loss of life.

I hope the rest of the world will do their best to help in the aftermath. I have a soft heart for Red Cross, so my donations will go there. They will need it.