Tom writes, > I suggest the Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, order landing ship > HMAS Choules to deploy for relief operations .. Reports on the effect of > Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) have been slow to arrive due to the severity .. > Many government staff and emergency workers are themselves causalities. > Debris block roads, electricity supply is limited, as is fuel, vehicle > tires, food, clean drinking water ..
Good idea, Tom. Yesterday another Tom writes .. Hi guys this is Tom / Roxas City, Philippines, we finally have net today My family is all okay but have not been able to contact any one. Could not get to Roxas City for 5 days due to the road being underwater and trees and power lines down every 10 feet Both our houses are up, the rice mill is 80% okay, working on getting the damaged roof repaired using tin from our shop building as none are available anywhere in our area The milling machines are okay but need some minor repairs, hope to start the mill on Monday as everyone is running out of milled rice. Have been supplying most of the area stores the last 3 days with what stock I had milled Around $150,000 USD damage to warehouse etc but have insurance coverage on it but may take months to get any money. We were able to salvage much of the finished rice that was waiting for pickup during the EYE Passage by loading on our 10 wheeler trucks, the back side of storm was not as strong We were very lucky still to have rice left, they say there will be no power for 6-8 months in most areas, maybe 3 weeks before power to Roxas City with main transmission lines down across the mountains 90 % of all houses are destroyed in our area in the province, just one large mess. No aid from any government agency to anyone, 3 helicopters landed 2 days ago and handed out 2 cans of sardines, a kilo of rice and some noodles but only to the hardest hit areas along the coast We have been giving rice to our neighbours and about 30 people are living in my canteen that was a converted container and is intact The NFA was here yesterday wanting us to mill their paddy stock as the government rice mill was destroyed PNP is also posting 8 officers at our place as their headquarters near us blew down, they are thinking there may be problems in a week or so as people will be desperate for food, hoping it does not come to that Road just opened to Iloilo today but takes 6 hours to drive 120KM but not much damage in Iloilo We do not have one tree left standing anywhere, the mountains are all bare, one of the strongest storms I ever experienced Hope I can send this msg to you as the signal is not very good, have to climb up on top of a hill to get signal from Roxas City I hope everyone else is okay take care Tom / Roxas City, Philippines -- Message sent using MelbPC WebMail Server _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
