A few of you have emailed me over the last 24 hours asking if I'm safe in the Christmas Day typhoon.
Yes I am fine, we now live in Iloilo City about 4 hours from the affected area. Sadly though, all my sponsored kids and families are affected.
Jerry and I had planned to go to Estancia for Christmas and spend 2.5 weeks there with his brothers. But in the lead up to Christmas all my writing work dropped off and I just couldn't justify spending the money. So we had a quiet Christmas in our apartment.
The typhoon was totally unexpected and flash flooding started at 5am. There were families washed away in the next town from Estancia and there are a number of casualties -- plus people still missing.
At least 15,000 people are affected but reports are still scratchy.
There is currently no power or phone signal in the town of Estancia. The flooding was severe and I've seen reports they were at record levels.
I've left messages with all my sponsored families and Jerry's brothers to contact me as soon as they come online, but remember many of these people are incredibly poor.
Some of the richer families have posted photos to Facebook and I have seen several of our sponsored kid's houses with missing or damaged roofs.
Jerry has emphatically told me he doesn't want to go to Estancia, so for now we will wait until I have more information.
There are power poles down and lines all over the roads so I didn't think it was the best idea to travel into a disaster area.
The family I am most worried about are the one's who lost their daughter Rosemarie in October. They live in a bamboo shack on the side of a hill and I saw pictures of structures not far from where they live that were totally flattened.
I realise that my readers here have followed the stories of these people for more than 5 years now, and many of you have supported them as well. I will keep you all posted when I have more news.
Oh, and I almost forgot, there was an earthquake that registered 4.9 last night at 8.20pm. Jerry and I (and most people in our apartment complex) evacuated for about 25 minutes when the floor started swaying. Not sure how it would have affected Estancia as that town was closer to the quake.
Hope to have better news in my next email. All our love and blessings from here.
Mel and Jerry
