Be still and know that I am God

Once again, we have been experiencing again heavy downpour of rain causing floods all over the places. Some affected areas are in Metro Manila, and in Northern and Southern Luzon of Philippines. We are lucky that our house here in Naic, Cavite (Brgy. Bagong Kalsada) is not that prone to flooding.

I still remember last 2009, when Typhoon Ketsana (International designation: 0916, JTWC designation: 17W, PAGASA name: Ondoy) devastated parts of our country, our home was one of those in our town who were not affected much by the flooding. We were even shocked when we found out through the television what was happening to other provinces. Many homes were lost, lots of lives were taken, and even those who were saved, moving on and moving forward were difficult.

And now, in this time of year when storms are most usual, we are alarmed once again that maybe next time when the storm comes, it will be harder. That's why there is nothing better to do than to prepare, as the saying goes, "Hope for the best, expect the worst."

I'm sharing this list of emergency hotlines which might be helpful to everyone who might read this:

For emergency situations, you may call:Philippine Red Cross hotline - 143, (02) 911-1876; HQ - 527-0856 National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) - (02) 911-1406/912-2665/9125668 National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) - (02) 911-1406/911-1873/911-1906 Meralco - 16211/16220/09175592824/09209292824 Manila Water - 1627 Maynilad - 1626 For rubber boat/4x4 truck requests - National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) - (02) 8383203/8383354 For rescue dump trucks, text - 09174226800/09276751981 Philippine National Police (PNP) Hotline Patrol - 117 or send TXT PNP to 2920 Bureau of Fire Protection (NCR) - (02) 729-5166, 410-6254, 431-8859, 407-1230 Philippine Coast Guard - (02) 527-3877, (02) 527-8481, 0917-724-3682, 0917-PCG-DOTC Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) - 136 Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) hotline - 7890 or 0918-8848484 Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) - (02) 304-3713 North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) hotlines - (02) 3-5000 and (02) 580-8910 Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) hotlines - 0920-96-SCTEX (72839) Skyway System Hotline - (02) 776-7777, 0915-6256231, 0939-5006910 South Luzon Expressway (SLEx) hotline - 0908-8807539 Quezon City Rescue - (02) 927-5914 Quezon City General Hospital - (02) 920-5002 Marikina Rescue - (02) 646-2436 Pasig Rescue - (02) 631-0099 Taguig Emergency Hotline - 1623 Manila Traffic Hotline – (02) 527-3087 Cainta Traffic Hotline – (02) 646-0044, 655-7368 loc. 164 Las Piñas Traffic – (02) 874-5756, 874-3957, 874-3927 Mandaluyong Hotline – 534-2993 Taguig Traffic – (02) 838-4301 loc. 7112 Marikina STOC – (02) 646-1651 Pasig Traffic – (02) 643-0000, 724-5813 Makati Public Safety Dept – (02) 844-3146, 819-3270 

Let us always be prepared and when all else fails, remember to pray. Well, nothing still beats faith. And I'm sharing this song with you, I hope it calms you as it does every time I hear it.