A newbie speaks(or is that blogs?)

Seeing flooding from a Red Crosser's view is nothing that what I am seeing here. First, I tend to be a "data Collecter" and that is not relevant here at all. Yes, you find out that at one shelter they only receive rice and sardines once every other day (the same exact amount if there are 1 or 10 in a family)but then these people often go hungry (no job) and the typhoon took their entire house away. Now you must remember that this"house" is about the size of a small bathroom made of cardboard or if they are lucky corragated tin sheets. Second, the remains of muck and mud are gone. It does not "look" like a flood went through here unless you go close to the river. During the typhoon the water was as much as 10' high and now it is only 2', but it rained heavily last night. The water has no place to go so it just sits there (black and mucky) and is not expected to go down until the first of the year. Meanwhile, the people in shelters (old school gym) remain and wait (remember on rice and sardines) 'Most lost everything and the government did bring in blankets so each family was able to "construct" a walled in area (kinda like using the old fashioned clothes line) Finaly, let me tell you the difference between US disaster victims and the people here. US wants everything replaced now. "This wasn't suppose to happen to me." Filipino people are the type that says: well pick ourselves up and get going. FEMA is on the field and running 2 days after a disaster, the govenment here is thinking that having a department for disasters may be a good idea. They are just now thinking that maybe some low income housing may be a good idea and perhaps a work incentive program to offset the economic downturn. Remember before the typhoon there was a rate of 80% unemployment. My new nickname is "Useless" because I commented that I did not have enough to do. Here it is not what you do but what would God have you do.. Sometimes it is just sit here and see people not a disaster! Thank you reading the rambling thoughts of a newbie but I am just now starting to "process" what I see. Lori