NICK WRIGHT
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Epicentre

18/12/2021

20 Comments

 
Picture

​A disaster unfolds.
​​
Viewed at a distance of 22,300 miles (35,880km) through the lens of a weather satellite in space, the super typhoon that hit the Philippines this week looks quite majestic, its swirling shape displaying a serene, mystical beauty about it. Viewed from ground zero in the eye of the storm, it could not have looked and felt more different. Zoom in now to Jasmin, a poor woman braced with her children, wind and rain battering their fragile home ferociously. Typhoon Rai is one of the strongest storms recorded on Earth this year with wind speeds of 150mph (240kph) as it slammed into the islands.

The wind rips off her house roof viciously, as if lashing out with a merciless knife, and the windows shatter, exploding glistening shards of glass everywhere. She runs downstairs with her family to hide under the stairs, praying hard to Jesus, Saviour, in the pitch blackness of night with the deafening, terrifying roar above and around them. As morning breaks and the winds and rain start to subside, the devastation around them emerges from darkness like a war zone. The house looks like an empty shell and everything she had owned has been destroyed. (The poor have no savings – and no insurance).

People are walking around, dazed and dismayed by what has just hit them. Power supplies are down and long wooden posts covered in tangled cables lay broken across the roads. Debris is everywhere. People’s homes and possessions are strewn around heartlessly on the streets, as if by some angry, deranged monster. Jasmin looks around for water. Nothing. People are fighting to get onto passing motorbikes to look for help in the city. The petrol price has leapt to £8 (US $10) per litre overnight and the bike fares have soared high with it. Banks are closed, ATMs down and shops broken. No cash.

Emergency vehicles with supplies can’t get through, even if they are available and want to. The roads are impassable and impossible. The village is the epicentre of a disaster zone. The floodwater from the storm risks overwhelming the fragile sewage system, contaminating any fresh water that remains and creating a dangerous public health hazard. Fears arise that corrupt officials may covertly divert relief to their own families, friends and political supporters. All infrastructure is wrecked – and desperate people can become dangerous. The poor are left to pray, hope and fend for themselves.

Jasmin calls me, briefly, with a weak and faltering phone signal. She urges me to be calm. ‘Jesus is with us’, she says, with a strength of conviction that makes my own faith feel weak and pallid by contrast. Her battery goes flat and the call breaks off. There’s nowhere to charge it and no access to cash to buy a top-up card. She’s still looking earnestly for water, her children are too, and there are long queues of scared and frustrated people everywhere. Her words are ringing loudly with me as I write this and await further news: ‘Jesus is with us.’ Light shines in darkness. Remember the poor.
20 Comments
Johnson
18/12/2021 07:09:03 pm

We stand in faith with Jasmin and her family and everyone out there, that as she has confessed, 'Jesus is with us', God's protection be with them, supernatural provisions and supplies such that beats our imagination is made available to them in Jesus name, Amen.

Reply
Nick Wright
18/12/2021 08:12:31 pm

Thank you, Johnson. You reminded me of the verse in the Bible - that God is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine. Thank you for your support and prayers at this difficult time.

Reply
Lorena Barradas
19/12/2021 12:21:09 am

The wind was whistling. it was a scary Wednesday when the typhoon hit us.

Reply
Nick Wright
19/12/2021 09:05:06 am

Hi Lorena. I'm sorry to hear that you experienced the typhoon too. Yes, I can imagine it must be very scary. I hope you and your family are safe and well. God's peace this Christmas time.

Reply
Lorena Barradas
20/12/2021 09:06:26 pm

Nick, thank goodness we are safe...

Nick Wright
20/12/2021 09:12:56 pm

Hi Lorena. That’s good to hear. 🙏

Lilin
19/12/2021 01:50:11 pm

Its hard to read and harder to live though the disaster

Reply
Nick Wright
19/12/2021 09:22:46 pm

Hi Lilin. Yes indeed - and well said.

