Typhoon Ondoy Relief Fundraiser  “After the deluge of the
terrible storms, there will always be a rainbow, a grander
scheme to rebuild new lives.”  The Typhoon Ondoy as you may have
seen over the news, destroyed thousands of homes in the very
city we live in. That day, I got a phonecall from my sister to
ring up emergency numbers to call in Marikina.  A friend of hers
reported the big Marikina river had swollen and fiercely pushing
out to the banks at 10am. Our country has no consolidated 911
emergency response teams, needless to say, there was nothing on
the web to call except for the mayor’s office.  As the day
unfolded,  I recieved text messages from friends, people
stranded on top of their roofs, asking to report it online. 
There were countless stories of being stranded for 18 hours up
on rooftops as the floodwaters rushed in their homes in as
little as 3 hours. People, cars and trees swimming  precariously
in side by side, washed out into the metro’s streets. It was
mayhem as the rains continued nonstop