On Wednesday, November 6, classes were suspended here in Ho Chi Minh City in preparation of a coming typhoon. Luckily, that typhoon did not come although we were left all panicky after news of Typhoon Haiyan moving quickly to the Philippines.

And sure enough, on November 8, we saw the fury of Typhoon Haiyan  (Yolanda in the Philippines) hitting Central Visayas of the Philippines. The hardest hit were the provinces of Leyte, Samar, Bantayan Island in Cebu, and Coron in Palawan. Leaving in its wake at least 10,000 people dead. It is lucky that the typhoon weakened as it entered Vietnam. We were also very worried over the weekend that our nanny’s family will be affected because the typhoon was predicted to hit Danang where her family is.

My country was far from lucky.

This video of veteran GMA news reporters Love Anover and Jiggy Manicad hurt my heart. It was heartbreaking seeing Love Anover cry on national TV feeling so helpless as she was also worried about her own parents.

GMA News reporter Micaela Papa was radio silent for 8 hours when the storm surged and hit hard the resort where they were staying.

My country is still reeling from the aftermath. The whole of Leyte looks like a war zone — a garbage dump.

Survivors have sent messages to their worried loved ones through Jiggy Manicad and the list of survivors and list of dead loved ones are here. It feels good to read about the survivors but I feel equally sad that they had to inform their loved ones that they have no homes and family and friends have died.

from GMA 7 News

Christmas is just a few weeks away and as you all know, Christmas is the bestest, most anticipated season in our country and it pains me that so much people are left with nothing.  I am appealing to you if you have any way to help, please send your donation. No amount is small.

If you have a PayPAL account, I’d be happy to forward your donation to a friend who is organizing for my group back home. They’ll be sending their donation through GMA News and Victory Christian Fellowship. Just send me a message at hellosaigoncity@gmail.com.

As of writing this, Typhoon Zoraida is fast moving across the Pacific and will enter the south of the Philippines by Tuesday morning.