PADANG ,, IN A STATE OF SHOCK...

A powerful earthquake rattled the city of Padang, West Sumatra, on Wednesday, leaving at least 75 dead and trapping thousands under flattened buildings, officials said.
The death toll was likely to increase as many buildings, including houses, hotels, schools and shops, collapsed, Vice President Jusuf Kalla told a news conference in Jakarta after chairing an emergency meeting on the disaster response and coordination.
As communication lines were cut, the number of victims in the Pariaman regency, which is nearest to the epicenter in the Indian Ocean, are still unknown. A Pariaman native, the politician Indra Piliang, said as quoted by detik.com, “almost all houses are flattened.”
Rustam Pakaya, the head of the Health Ministry's disaster center in Jakarta, said thousands of people were still trapped in the rubble of buildings.
The 7.6-magnitude quake sparked fires and there were power outages across the entire city. The roof of Padang's Minangkabau Airport reportedly collapsed, forcing a temporary closure, and roads and bridges were destroyed.
Tremors were felt in Medan, Pekanbaru, Jambi, Bengkulu and other areas across Sumatra Island, as well as in Singapore and Malaysia, meteorologists and witnesses said, causing widespread panic in all affected towns.
A tsunami warning for countries around the Indian Ocean was issued after the earthquake struck Wednesday evening, but was lifted an hour and a half later.
Heavy rainfall later in the evening worsened the situation in Padang, as most victims lacked emergency tents for shelter.
Witnesses told local television and radio hundreds of houses had collapsed and a road to the coastal town of Padang was cut off, while flights were canceled to the city, airlines officials said.
TV footage showed devastation, with piles of rubble and collapsed houses in Padang.
“Hundreds of houses have been damaged, there are fires, bridges are cut and there is extreme panic here. Ruptured water pipes have triggered flooding,” said a Reuters witness in the city, before his cell phone was cut off.
The US Geological Survey said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.9, and struck 50 kilometers off the coast of Sumatra.
However, the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) in Medan put the quake’s magnitude at 7.6. Its epicenter was 71 kilometers under the sea off Pariaman, 70 kilometers from Padang. The quake hit at around 5:16 p.m. for about four minutes along the same fault line that spawned the massive Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004.
The Health Ministry has dispatched medical teams carrying medicine and food supplies for the quake victims. Rustam Pakaya said teams from health agencies in Medan and Palembang were on their way to West Sumatra towns.
“Tomorrow [Thursday] morning about 40 doctors, including specialists, will fly to Padang on a humanitarian mission,” Rustam said.
Another medical team will depart from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta at about 6 a.m., he added.
Medan's BMG spokesman Rifwar Kamin said the areas in North Sumatra hardest hit by the quake included Nias Island.
Although the strong temblor was felt in Medan, no casualties were reported from North Sumatra.
Widespread panic hit Pekanbaru, forcing residents, including Riau deputy governor Mambang Mit, to flee buildings to seek safety in open fields, as traffic came to a standstill at roads across the province's capital city.
Tremors were felt in Pasir Pangarayan, the capital of Rokan Hulu regency, some 240 km from the epicenter in Pariaman. Yuslena, a schoolteacher in Rokan Hulu, said several buses had to stop because their drivers could not control them.
“The drivers were worried they would hit other vehicles so the passengers got off to seek safety,” she said.
Residents in Padang were recently still recovering from the latest major quake in 2007.
They had also felt tremors in the 2005 quake which hit Nias, and the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Aceh and Nias. Follow links for more video about this ) lets pray for them -Clarke Wayne

TIPS for YOU

Most of us will say that ,,,, its better if you started as friends. Yes it is true that when you started as friends it will be a great foundation towards love but of course there is also a possibility that when you started courting her after a long time of friendship the girl will tell you that "it’s better for us to be friends..." and that will hurt more because it is so hard to lose a friend which you love most.
I have a friend that need answers to these questions and I hope I could be a help in my own little way.
Q: 1- Is it really safe if you started as friends when you love someone?

