Taaîfung

I was having breakfast with my son, Ryan this morning and he asked me about my business trip to Manila and whether it is the first time that I seen a typhoon? What is a typhoon? I took the opportunity to share with him an interesting fact about typhoon.

The modern form of typhoon was influenced by a borrowing from the Cantonese variety of Chinese, namely the word taaîfung, and respelled to make it look more like Greek. Taaîfung, meaning literally "great wind," was coincidentally similar to the Arabic borrowing and is first recorded in English guise as tuffoon in 1699. The various forms coalesced and finally became typhoon.

Yes, it is the first time for me to witness the massive Typhoon Concon that hit the capital city of The Philippines, Manila on Tuesday, 13^th July, 2010. I was supposed to fly back to Malaysia together with more than 100 business associates of mine from Malaysia, Singapore, UK and Hong Kong. Our flight was postponed due to the typhoon for safety reason.

It is terrifying to witness how the typhoon can hit the city with wind gusting at 120 kilometers per hour causing major traffic jams, aeroplanes grounded and widespread blackouts. It is sad to read the news that the typhoon killed at least 20 people and sixty others were reported missing.

We were all very safe inside the beautiful Heritage Hotel. While I was at the coffee house lounge looking through the glass windows and my heart just felt for the many poor street kids that do not have a home and shelter. Flimsy slum homes were swept away entirely, along with their inhabitants. Those who were left behind have had to scavenge for materials to build new shelters the very next day. Some fishermen went missing and fearing death after their boat capsized off the coast.

Picture showing residents repair their damaged shanty houses along the
coastal road in Paranaque, outside Manila, Philippines, on Wednesday.

Joining thousands of Filipino to pray for the safety of their love ones the assurance of Psalm 9:18 came to me. "For the needy shall not always be forgotten; The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever."

Imagine, this is 1 of the 20 or so typhoons sweeping through the country every year, killing hundreds of people. We are all so blessed that we do not have to live in fear because of the typhoons. For the Filipinos who have to face the typhoons, we pray that they will be strong in overcoming the circumstances and challenges.