Name: Jonathan M. Esconde Section: IB Subject: ENGL07 Instructor: Mrs.

Rose Ramirez

I. TITLE: AFTER THE STORM: Stories ni Ondoy AUTHOR: Elbert Or GENRE: Natural Disasters - Non-Fictional YEAR: 2010 NO. OF PAGES: 128

II. A.)SETTING Marikina City, Philippines TIME: September 25, 2009 PLACE: Metro Manila Situation:
In September of 2009, Typhoon Ondoy (International name: Ketsana) came to the Philippines to the Luzon group of provinces, to be more specific. September 26 will be etched in the memories of many as a day of tragedyand a day of heroism. Ondoy wasnt a super typhoon. It barely warranted the name typhoon when it hit the Philippines. But the destruction it left was massive.

B.) CHARACTERS 1.) PROTAGONISTS The Filipinos 2.) ANTAGONISTS Typhoon Ondoy 3.) SUPPORTING CHARACTERS The Filipinos

C.PLOT
In September of 2009, Typhoon Ondoy (International name: Ketsana) came to the Philippines to the Luzon group of provinces, to be more specific. September 26 will be etched in the memories of many as a day of tragedyand a day of heroism. Ondoy wasnt a super typhoon. It barely warranted the name typhoon when it hit the Philippines. But the destruction it left was massive. My personal Ondoy story isnt special. I was stuck inside a car for more than 12 hours. Big deal, right? Heck, I didnt even know most of what was going on outside the confines of the car. I got a couple of friends asking me how I was during the time, because I live in the flood capital of Metro Manila, but that was it. For the most part, I thought it was just another storm, nothing extraordinary.

It wasnt until eleven in the evening, when I finally got home, that the situation really hit me. Though we live in the flood capital, we were also lucky enough to be in one of the higher parts of the city. In the two decades weve been living in our village, the worst flood we had reached our shins. And that was at the lowest part of our village. But the night of September 26, while our house was unscathed, the same couldnt be said for our village. Fifty steps from my house, all you can see is water. And a raft carrying half-a-dozen people. Our village turned into a lake. By Sunday morning, September 27, the water was gone. It felt like a bad dream. And while our village was lucky in that the water was quick to leave, the rest of the metro wasnt as fortunate. The pieces in After the Storm were mostly written in the midst of and immediately after the typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng in 2009. The writers share their experiences of the typhoons, their insights and reflections, their hopes and aspirations. Long after the news media has moved on to the next big headline, After the Storm hopes to stand as a written record to remind everyone that this happened. We were there. We are still here. I admit that I bought After the Storm because of guilt. The only help I was able to give was to use the Twitter account of the website I used to work for, to direct and redirect calls for volunteers and relief goods, answer questions I could answer, and to retweet pertinent information to the accounts followers. At the time, our website was operating with a skeleton crew, and as they say in the entertainment business, the show must go on. So that was my excuse.

CONFLICT PROBLEM Man vs. Nature Because of damages on their properties, lost of their homes and vehicles and the death of a lot people suffered by Filipinos because of Typhoon Ondoy.

D. THEME Tragic and heroic.

III. Point of View

IV.COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS Even in the times of calamities the Filipinos still want to risks their lifes in order to help people even if they didnt know that people, help even in little things and helping each other called Bayanihan.

And that was at the lowest part of our village. But the night of September 26, while our house was unscathed, the same couldnt be said for our village. Fifty steps from my house, all you can see is water. And a raft carrying half-a-dozen people. Our village turned into a lake.

By Sunday morning, September 27, the water was gone. It felt like a bad dream. And while our village was lucky in that the water was quick to leave, the rest of the metro wasnt as fortunate.

And that was at the lowest part of our village. But the night of September 26, while our house was unscathed, the same couldnt be said for our village. Fifty steps from my house, all you can see is water. And a raft carrying half-a-dozen people. Our village turned into a lake. By Sunday morning, September 27, the water was gone. It felt like a bad dream. And while our village was lucky in that the water was quick to leave, the rest of the metro wasnt as fortunate. The pieces in After the Storm were mostly written in the midst of and immediately after the typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng in 2009. The writers share their experiences of the typhoons, their insights and reflections, their hopes and aspirations. Long after the news media has moved on to the next big headline, After the Storm hopes to stand as a written record to remind everyone that this happened. We were there. We are still here. I admit that I bought After the Storm because of guilt. The only help I was able to give was to use the Twitter account of the website I used to work for, to direct and redirect calls for volunteers and relief goods, answer questions I could answer, and to retweet pertinent information to the accounts followers. At the time, our website was operating with a skeleton crew, and as they say in the entertainment business, the show must go on. So that was my excuse. The real reason I didnt help was because I didnt want to face the tragedy. Not then. I survived when so many didnt. I lost hours, while other people lost the ir livelihood, their houseseverything. So instead, I logged on to Twitter every chance I could get to pass around calls for help. Calls I myself didnt answer. Seeing After the Storm in a bookstore, these words caught my eye: The writers share their experiences of the typhoons, their insights and reflections, their hopes and aspirations. Beautiful words. I was sold. But while actually reading the book, I mostly felt angry. The introduction was beautiful. And a couple of the essays were poignant. One essay, An Unpopular Opinion on Volunteerism by Luis Buenaventura II was logical, and I actually thought his essay has a good point. But most of what was in the anthology

infuriated me. Especially when I came to these gems: Why volunteer? You get a good workout. You have something to write about in your blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Really? Thats a few of your reasons for volunteering? And then there are the essays that do nothing but pontificate. Theres no other word for it. I really wish I could end this post with a recommendation to buy this book. But I cant. For me, this is a lesson I must learn: never let guilt decide when buying something. Especially a book.