I'm not big on praying.
I'm not too sympathetic to most people as alot of times they cause their own trouble.
But look at that monster in the pic above. I've seen hurricanes, but this has got to be the biggest, most destructive thing to come along in a long time. Check out the eye of this storm. Its tight, this beast is ready to fight and its going to take lives. It might have already hit, I'm late to this news but this one time I hope we're ready to go with aid to the Philippine people.
They're going to need it.
They're going to need it bad.
Prayer seems a good option. Its officially been labeled the most powerful storm since records began. This bad boy is packing 275 km/h winds...
ReplyDeleteMy fellow Filipinos are gonna need a lot of prayer and aid. Thanks for this one!
ReplyDeleteUS Embassy in Manila has allocated $100,000 for sanitation and other supplies. A meager US$100K!
ReplyDeleteUS Marines are on standby.
100k????? PATHETIC! watch China and how they respond. that'll tell you all you need to know.
DeleteSol,
DeleteMy apologies. My post above was written in haste.
1. I am familiar with Tacloban City. It's one of the country's bread basket in terms of rice (food staple in the Philippines) production. This super typhoon has completely eradicated rice product in that region by as much as 3 months to a full year. This does not include the number of rice mill that are severely destroyed. The electrical supplies will, most likely, be totally non-existence. The wooden electrical poles may have 99% destroyed and need to be replaced. No electricity translates to no phones, no water.
2. The airport sits on a "finger" between a lagoon and the Pacific Ocean. The storm swamped the airport, damaged all the gear in the tower (windows smashed).
3. The local pier would be a no-go zone until someone can asses what damage or sunken debris are found underwater.
4. Fuel supplies would be "iffy". Not sure when was last tanker delivery to the depot. The town's got local police to guard the fuel depot. Next question would be the supply status at the pumps. Diesel will be in demand to drive generators and heavy gear to clean up.
Summary: No power, no water, no means of communication and fuel supply is not certain or when the next shipment of fuel will be. Airport won't be operational for the next three to four days (minimum). The only way in is via the road or sea. The road will be strewn with debris so cleanup of that will be faster. The sea will require USMC and/or SeeBees.
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DeleteIf USMC/USN will be involved, LCAC will have to be used. It's going to be another Leyte Invasion all over again. But this time, it'll be a landing on friendly soil. Position the LHD/LPD south east of TAC (Tacloban City) and start moving men and material into RED Beach. Cleanup will have to come from Red Beach and move northward.
ReplyDeleteUS government gave two Frank S Besson Class LSV to the Philippine Navy. Don't know how many are operational but these two would work well since the port of Tacloban can handle Ro-Ro vessels.
LCACs can't be used, we had this experience in 2004 in Indonesia, even the normal LCUs had to be careful, too much underwater/onshore debris, the LCAC's skirts will be ripped to shreds.
DeleteSol, I don't think the Philippines will get much Asian aid, they pissed off quite a few people playing political games in the past decade. Case in point, Singapore actually has 2 LPDs just next door to them, one in Australia on routine training exercise, the other in Singapore as a public display, but the Philippines government would not give them clearance and would rather wait for the US/UK help, which would take god knows how long to get there rather than help which is there now. Malaysia? Well, Malaysia just suffered an invasion from the Philippines earlier this February. Cambodia got embarrassed as ASEAN chair when the Philippines did not get an all ASEAN condemnation of China's claim to the South China Sea and went splashing their condemnation of Cambodia all over the media. Karma at work. Act like an arse and it comes back to bite you. And the unfortunate part about it is that the people suffer, not the high muck-a-mucks. Not my POV btw, that is the observation of the opinions of the countries in the region. I personally prefer slaps that do not involve the innocent, which the people who are affected by the typhoon certainly are. Not their fault their politicians are venal.
Don't count on the Philippines government for sympathy to the people. And don't count on Asian sympathy for them either, they make their own messes sometimes.