MANILA BULLETIN - Typhoon Disaster Part 2

by Heidi Ng
November 24, 2013 




Typhoon Disaster
Typhoon DisasterIt has been an overwhelming past week for the people in the Visayas. And I am still full of sadness with what has happened to us. I think one of the ways we can regain our strength back is really to jump into action and being proactive.

Different friends have organized bazaars, or ukay ukay sale where their beloved designer clothes, bags and shoes were sold this weekend to raise funds. Kaye Tinga of Red Cross, wife of former Taguig mayor, has organized a sale at W17 to sell off designer goods to benefit the typhoon victims. My friend Lucy Torres-Gomez, congresswoman of Ormoc City, has rallied her friends to gain awareness that apart from Tacloban, her city got badly damaged as well. Actor Richard Gomez even uploaded a photo of their house in Ormoc without a roof.

Major telecom providers have provided free calls, LBC has provided free shipping of relief goods, restaurants have donated proceeds of restaurant sales to charity, and the influx of foreign aid in the form of humanitarian efforts and financial aid have poured in. Days ago, the government has vowed to create a website to show transparency in the aid details and where the aids will go. I hold my breath that this will happen in the days to come.

People in the showbiz industry have been auctioning off their
branded items to raise funds. Most notable of all is the auction of Regine Velasquez of her precious Hermes Kelly, Celine luggage tote, various Chanel bags, Gucci bags, timepieces like Philip Stein, Bulgari, TW Steel, and shoes like Christian Louboutin, Gucci, and Prada. This week, there are men’s shoes for sale, too. To join the auction, check out Facebook official page of rvfriendsofficial to join the silent auction. Miriam Quiambao also auctioned off her orange Hermes Jean Paul Gaultier bag to give to Yolanda victims. Grace Lee gave away her clothes for Vicki Belo to sell at their Greenbelt branch.


The rest of my friends gathered forces to do relief work at Villamor Airbase and conducted their own fund raising efforts. I cannot help but smile amidst all these because people care. If we care this much for our country, then we can probably move forward to being first world soon. If other people can help us, we can surely help ourselves.

Thank you European Union for the 10 million Euros donation, Canada for the $5m plus whatever is donated by their citizens, the Canadian government will match it. Thank you South Korea for the US$5m donation, Australia for the $10 million assistance, USA for sending troops and financial aid worth US$20m and countries like Britain, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Taiwan, New Zealand, Germany and the Vatican for the other donations.

Comments

Popular Posts