I’m sure everyone has his/her own story to tell about Ondoy. My cousin and I were almost stuck at the Shaw underpass (on our way to Pampanga) but we were lucky to have been able to reverse the car as the water started quickly rising. Had we been just a little earlier, we could have been easily trapped. We were able to take shelter in Megamall and go back to Makati in the evening when the water subsided.
But I could very well relate to the Ondoy victims. About 14 years ago, we lost our ancestral house in Pampanga to lahar. I’ve experienced walking several kilometers in chest-deep and smelly water and lahar (really sticky!), seeing your things destroyed and just floating around, pulling your car out of the flood, riding a dump truck – name it, I’ve been through it! When you undergo such an experience, you realize that material possessions don’t really matter. Yes, it’s good to have nice things but we will survive without them. What’s important is that everyone’s safe and alive. We’ve to remember that material possessions can be replaced (though sometimes, it may really take a long time) but our loved ones or any one’s life for that matter can never be replaced.
P.S. When you lose possessions, more often than not, it’s not the most expensive ones that you really regret losing but things that have sentimental value like your childhood stuff, photos, letters… but even then, we can still get over the loss. Again, these are merely physical possessions. What’s important is we’re still able to cherish the memories:)
