REcyCLe BIN

GRATEFUL CITY SAYS THANKS FOR NEW START

Marikina residents pick up the pieces after Ondoy

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By DJ Yap
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:10:00 12/28/2009

MANILA, Philippine – Still reeling from the devastation caused by Tropical Storm “Ondoy” three months ago, Marikina City residents gathered Sunday to give thanks to the kind souls who helped them through a long and tragic year.

Together they prayed that the new year would bring them good tidings and that disaster shall not pass their way again.

Some 20,000 residents from three different faiths — Christian, Muslim and Buddhist — assembled at the Marikina Sports Park for a thanksgiving rally, the first such gathering since Ondoy brought the city to its knees in September, killing dozens of people and destroying billions worth of property and livelihood.

“We give thanks for the compassion we received this year. It is this compassion that can help us move on from this tragedy,” Mayor Marides Fernando told the crowd. “May no disaster of this magnitude ever visit us again,” she said.

The event was organized by the Tzu Chi Foundation, a Taiwan-based nongovernmental organization built on Buddhist teachings, in cooperation with the Marikina City government.

On Sunday, the organization led the thousands in attendance in lighting candles, offering prayers to God, Allah and Buddha.

Tzu Chi Foundation-Philippines chief executive officer Alfredo Li led the Buddhist prayer “to purify the minds of the people, to harmonize society, and that there be no disaster happen not only in Marikina and the Philippines but throughout the universe.”

The organizers said that at the height of Ondoy, Tzu Chi volunteers helped repair the city, providing food and other forms of assistance to the victims, including a cash-for-work program, in which residents were paid P400 for every day of work cleaning up the streets of garbage and debris.

In all, the organization poured in some P60 million for relief and rehabilitation efforts, Li said.

The founder of Tzu Chi, Taiwan-based Master Cheng Yen, said in a video message that people must seek to live simple and frugal lives to achieve harmony with nature and so they may be spared from disasters.

“Only when people’s minds are simple can the world be free of disaster, and we can live in peace,” she said.