KBGS Old Boys' Forum

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Re: Postcards from the Philippines

Just to let you know that, on checking my Emails this morning(7.30am), Arthur has left a short message, posted 8 hours ago, that they have survived the storm and will send more details later. Should be an interesting blog to look forward to!!

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1945-50

Current location (optional) Keighley

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

I cannot think that David, who is quite a bright lad, could have missed that, Brian. Good to know that Arthur and Sion are safe, so thanks, David.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1951-58

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

The worst hit town seems to be Tacloban, about 170 miles North east of where Arthur and Sione are. They are estimating in excess of 1000 dead there.
But there is also a lot of flooding on Cebu Island which is nearer to them.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

We had ample warning of the Super typhoon and made plans to survive. This involved gathering furniture into piles and plastic sheeting it against the possibility of a lost roof We put our movable valuables in the car, fed the dogs and found a stocky little hotel. The room had a comfortable bed, air-conditioning, hot shower that worked, television and a view. We sealed off in our cocoon and waited for Friday when Yolanda was due to make landfall on Leyte Sione liked the room so much she wished we could have a super-typhoon every week.
I kept track of Yolanda through my internet and noted it would landfall at Samar or Leyte and then track West-northwest across central Visayas. This track would carry the eye away from us but Yolanda had a 600 mile diameter so we could expect high winds and rain. Yolanda came and went and left us safely intact
Yolanda swirled her petticoats and felled two trees, blew up a transformer but little real damage here. The devastation in her path is coming together now and 10000( ten thousand) are feared dead in Leyte Province alone, Tacloban has been 80% destroyed, bodies in the streets, widespread looting as people scavenge for food, which is understandable, but which escalates into televisions and radios. Complete lack of power, cars piled on top of each other by 10 metre storm surges.
So our little adventure proved a bit of a pussy cat really although the devastation further afield is catastrophic and as yet only vaguely understood.
As it appeared to quieten Friday afternoon Sione went out on the motorbike to check the house, five minutes away. She returned very quickly her journey unfinished. The trees were being bullied by the wind, she was the only one on the road, She was frightened. She went again later and reported that there was no damage to anything in our home so our plan had been happily a success/ Of course not everyone has a Sione to care for them,She did all the hard work preparing and continues to enjoy my admiration and gratitude. I am stranfely proud to have been in the presence of the world's most powerful typhoon ever recorded, albeit peripherally, and survived. More later. Thanks for your concerns.

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

Thanks Arthur, Pleased that you werent affected too much. I always realised it was going to pass some miles north of you but expected you would get a substantial fall out from it . But I am saddened that so many Filipinos have perished and my thoughts are with their families, and particularly those who are homeless.
A massive clearing job for the Government now.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

Thanks for your concerns. The clean up has begun but the logistics are severely clogged by enormous swathes of debris and fallen trees. Dead bodies everywhere in Tacloban but that is a city there are many remote communities which have not yet been heard from. Estancia on Iloilo was 100% destroyed, completly and utterly swept from the earth.There are probably many more like that particularly coastal villages.
Food cannot get through to many places and where it would be local government that responded to this they themselves are hampered by lack of transport and communications. They are a resilient breed the Filipinos and come earthquake and typhoon they will survive.
Yolanda chilled the seas sucking cooler water up from the depths so a Tropical Depression formed off Mindanao is likely to remain such and not develop before making landfall. We will see.

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

Some images and stories coming out of the storm- wrecked islands

This little boy
a graze under his right eye,
a soiled red t-shirt,
dazed and puzzled beyond reasoning,
eyes glazed with dismay
wanders through his crippled broken world,
looks for his lost parents.

This weeping father carries
with loving gentleness
the body of his small drowned daughter,
his tiny broken doll
the swung arms
he loved, dangle.

This old lady
her mouth and nose hidden
under a scalf
to mask the stench
of the bloated bodies she passes,
looks for water.

A soldier contemplates
the monstrous sculpture
of a bus upon a car
and a ship upon
the bus.
How?
What dreadful power
has placed them so?

A citizen seeks
to understand
how his burgeoning green paradise
Is stripped of every leaf
and become a desert of debris
where buko palms
stand like broken umbrellas.

A food warehouse collapses
eight looters killed-
all for a bowl of rice.

A miracle at the airport.
A young pregnant woman
watches Yolanda wash
her grandmother , mother,
and her children
out to sea
she swims
holds on to a pole for two hours
drags herself ashore
walks several kilometers in bare feet
hitchhikes to the airport
and in a ramshackle make-do clinic
after five hours labour
gives birth to a baby girl, Bea Joy
named after her grandmother Beatrice
lost in the storm.

