Filipino OFW

Perhaps the guys at the embassy there are out of touch with ground realities and are thinking that things are perfectly normal in Saudi or that their countrymen have preferential treatment out there

Nomad: Filipino friends have complained that the Philippines Embassy is charging high amounts to destitute workers / families in Saudi Arabia who want to leave under the amnesty..

yes, the filipino authorities should learn to be humble. the idiot president was just on cnn saying that the 10k estimate of casualties is exaggerated and is probably no more than 2500. like that's important. just because he arrogantly said that there should be zero casualties before the storm struck and he doesn't want to be humiliated. they say it's not the time to criticize and instead focus on the relief efforts, but if you see this kind of incompetence and unprofessionalism from the people who should be leading, should one stay silent? if your president tactlessly told a victim "but you didn't die right?" when confronted with horrible experiences of these survivors and walked out like some loser, should you continue supporting them? it's frustrating.

but it has nothing to do with being westernized. we are far more complicated than that.

i do believe there was some level of preparation, even more than the usual actually. people prepared and are used to weathering storms and typhoons. the thing is, nobody knew how terrible a storm surge could be. i, who grew up with 20+ storms each year haven't heard of the term until this typhoon. i thought it was just big waves at the sea and it would be dangerous to get near it. i only knew what a storm surge was when a reporter said so when the streets of downtown tacloban, which is quite far from shore, began turning into rivers in a matter of minutes. many people went to evacuation centers or were living in 2-storey concrete buildings but were still trapped and killed by the raging waters. where else should they have gone? many people stored food, only to have them washed away. the brat in power is blaming the local government units for not taking action and not preparing well, but what if these local authorities either died or barely managed to survive like the rest of the other victims? it's not easy to say people weren't prepared or have no clue about disaster management.

i have no answers to my questions. i only know that if this happened in the capital, our house wouldn't have survived the onslaught. in the meantime, aid hasn't reached the town where half of my blood comes from even if it's just a stone's throw away from tacloban.

Being struck with typhoons 20X a year average you would think that we should be the most experienced in disaster management, rescue, preparations etc..but we were not. Its unthinkable but it is what it is, what to do? Nothing to do with being more westernized than our neighbors really.

If the Philiphino authorities had to take the time and effort and be humble enough to learn from the disasters in other Asian countries like Indonesia, India, etc and how this countries go about with their disaster management system then a lot of lives could have been saved but here we have government and its people who think they are more American then Asians and don't want to take lessons from more experienced countries in disaster management situated right next door. They could have atleast minimized the loss of life with a little better planning and a more pro active response

How I wish britexpat finally finds his Cuban shot-putter and stop posting silly comments here in QL :O(

How I wish that the Philippines Embassy will not make millions from the plight of the illegal labourers in Saudi Arabia wishing to go home :O(

how i wish my boss will approve the leave request i filed this morning because i also want to go home to my family