STRIKE.

Disaster strikes again. And this time it strikes really hard. How devastating, how heartbreaking... typhoon Ondoy hit us so bad.

I was always just an outsider... an onlooker. I only ever see the aftermath of a storm in the news... the flood, the people crammed in evacuation centers, cars getting stuck, children playing in the flood water... all those were just seen on TV. I watched the news earlier today here in the comforts of my parent's home and saw the same thing... each picture more devastating than the next. My heart went out to all the victims.

Then... I saw our own barangay featured on the news, too. The exact street that I walk on on the way home... except now, I can't see the road. Our neighborhood is flooded and so is our home. It's not half as bad as what the other families are going through but we are directly affected, too. I am no longer an outsider or an onlooker.

I am sad and worried because my dog, Duke, is there... left to the care of our neighbors. And our neighbors, our kind neighbors, are stuck there too.

With a threat of another storm coming in, I made a plan to go back there and bring some food and water to them and to get some of our things too, just in case. I'd want to bring my dog along too but I don't know how and where to take him. I will also need help but I don't know yet where to get it. I can only pray that God will spare all of us further grief... we have all been through so much already. I don't know how much more we can take. Please, dear Lord, help us...