This is a dreadful time to romanticize my life but yep, I did. So everyone is gone so it’s just me and the cats. I’m not apologizing for sleeping most of the day. The power went out at around 4 pm. I reported a power transformer explosion incident (which sounded like it) to Meralco and after 4 hours, power was restored despite the inclement weather. Kudos to the linesmen of Meralco for doing repairs round-the-clock.

I didn’t bother cooking. I just cooked rice in the rice cooker and had cold cuts. Slept and cuddled with the cats.

And of course social media is so toxic today. The whole of Mindanao is flooded. Children have died in Maguindanao and Cotabato. Farmlands and homes are flattened. Then people—opposition and admin–have the gall to quarrel online.

I had to express my disbelief and anger at the callousness of people:

There are members of the pink movement who are toxic. They said they will not help because Cotabato is red, Mindanao is red. You know, this kind of attitude and noise alienate the people who we must convince that they made a wrong choice.

Yes, we are tired of the stupidity of the electorate but this is not the time for hubris. Help but then we demand accountability from those who are in power. That’s how we turn the tide.

A revolution is not an overnight thing. It is a long and slow build up.

Don’t be myopic.

And I keep sharing this call for donations because Community Pantry PH still couldn’t raise enough money for relief. I also donated whatever meager resources I have right now. Tomorrow I will check Angat Buhay HQ or Ateneo if they need volunteers or what other resources they need. I need buy a cavan of rice and boxes of ready-to-eat food.

We all know that the government is incompetent so we do what we can. We need to educate the electorate and wean them away from social media that is propagating lies and disinformation that allowed the Marcoses to be in power. And here the asshat himself is asking why the Mindanao tragedy happened. Damn you, cretin! What parallel universe are you living in?

To answer this from a more educated standpoint, I shared with a veteran journo why PAGASA’s storm warnings were not heeded by people on the ground:

My sister’s PhD dissertation on climate change mentions the localization, not only of the language, but also of the concepts introduced/reported by disaster mitigation agencies so it’s not PAGASA’s burden alone. It needs close coordination of MDRRMC, PDRRMC and National DRRMC. PHIVOLCS under Punongbayan and Solidum explained it in a paper very well (I think I have posted it here on FB) that’s how they were able to save lives during Pinatubo eruption. Disaster mitigation agencies should have good comms people so important information are dispatched immediately to local government units. I learned when I was communicating with some of these agencies, they don’t have budget for proper comms or even training. Communication in such agencies are just afterthought. Last time I had talked to them, they were arranging a training under UPLB CDC. Not sure if this pushed through. The science may be right but cascading it down to the grassroots is a whole different story. Before Yolanda (Typhoon Haiyan), how do we even explain and localize the concept of “storm surge”? “It is like a tsunami,” is the default answer. But how do you localize tsunami and the idea of it? How do you localize 500 mm of rainfall? Mass media plays a major role in this one. But mass communication is not enough to move people, it is the local targeted comm that moves them.

I didn’t mention that I was the one arranging the communication training of PAGASA with my undergrad college and I was already talking to the dean of the graduate school (who happened to be my sister in my Greek-letter organization) of my undergrad campus about the needs assessment and the curriculum for the training. It all started two years ago with a Twitter discussion on science communication (my undergrad specialization) and disaster mitigation communications and/or the failure/lack of it. Then somebody from PAGASA reached out to me on Twitter asking for help regarding this one. One thing led to another. This couldbe a working dissertation for me if I were to pursue my PhD. My Greek-letter sis and another friend who used to be the chairperson of my grad school in UPD and I were discussing about writing a proposal about this, which could be extended for my PhD—if I I suddenly go crazy and think of going back to school.

I’m big on communication campaigns and grassroots communication and how it can mobilize science into something practicable.

All in all, I became stressed with all these Twitter exchanges with toxic people.