Punchline
Are we ready for tsunami?
The havoc wrought by both tropical cyclone Ondoy and Typhoon Pepeng was unprecedented and without a doubt, extremely traumatic for thousands of Pangasinenses. All too sudden, we were made to realize how truly vulnerable we all are in the face of a force that man has no control over – the wrath of nature, or so it seemed.
The event was not your usual type of calamity where waters simply rose and inundated communities and farmlands, or roofs flew off houses and walls crumbled displacing poor families. For the first time in the lives of Pangasinenses, the rich and the poor, the corrupt and the deprived, felt they had no one to turn to but themselves.
Worse, what was unimaginable became real. When no one thought the shocking images they saw a week earlier of people in Metro Manila seeking safety in roofs, or people and vehicles being washed away by mudwaters could happen to them, these happened at a time that no one expected.
Everyone went ho-hum when Typhoon Pepeng skirted the province and was reported to be hovering only at the tip of northern Luzon. Little did anyone suspect that the province was ill-fated to suffer its worst flooding ever in just 3 days. It will be recalled only signal No. 1 was hoisted over Pangasinan the whole time since the signal no. 2 proved to be a dud. The rains that poured continuously certainly did not appear to be threatening, not for me and certainly not for the thousands who suddenly found themselves at the receiving end of a vengeful nature all because the pea-brained officials at the San Roque Dam decided to play God.
You might say, pointing fingers at this tine will do no good but I say it will especially in the aftermath of the 10/9 deluge. The magnitude of the destruction of last week’s disaster could have been greatly minimized if only San Roque Dam had not compounded the situation. One doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand what caused our misery. It was the decision of the San Roque Dam management to wait for the dam to reach a peak level before releasing a huge amount of water that wiped us out. Simply imagine how a sandcastle built patiently over an hour on the beach slowly erodes and collapses as oncoming waves glide through it, and how it is flattened in an instant when a big bad bully decides to dump a gallon of water over it. That’s exactly what happened to us last week.
I say the bully must be made to pay till it hurts.
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GREAT LESSONS. There are definitely hard lessons to be learned from our last week’s devastation.
People now know who and what is the great leveler is in our midst. The 10/9 deluge reminded us that man is created equal in the eyes of God. From the aftermath of Ondoy and Pepeng I do know that the smug, powerful and haughty among us will never ever have to think that they are invulnerable. If the corrupt judges wont hang them, the likes of Ondoy and Pepeng will.
What a great leveler this 10/9 deluge proved to be!
I also know now that a typhoon signal No. 1 can actually mean no.3 all because of Pangasinan’s close proximity to the San Roque Dam, the numerous rivers that crisscross the province, and the presence of various dikes near our bald mountains!
The sooner we come to grips with these lessons the better prepared we will be.
Also, while the intensity of the Ondoy and Pepeng will likely now be the new norm given the disastrous effects of decades of neglect wanton destruction of our environment, for Pangasinenses, a more careful watchful eye must be thrown in the direction of the management of the San Roque Dam each time a typhoon hovers over the province.
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PREPARING FOR EARTHQUAKES AND TSUNAMI. In case you have not noticed, frequent earthquakes ranging from Intensity 3 to 7.7 have been reported to have occurred not only in Asia but in nearby Mindanao.
Will it happen in Pangasinan soon? Nobody will ever know that but we in Pangasinan, particularly Dagupan City, know what intensity 7.4 can mean to our lives. But the fact that it happened here is unlike that old adage that lightning does not strike twice at the same place. It can happen.
Question is: what are our disaster coordinating councils doing to prepare for such a calamity? And how prepared are we to handle tsunami? I am not knowledgeable about how and where tsunamis are likely to occur but somehow the long coast of Pangasinan appears to me as most vulnerable to such a calamity. The possible scenarios for a tsunami onslaught are unimaginable. The only apt word I can think of to describe its possible consequence is “wipe-out”!
If only to create further awareness about what the dangers of tsunami present, we should view the sudden and unexpected surge of raging floodwaters that raced through our streets and fields recently as our first mini-encounter with tsunami. Imagine the force and the amount of water that came rushing to be 10-foot waves.
Are we prepared for this? It is conceded nobody can ever be fully prepared for such an eventuality but a modicum of effort will go a long way saving others’ and your family’s lives. Perhaps a province-wide program teaching people to swim and learn first aid is a good way to start.
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LEADING THE RESCUE AND RELIEF. Credit is due to some of our political leaders who braved the rushing waters to lead the rescue and provide relief. Guv Spines was visibly in charge like a super hero flying in all directions. Cong. Rachel and her supermom Baby were like TV’s Charlie’s Angels to the rescue in District 3. Cong Joe de V, wife Gina and son Joey were like MacArthur who led the liberation forces to bring relief. Dagupan Mayor Al Fernandez and Veem Belen amply demonstrated how preparedness could spell the big difference. To them and the others whom we failed to name, thanks for being there for our people!
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