Reply
Tara Parker link
20/12/2021 03:28:36 pm

Nick,

You are a good friend to her and have given us the gift if being able to know she’s here. She is hope and love and strength.

Reply
Nick Wright
20/12/2021 05:45:56 pm

Hi Tara. Yes - hope, love and strength are great words to capture the spirit of Jesus in Jasmin..!

Reply
Jona
20/12/2021 06:32:57 pm

Thanks for the update.

Reply
Nick Wright
20/12/2021 08:48:50 pm

Hi Jona - you’re welcome.

Reply
Olivia Harris
21/12/2021 04:49:58 pm

This is so hard to read - just heart-breaking. Dear Jasmine, I hope you are safe and well...praying for you and your family x

Reply
Nick Wright
21/12/2021 10:51:10 pm

Thank you for such kind and heartfelt words, Olivia. I will pass on your message to Jasmin. 🙏

Reply
Paul
2/1/2022 01:11:45 pm

It's like a scene out of an apocalyptic movie Nick. The only difference is that the characters and the places are real. We in the Philippines are grateful that people like you in the UK took notice of our disaster-prone country. You not only sent us words of encouragement but also assistance in whatever form.

Reply
Nick Wright
3/1/2022 12:59:58 pm

Hi Paul and thank you so much for your note. Yes - that is such a great and vivid way to describe it. I can only imagine it from afar. :( Thank you for ALL you have done for Jasmin and for so many others in the midst of everything that you, too, are dealing with in that situation. You really are an amazing inspiration to me. God bless you and keep you safe.

Reply
Steve Travis
10/1/2022 11:36:08 am

Hi Nick. Hopefully, things are starting to get back to ‘normal’ with food getting through to shops and utilities working? What was the response of the government? Or are they far more corrupt, inept and uncaring for their people than I had imagined.

It is difficult for people to really get it and sometimes it feels the scale of the problems are insurmountable, a bottomless pit of need. What will my little bit do? People also could never understand how messy poverty is, the one step forward and two back, the fragility of resilience.

This typhoon being an example, wiping out fragile livelihoods. We continue to pray for Jasmin and her family as they recover from this.

Reply
Nick Wright
10/1/2022 11:58:15 am

Hi Steve. Thank you so much for your prayers. I will pass them onto Jasmin. You expressed it so perfectly: "Sometimes it feels the scale of the problems are insurmountable, a bottomless pit of need. What will my little bit do? People also could never understand how messy poverty is, the one step forward and two back, the fragility of resilience."

In Jasmin's area, the electricity and water supplies are estimated to take around another 8 weeks to restore. The cost of building materials and labour have gone through the proverbial (missing) roof with demand way outstripping supply. It makes repairs unaffordable for the poor. The question becomes one of how to survive and sustain hope.

The corruption issue is, in some ways, the most depressing and despair-inducing. It appears that unscrupulous builders had paid off equally unscrupulous building regulations authorities to approve substandard houses that were totally unfit for purpose. The result has been widespread angst and devastation. The poor have no access to legal support.

Jasmin visited a slum area at the weekend that had been ravaged by Covid, then a suspicious fire that destroyed people's makeshift housing, then the typhoon. The people there said central government had provided emergency funds...but via local authority officials who used the cash to buy themselves new cars etc. Nothing has reached the poor.

Reply
Steve Travis
10/1/2022 09:51:07 pm

Hi Nick, the tragedy is the rich and the middle income government workers would be more wealthy if they were not so corrupt and greedy. It they cared for the poor, it they invested in education and health then there would be more wealth creation not less. It is the difference between China and India.

Nick Wright
10/1/2022 09:53:37 pm

Hi Steve. I guess what I've noticed is that the corrupt officials are often most interested in immediate personal gain, rather than what would perhaps prove more broadly beneficial for all - including themselves - in the longer term if they were to behave differently. I'd be curious to hear more about what you see as the differences between China and India in this respect.




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    ​Nick Wright

    ​I'm a psychological coach, trainer and OD consultant. Curious to discover how can I help you? ​Get in touch!

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