A:1- Well depends on the situation (let’s just say you are friends already for long time ,,that’s the scenario),, well its true to someone to say that it is safe to be friend first, but not to all,,, it is more hard actually to admit that you love her not being a friend but more than..... well there two possible reasons .1st ....she might love u more than friend too and 2nd.... love u being just a friend and that hurts.... and might be the end of your friendship .....but you have to try and whatever the answer will be you have to be ready. Actually when you're friends, you don't really have to do anything, just always be there for her... then let nature take its course. There’s a saying that “if you meant to be .. you’re meant to be "if not.... it’s not” but, you know what, when you've been close friends for a long time, you'll come to a point where you have to go to the next stage/level.Either you become best of friends, you part ways, or you become lovers. Maybe when you reach that point, you'll know both where your relationship will-work best.

Q:2.-How would you know that your friendship will last to love and not as a friend only?

A:2.- The best persons that could answer that is you and her..I think as humans we know how to distinguished, if that feeling is just for a friend or for real . Well if you are doing things which is not normal for being a friend, then that’s it

Q:3- How to court a girl?

A:3- If u want to go courting,...it doesn't take that much to make a really nice girl happy. Girls are easy to please..you don't have to be pretentious, just be yourself....the littlest things make girls happy......ike being thoughtful enough to walk with her or accompany her....being thoughtful enough to ask for their opinions as well...even sweet nonsensical things makes them happy...it's really in the purity & sincerity of the feeling ,,your intension...'cause if your feelings is pure and true, it will show...GO AND TELL HER ..What are you waiting for NEW YEAR... 2010 or 2011 of what?? Always remember this -“It is wrong to think that love comes from long companionship and persevering courtship. Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be created for years or even generations”- Clarke Wayne

A STORY TO SHARE ( Holiday in Tasbi ) >.<

It was an ordinary thing for me to stay home every day, I rather stay home than going out to somewhere (except out of the country tour) else. It is a habit I think “LAZYNESS” hahah but its curable I think. Well I m a home body person according to my parents, I m not fun of socializing ,, sometimes yes but most of the time just stay in my room .Well,, this holiday is not that fun but memorable….. not fun because ,just recently there was a heavy typhoon in the Philippines and the effect was terrible .Some of my friends were affected by the flood. As u can see on my previous posts ,there are hundreds of lives lost and more than 300,000 families in Metro Manila were suffering until now because of the typhoon. Good thing our my family is fine, although our place got flooded too but the water is not that high compare to other places and the water subside already. Memorable because i got to know someone who inspires me a lot. I known that person long time ,,,but hehe,,, thanks to the internet I’ve know him better .
I just want to share to you a good traits that I got from him and I should say only few kids nowadays carry these traits.. I should say thanks to his parents, because they have raised a very good boy like him. He’s just an ordinary boy of this generation ,,, computer ,gadgets, etc….technology is part of his life , so vain especially when it comes to his hair and face >.<, I should say , but despite of these things he remains a very loving kid to his parent and a caring brother to his sister….and of course a patient, understandable, thoughtful, sweet loving partner to his GF.>.< ( I don’t know if I describe him fully at all hhehehh sorry >.<) I like him being him ..and most of all a God fearing boy .He knows the values of being a true Christian, he walks on Christ teaching and lived with it. Nowadays there few teenagers like him , most of them are using drugs, involved in different gangs, alcoholic, to sum up , a liability of their country maybe because of their status in life or how their parents raised them or maybe because the people that surrounds them . But this boy is special …thanks to his parents raising a kid like him …”your parents will be proud of u always” (congratulations ,,he got a new laptop a present from he’s parents >.< ).I know that he’s being in love so much at this time, but I believe that he can balance his study and love equally. He’s more focus on his study despite of being in loved which is a good point. I just hope that he will continue being what he is now… or be more better, stop being so negative to yourself ,, stop comparing yourself to any one of them coz God created each and every one of us having our own Identify ,,you are different from them not because you are a loser but because you are special , you are unique and one of a kind and that’s makes you different from them. Always remember that“ Life is Wonderful and So We Are” –Clarke Wayne.

