72 DEAD, 23 MISSING IN PHILIPPINES STORM

PHILIPPINES FACES FLOOD RESCUE CHALLENGES AFTER
TROPICAL STORM PUMMELED IT WITH HEAVIEST RAINFALL

MANILA, (Reuters) - Officials in the Philippines said Sunday at least 72 people were killed and 23 are missing and nearly 300,000 people have been affected after a tropical storm tore through Manila and several northern provinces Saturday. The Philippine government declared a "state of calamity" after Tropical Storm Ketsana dumped nearly a month's worth of rain in just nine hours on the capital and more than 20 provinces. The toll will probably rise as waters recede and bodies are discovered. The storm packed sustained winds of 85 kilometers (53 miles) per hour with gusts as high as 100 kilometers.

The tropical storm swept houses away, and hundreds of vehicles were stalled in floodwaters around Manila, more than 80 percent of the capital was under water that swallowed whole houses and buses. Some residents were stranded on rooftops waiting for rescue. Power and water supply failed in some areas. Roads were rendered impassable, making rescue efforts challenging. There are also reports of widespread blackouts. Hundreds of travelers are stranded in airports and along water routes.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

What relish can there be for material enjoyments when we are exposed to hunger, thirst, disease, decrepitude, emaciation, growth, decline and death. The universe is tending to decay - grass, trees, animals - , spring up and die. Mighty men are gone leaving their joys and glories. Beings still greater than these have passed away - vast oceans have dried - mountains have been thrown down, the polar star displaced, the cords that bind the planets rent asunder, the whole earth deluged with flood -in such a world what relish can there be for fleeting enjoyments? Living in such a world are we not like frogs jumping in a dried up well? .

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura :
"Vaishnavism Real & Apparent - Two Minds: Material and Spiritual"