It is a terrible thing we watch
- the people here are resilient
and indomitable
but they do need help.
With courage and patience and skill
they will begin again
they will rebuild their lives
their homes
their cities and villages
and ravaged municipalities
but they need the wherewithal
for Yolanda left them nothing.

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

Lovely writing Arthur, even though it paints a harrowing picture, we here cannot really imagine what its like for the Filippino people

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

Arthur, you've gone silent on us...

Hope all is well,

Doug

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

Silent? An unusal state for me. Thanks fpr your concern but truly I am fit and well and content. Sione's father died late last year and so somethings have become becalmed. A Low Pressue Area has been skulkimg off the coast of Leyte giving us unseasonal cold weather and grey skies. It turned into a Tropical depression and we all watched it with some trepidation but it degraded back to LPA and yet lingers in the same place, give or take 50 kilometers. We remain wary with Typhoon Yolanda still clear in our memories as Tacloban seeks to create normality from the wreckage.

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

Hi Arthur, By the time you read this it will probably be your 81st birthday, in which case 'Many Happy Returns of the Day'. Enjoy! David

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1945-50

Current location (optional) Keighley(Still)

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

thank you David. In fact it is the 3rd here tomorrow is my birthday but to be honest I have stopped counting. Regards Arthur

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

So like us you look forward to Christmas except we have to survive something first. The Super Typhoon Hagupit ( What an ugly name) has entered our area of responsibility and become Super Typhoon " Ruby".
She follows pretty much the same track as " Yolanda" that flattened Tacloban last year and caused 3000 deaths.
We will have rain here and some strong winds but it will generally pass north of us. It is expected to make landfall Saturday night/Sunday morning.
Sione has bought batteries. for torch and radio, lighters, water , extra food, topped up with petrol, packed two emergency packs in case we have to move.President Aquino has said in any one is not prepared for Ruby they have only their selves to blame.As a matter of interest stores in Tacloban have closed because they have sold everything.
If you do not hear from me for a few days do not fear the worse. There will be inevitable power losses and broadband down.
See you all later.

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

Good to hear from you Arthur. Hope all works our well and you and Sione keep safe.
If its not too early , have a Great Christmas and Happy New Year.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

Thank you Brian and the same to you. I think we have taken all the sensible precautions available to us.Sione is worried about storm surges but I try to explain the storm is coming from the wrong direction to threaten us with that feature.

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

I guess the worst has passed now, and the storm weakened. Please do let us know how it was for you

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

Well she came and rioted and razed and lashed her way across the Central Visayas before gathering herself to bid farewell to Manila. How do I know? I watched it on television because she never came near us here. Not one drop of rain. Not enough wind to turn a leaf. No brown out. Ruby was a pussy cat. Of course I am not disappointed. Ruby was a right bitch but not here. Only 27 deaths nationwide but that's because one million were evacuated to centers of safety and food and shelter. It took over two days but they emptied Tacloban of families. 11000 families and that's a lot of people. They gave plenty of warning in terms of preparation time. They had rolling stocks of food and material distributed over the track of the typhoon. . They had learned from 'Yolanda " Regular radio reports and television updates.The Philippines could teach the world after her example during this typhoon. As Aquino said , if anyone was unprepared this time they had only themselves to blame.

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

Thats good news Arthur, thanks for letting us know.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

Sad to report that brother Arthur is spending his 82nd birthday in hospital in Dumaguete having been taken ill on January 25th. We are told he has pneumonia and one or two additional health problems which they are dealing with at the moment. I have been in touch by Skype at his bedside, with his partner Sione who tries to answer my questions as well as she can. He is taking medication on a regular basis and at this stage we are not sure just how long he will be there. More news later. In the meantime, Happy Birthday, Arthur! David

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1945-50

Current location (optional) Keighley

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

Dear Arthur

Sorry to hear you are in hospital and not on top form. Here's wishing you a speedy recovery and a resumption of your much-read 'postcards'; and in the meantime, as Happy a Birthday as your present condition and location permit you.

Doug

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1951-58

Current location (optional) Keswick, Cumbria

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

Just to echo Dougs sentiments. Get well soon, and make the best of your birthday. Asyou know I have happy memories of many visits to the Philippines.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

Hi Arth,

Don't know where this news came from - but here's wishing you a Bfd St recovery from all the lads and lasses that knew you back then - and are still awaiting your next posting.
Terry

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1952-60

Current location (optional) Nirvana

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

Get well soon Arthur. Miss postcards. Gareth

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1954-59

Current location (optional) Denholme

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

Anyone had any recent news of Arthur ? Many of us here miss his posts.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

Better check 'Family Notices' Brian.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 1959 - 66

Current location (optional) Shoreham by Sea

Re: Postcards from the Philippines

Ah thanks dave, had missed the post from David.

Years at KBGS e.g. 1958-1964 (optional) 58-64

Current location (optional) Wirral