CRISIS IN MANILA NOW

Philippine flood crisis deepens, death toll at 240
Hundreds of thousands of exhausted Philippine flood survivors crowded into schools, gymnasiums and other makeshift shelters on Tuesday, as the death toll from the weekend disaster soared to 240.
Three days after a once-in-a-generation storm pounded Manila and surrounding regions, officials said they were unable to cope with the enormous number of flood victims who were continuing to pour into the evacuation centres.
"More people are coming in by the hour.... We don't know how long we will be able to sustain this," said Joe Ferrer, a local government official in charge of a shelter on a basketball court on the outskirts of Metro Manila. Related article: Disease threat
"We need clothing, food supplies, food rations and medicine."
Already 3,000 people from the depressed San Andres neighbourhood were at the basketball court, and flood survivors told AFP they were tired and hungry.
The government announced early Tuesday that nearly 375,000 survivors of the devastating rains unleashed by tropical storm Ketsana on Saturday were sheltering in the more than 600 centres. Related article: Typhoon nears Vietnam
The number of homeless was a more than three-fold rise from Monday.
The death toll also jumped significantly after authorities finally started to record those killed in Manila, and not just the neighbouring regions.
The latest death toll of 240 was 100 more than Monday's assessment.
The government said 101 people had been confirmed killed in the capital, up from seven on Monday. Related article: Flood hero who perished
Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said he did not expect another similar spike in the death toll, although authorities had yet to fully assess the storm's economic impact.
"I think for casualties, the increases will be not that great, but the damage figure may increase," said Teodoro, who is leading the relief effort.
After admitting it could not cope on its own, the government on Monday appealed to the international community for help.
"The potential for a more serious situation is there and we cannot wait for that to happen," Teodoro said.
The government said Tuesday that tonnes of food aid as well as foreign experts were on their way to the Philippines.
The United States, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore and UN agencies were among the nations or organisations to have given aid.
President Gloria Arroyo described the floods as a "once-in-a-lifetime" event and in an extraordinary move opened the Malacanang presidential palace to flood survivors. Related article: Arroyo opens palace residence
"Evacuees will be given shelter in available areas among the Malacanang buildings and in tents that will be put up in between the buildings," Arroyo said in a statement late on Monday.
"If required, our employees will yield their work stations to provide more space for our displaced countrymen."
After word of the offer spread, hundreds of people converged on the palace on Tuesday morning and received plastic bags filled with noodles and canned sardines.
"We just heard it in the news that they are giving relief goods at the palace so we walked for one hour," said street sweeper Rosette Serrano, 31, who lost everything except her clothes when her house was submerged on Saturday.
However, officials said people would not be allowed to stay inside the presidential compound and shelter there unless they were first vetted by aid organisations.
"We cannot just allow every evacuee in because of logistical and security problems," Arroyo aide Wilfredo Oca told AFP.

Latest on ONDOY

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government on Sunday pledged to donate $10,000 to victims of a devastating tropical storm that killed 52 and displaced hundreds of thousands in northern Philippines.
"The damages caused by incessant rains and unexpected floods were heartbreaking. The Chinese Government and people were saddened by loss of lives and have deep sympathy with the Philippine Government and people," Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Liu Jianchao said in a statement.
Liu said the fund will be channeled to the Philippine National Red Cross.
Tropical storm Ondoy (international name Kestana) slammed into the eastern coast of Luzon region on Saturday. Heavy rainfall and landslides brought by the storm left 52 people dead, 27 missing and over 300,000 people affected, most of whom were evacuated from their flooded homes.
Full-scale rescue operations started on Sunday as the storm left the country. Hundreds were believed to remain stranded in half-submerged villages and towns near the national capital region