The bulk of the news today still center on the devastation wrought by Pepeng and Ondoy. It is heart-wrenching to see our brethren helpless amidst storms, floods and landslides. When Ondoy struck, practically everyone in greater Manila area was affected, including us in Malabon. People in our area are used to floods, so the only casualties were the properties not brought to higher ground. Not so lucky were people in other parts of Luzon (notably Marikina and Pasig), some of whose lives were lost. The same goes true for the people in Pangasinan, who bore the brunt of typhoon Pepeng's wrath. For those who lost loved ones, my heartfelt condolences.
It is an anomaly that for a nation hit regularly by typhoons year in and year out, we still seem unprepared for the worst. My father observed that the recent events show that the Philippines is still a country in infancy – we seem to have no set policy and standards on, among other things, disaster preparedness. Almost every action is backed by guesstimation. Tantsahan ba. Hopefully, as we pick up ourselves from the shambles, every person has gotten some learning experience from these events. It is about time, right?
Photo: Dan Saavedra, Flickr, Creative Commons
Thanks for your personal over view of the disaster not filled with detailed news which I expect is widely avaliable via the public media. I was most interested in your critisism of the lack of preparedness and the maturity of the country. You are not alone, even the USA was not quick to respond to seriouse flood damage in New Orleans and people are still sleeping under bridges. Often a war results in disaplin and order at home. I was wondering if the occurance of a natural disaster such as your flood could be used in a simlar way to train people in orderly planning and response. Thanks for your comments on my site at g3nqf.co.uk
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