08 August 2012

Heaven Has Been Crying: "Siyam-Siyam Phenomenon"

I got to be honest, I learned a lot from Typhoon Ketsana famously known as typhoon Ondoy. The damage to our property wasn't as bad as the rest who really suffered, but the experience itself was traumatizing. We moved to a higher location after Ondoy but I still feel uneasy everytime it would rain hard. It's been raining for 9 days and 9 nights here in the Philippines, particularly over the capital itself and in major cities. They call it the "Siyam-Siyam Phenomenon". I heard that it is an unusual event the last time it happened was several years back that the experts couldn't even pin-point when.
The most dangerous part came night of August 6, 2012. We got home coming from SM Marikina where we had dinner, rain started to pour harder than usual without a single pause. Visibility was zero as I search for the buildings and antennas I used to see from my kitchen window. Nothing but roofs of nearby houses few feet away from our building. Other than that, it was cloudy, and super dark as if a thick "black" mist covered the whole metro. All these in just one night.

The heavy downpour continued the whole night and even got stronger the following day which reached its critical level. Dams and rivers overflowed, landslide reports came in, flood from waist- deep to impossible level was recorded. It was Ondoy all over again. It was slow but it made sure to hit the capital with full force.  At the same time, an earthquake struck yesterday (August 7, 2012), epicenter was in Mindoro, but we felt it here in Quezon City.
Saw this in a video circulating on Facebook yesterday.
 Scene: Riverbanks Marikina Ondoy part 2
Though now my family of 4 resides in the 4th floor of a brand new condominium, standing in one of the highest locations in Quezon City, I'm still restless thinking of the people in the low-lying areas. I have friends and relatives who live in villages that are prone to flooding. It's heart-breaking and crazy to see this place flooded again and all the places that are badly affected by this monstrous downpour.  It's just unbelievable how nature can destroy anything along it's path in an instant.
A verse from the Bible that's also been all over social networking sites hit me:

Genesis 8:20-22; 9:12-17
God's Covenant with Noah
God's Covenant with Noah
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse[a] the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”
9 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.
6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image.

7 And you,[b] be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”-source-

To be honest, I don't read the Bible, I just breeze through it when I'm asked to. But when I came across this passage from Genesis, it made me open myself even more. This phenomenon currently happening to us is just a reminder.

It's been raining for 9 days and 9 nights, now on it's 10th. I noticed that everything began on the eve of the railroading of the RH Bill in Congress. I mentioned the RH Bill because it is the only issue that divided the people of this country since the rebirth of it days ago.

It made me realize that... and as posted on my Facebook Wall: Heaven has been crying for 9 days and 9 nights going on it's 10th day, maybe it's about time we look into the things we've done "as keepers" of the life handed to each one of us. It was entrusted to us not to change it or do whatever we want with it, but it was given so we can take care of it and give essence to its very purpose by doing things right.
0o0o
Spreading hope and love to those in need.

My husband and I are looking for ways to help. As the rain continues up to this day, we are also stuck in our very own home. As initial help to those in need, through this blog I am sharing a video of a concerned individual who's making a big difference by monitoring the event and by providing information on how to provide help. Please continue to pass this video to our fellow Filipinos around the world. Donations from any part of the globe are welcome and thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

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