Two weeks ago, typhoon Ondoy (Kestana) hit Metro Manila, rendering nearly all the cities there helpless, as water flooded not just the streets, but also homes, business establishments, malls and other places. Many residents lost everything that they owned, some lost their loved ones.

The help from the local community is impressive. The help from the international is staggering and humbling. I saw a lot of programs, fund-raising campaigns and drives going on around the world, and news about donations pouring in was truly awe-inspiring. Manila is getting back on its feet.

However, it still isn't done. Not even a week later another storm comes knocking. "Pepeng" or Parma spared Metro Manila, but it's hitting the Central and Northern Luzon areas very badly.

In Pangasinan, a Northern Luzon province, 30 out of 48 towns are submerged in water. Many areas have already reached above-head levels. Baguio City's roads are closed due to landslides, while some areas are also experiencing flood. The Zambales town of Botolan is still deep in floods that started early August.

It's kind of hard to describe the terrain of the provinces. Baguio and the surrounding Benguet area belongs to the Mountain Province. Zambales, Pangasinan and La Union are a mix of seaside and land-locked towns.

Here is a map of the affected areas: [link]

List of news articles on Typhoon Pepeng: [link]

What's sad is that there is very little media attention being given to the happenings of the area, compared to when Typhoon Ondoy was happening. I've been putting out Tweets and Facebook messages about what's going on for about a week now, asking for updates but not getting any in reply. News are also few, which frustrates not only me but a lot of people who are from these areas or have families there.

I am not saying this is a worse situation than the previous storm, because it's never really proper to compare one natural calamity to another especially if there's a lot of tragedy and loss. However, I'm appealing to everyone for help:

Media - give us news about these towns! We want to know! We have families and friends who live there and we don't know what's going on with them!

Government - send rescue teams there! We can't rely only on volunteers and private citizens. We need you here too!

Citizens - gather help, spread the word. Even if we can't do anything short of flying there and pluck the people from the waters, we could gather supplies, find ways to get them there. We were able to do it for Ondoy and Manila. I'm sure we can do it again.

Please pray for them as well.