I was disheartened when I read the following on Yahoo! News this morning.

“Regional bulletins that the 7.7-magnitude undersea earthquake was strong enough to create a killer wave did not reach the victims, because Indonesia’s main island has no tsunami warning system…Indonesia has installed a warning system across much of Sumatra island but not on Java. It has been planning to extend it there by 2007.”

Quote Source: Death toll in Indonesia tsunami at 86 – Yahoo! News
Map Source: Maps courtesy of www.theodora.com/maps used with permission.

What’s the point of having a regional bulletin if the information is never going to reach the people who most need to hear it? Is it not possible to arrange to spend any of the collected donations from the previous tsunami in the area (December 2004) to speed up the implementation of such a system?

I’ll admit, I’m the first one to not know much about these systems. I know the province of BC has one, but the meat and bones of it are well above my head.

I’m full of questions today.

As for all those who’ve sent me IM’s and emails asking if I was affected by the tsunami, thanks for your concern. I’d like to reassure you that I was no where in the region where it occured.

Technorati Tags: tsunami, indonesia, no warning system

After work today a few of us got together and headed to Dencios for breakfast. As far as I understand it, Dencios is a local restaurant chain. You won’t find many western foods there, but if you like sissig and lumpiang shanghi then you’ll probably enjoy your meal.

When Paul and I took the trainees to breakfast here a few months back (it was Paul’s birthday), we took a table inside the restaurant. They don’t have air conditioning – just electric fans – so after a short stay the room was unbearably hot. The main room also becomes so noisy that it’s nearly impossible to hear the person next to you.

This time, we managed to score a table on the patio. For the first time in days, I saw sunlight. Alas, my joy was short lived. Within an hour of our arrival the sky began to darken. Since the patio is covered no one wanted to move inside – especially not with the nice breeze combined with electric fans outside. Tables were hastily shifted away from the edge of the patio and under the wooden overhang.

When the rain came down, it landed fast and hard. Back home, we’d describe it as “sheets of rain” or in some circles “buckets”. It wasn’t as hard as the rain that came with the typhoon and the storm was over in about 45 minutes but I’m definitely getting tired of rain. Similar rainfalls took place in the middle of the night in Makati yesterday. I only remember it raining like this once or twice when I was in India during monsoon season. I can’t imagine having to live with rain like this everyday for months on end. Then again, most people I talk to here can’t imagine living where the weather can dip to -50C (Winnipeg) in winter or where it’s still sunny at 10:00pm (Edmonton) in summer.

I know I haven’t done much except talk about the rain recently. Unlike my trip to India where my daily babbles often centered on food and religion, I just haven’t managed to dive whole hog into the food here. When I was in India, I tried everything I can get my hands on and loved a lot of it. Filipino food is, to my palate, quite bland or too sweet. I also don’t like a lot of fat on my meat, so there’s a number of dishes I’ve tasted that I’m really not interested in ever having again. Other things, such as balut, will never pass through my lips. I’ve no interested in eating a semi-formed duck embryo!

Technorati Tags: Manila, rain, food, balut

Mayon volcano, approximately 210 km south east of Manila, erupted on 07/14/06. It’s happened before and I’m sure it’ll happen again. What’s so amazing about this little tidbit of information is that I didn’t learn about it from any local news source. Despite being smack dab in the middle of Makati, I learned about the eruption when my husband sent me an instant message. Apparently, news of the volcano’s discontent appeared on Canoe.ca. It’s amazing how fast information can travel internationally when it’s barely made mention of locally.

Technorati Tags: mayon volcano, manila

Typhoon Florita made landfall in Manila and I slept through it. Actually, rain was falling in sheets when I left work at 7am and the drive home was slow. It was difficult to see anything through the windshield but luckily the trip back to the hotel from work is very short. The bulk of the wind and rain apparently struck around 2pm when I was snug in bed.

Many of my co-workers weren’t as lucky. Houses began flooding from the constant rain on Wednesday and by Thursday many people were armed with buckets and desperately trying to shift the water from the inside to the outside where it belongs. According to those who have been affected, certain areas of the city are commonly affected by flooding in the “rainy” season. This is scheduled to keep up until at least another month and a half…

The time it takes them to travel to work has doubled and in some cases tripled. Pau has resorted to taking a taxi to work just to make it on time – but this has resulted in a distinct dip in her bank account. The two hour trip by bus and jeepney is far more affordable than taxi’s.

Technorati Tags: typhoon florita, Manila, flood

To avoid the crazy roaming fees ($5.00 CAD/minute) charged by my cell provider, a few months ago I purchased a cell phone to use while I’m in Manila. The phone uses the Filipino Globe network and is pay-per-use. I purchase pre-paid cards and then load the amount into the account based on the phone number. The credits are valid for 60 days from the time of load. Basically, it works the same as a standard pay-as-you-go phone in North America.

All things considered, it’s not too expensive. It costs approximately 21 pesos a minute (approx 46 cents CAD) to call Edmonton and 30 pesos (65 cents CAD) to send a text message. While that sounds expensive by our standards, it’s much cheaper than what I would spend if I were to call home through the hotel phone. A 15 minute call on the hotel phone cost a little over $19 CAD. A 55 minute call on my cell cost $26 CAD. As you can see there’s a huge difference between paying 46 cents a minute and $1.26 a minute!

A predetermined number of local text messages are provided free when you load your card (85 free texts with 500 peso load, 35 with 300p load), but there is a fee for local calling. I’ve noticed that very few people actually talk on their cell phones – they’re all too busy texting and I’ve also picked up the habit.

The free texts add up to a significant number after time and remain on your account even when your phone is out of load (you can’t send text messages when your phone is out of load, but you can receive incoming calls and texts). The number does not reset. Since February, I’ve accumulated over 350 free texts that I haven’t yet used. Each time I load the phone, I obtain more free texts. Despite sending dozens of messages I day, I doubt I can make my way through all of them before I leave at the end of August.

Technorati Tags: cell phone, text messaging