Lessons from Yolanda and Pablo

 

LESS than one year ago, in December 2012, Typhoon Pablo (international name: Bopha) whipped through the eastern part of Mindanao island, flattening many lands and flooding even areas that have never, ever previously known a storm. A state of national calamity was proclaimed then. Now the country, nay the world, is coming to grips with the utter devastation brought about by Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) that struck the Visayas islands, causing the biggest damage in the eastern part, including areas that residents swear were never flooded despite regular typhoons. Again, a state of calamity.

We’re seeing a recurring theme here and even non-believers of the climate change phenomenon will have to accede that there is a changing weather pattern going on globally and the Philippines appears to stand pretty much in the center of nature’s whims. And so we must learn if we seriously want to save lives and property in future torments that are not unlikely to come. Brushing off climate change as a reality will do no good to disaster-preparedness. That indifference topped with corruption make a fatal combination that will surely negate risk-reduction initiatives.

Acknowledging climate change means, for example, that we need to begin thinking now beyond the usual evacuation procedures and facilities. Authorities and everyone else can no longer rest easy on the simple knowledge that certain places have never been devastated. As Pablo and Yolanda have shown us, everywhere is fair game for nature. And without battling corruption, we will continue to see the lack of or substandard equipment and infrastructure as well as limited manpower and appropriate skills for preparations, rescue and relief because public funds are diverted to personal accounts instead of towards disaster risk reduction programs.

It’s a chilling thought, but after Mindanao and the Visayas, could Luzon be next? We don’t have to be scared. We have to be prepared.

 

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Where is government?

 

IN the absence of government, what happens?  Chaos.  Anarchy.  Lawlessness.

We saw all that on TV in the Nov. 8 aftermath of the grim and terrible devastation that supertyphoon “Yolanda” had done Eastern Visayas, particularly Tacloban City.  Ignoring cameras trained on them, people ransacked two malls for food, water and everything they could lay their hands on.  They were hungry and thirsty after nearly 90 percent of the city was flattened by the howler that triggered sky-high storm surges, killing hundreds and injuring thousands more.  With local government also a victim — the airport’s chief security lost three members of his family — authorities were nowhere to be found when the looting was on.  Toppled communication lines aggravated the calamity as Tacloban was cut off from the national mainstream, literally rendering government almost non-existent and, therefore, helpless in the face of unimaginable tragedy.  Result?  Relief and rescue operations were slow in coming. And so the people asked, and still continue to ask: Where have all P-Noy & Co. gone?  Forsaken, left in the cold, was the Boss.  Help delayed is help denied.

Mother Nature, how brutally cruel can you be that even governments are no match against your wrath?

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