How Facebook and Twitter are helping us overcome Ondoy

For some, Facebook and Twitter are notorious time-wasters. People have raised their eyebrows at the ardent Facebook and Twitter users who spend their time collecting as many “friends” as possible, updating their contacts on what they’re doing, eating, or feeling at the moment, playing mindless online games, and leaving comments on other people’s statuses or pictures.

Ever since Typhoon Ondoy hit us, however, I’ve been constantly checking both sites. No one knew or expected that Typhoon Ondoy would cause such havoc on us. We were completely unprepared, and left shocked beyond our belief. It was just Signal No. 1, and we’ve definitely had stronger typhoons before (remember how Milenyo left us in tatters?), but even without the crazy winds, people were stuck in their cars on the road for hours, stranded in malls, wading in waist-deep water and scrambling onto their roofs for safety! During crises like this, I usually keep the TV for news updates. But when I logged on to Facebook and Twitter, I was overwhelmed by the updates that come in by the second. More than simply news updates, I saw several videos and pictures of how bad the flood got, taken by people I knew. I was beyond shocked when I saw familiar places like Ayala Avenue transformed into a river of floodwater. I saw my friends complaining about being stuck in traffic for hours, sharing their stories about how they begged some shop owner to let them pee in their rest room or having to leave their cars and walk (or wade) through the flood. I had a friend who was asking for the flood status on Facebook as her phone was about to die; she was afraid that she couldn’t walk home. I saw reports on malls that didn’t house their employees for the night, names of people who were missing, addresses and locations of those who needed to be rescued.

All these updates online made Typhoon Ondoy’s effects feel very, very real. When our contacts are sharing their own experiences and thoughts in real time, you understand on a deeper level how closely Ondoy hit home. Instead of just waiting for news updates, we got ourselves more involved. We re-posted, re-tweeted, and reacted. All our reactions reverberated all throughout the country, making us realize how badly our country needs help.

By Sunday, people were relentless in re-posting and re-tweeting ways on how you could help. People called for donations and volunteers in various universities and network stations, and before long more donation sites sprouted all over Manila, from shops to fast food joints as well. This information spread like wildfire, and from their status updates, you could see that people were rushing off to bring and pack relief goods. Their “exhausted but happy” feelings were contagious, and you couldn’t help but start packing your own goods and heading for the nearest place you could offer your help. In one of our re-tweets, we said that anyone can help by simply praying, donating, volunteering, or just re-tweeting important information. We’re not helping because everyone else is doing it, but we suddenly felt the sense of responsibility to our countrymen. None of us had the excuse that there was nothing we could do. There are also live updates on what relief goods are out-of-stock in specific sites or are over- and understaffed. Now, we’re spreading news on villages that are being looted and need security, people who are still missing, crocodiles that are loose (oh, dear), and fake Facebook accounts set up to make people look bad. (Let’s all be careful before re-posting or re-tweeting information that might be fake!)

Amidst the aftermath of the horrible floods, we’re starting to see and feel a little hope. Online, we’re starting to see people’s questions on missing people being answered, people assuring their friends that they’re okay. We also see several stories of heroism and inspiration. I’m sure you’ve seen the pictures of Gerald Anderson and Jericho Rosales swimming and surfing in their own communities, trying to help their neighbors. There are a lot of other stories of those who offered their time and energies to help, from a young man who swam back several times to save his neighbors to countless students in Ateneo helping re-pack goods.

It’s really inspiring to see my own friends and the rest of the youth taking their own initiative to help. I keep seeing online that several schools are already overmanned! When I went back to my own high school to donate goods, I saw so many students helping out as well, instead of taking the day off to hang out in the mall. Some of my friends have even started Donations on Wheels, for people who have goods to donate but have no means of transporting them. (Contact Gerald at 0918-9791229, Raine at 0917-7974098, or Meg at 0932-6991794.) I can’t help but feel so happy and proud of everyone. The situation may still seem bleak, but I have a feeling that we will overcome this together. Facebook and Twitter have had us glued to the computer many times, but this time it’s really inspiring us to get out there and do something for each other.