NATURAL DISASTER STRIKES AGAIN - PHIL

Last December 1, while surfing on the net as part of my daily routine gathering all sorts of information of events in the world and listening to local radio station in my country (Philippines) I read and heard about the devastating effect brought about by typhoon Reming (Durian, international codename) particularly towards the Southern part of the archipelago which is almost the mid region if you refer to the map. Originally, the typhoon was seen heeding towards the North until all of a sudden it changed its course southward. Strong winds with a speed of 255 kms/hr and heavy rains with an average of 466 millimeters of rainfall which is the strongest so far since 1960, that triggered the mudflows and boulders to wash away houses, livelihood sources and buried almost a thousand lives still unrecovered. As of this hour the death toll (recovered bodies) rose to 543 and 740 missing and thousands wounded. It affected 1.6 million individuals, 1,765 villages with only around 20,000 evacuated in the centers and still hundreds of thousands seeking refuge. Victims are in dire need of food, medicines, water and temporary shelter. Thousands had been traumatized and in agony over the loss of everything. The hardest hit area is Legaspi City where the famous Mayon volcano is located. This volcano contributed millions of income to the city because of its fabulous shape and a perfect cone that attracts many tourists to visit. Every month when passed this place for the past 2 years on my way to Manila, the capital I stopped along the highway just to see its beauty. Now, Mayon is sending millions of individuals to desperation and desolation. Is she to be blamed for this? Well, it is in this context that I am inviting for a discussion. For Camillian readers, where is it exactly? From Calbayog City where the St. Camillus Hospital is located, it is about 300 kms away and from the capital, it is about 400 kms.

Our country is experiencing over the years big natural disasters that caused millions of lives within a second. Aside from “boxing” that brought our country to a well-celebrated international publicity, we have also natural disasters. To name some; Guinsaugon Tragedy in Feb. 2006 with death toll 1,032, Quezon, N.Ecija landslide in Dec. 2004 with death toll nearly 1,800, Payatas Tragedy in July 2000 with death toll of more than 500 including the missing, Ormoc Tragedy in Nov. 1991 with death toll of more than 10,000 and many more. Now the question I would like to pose is: how “natural” is a natural disaster? Is there away to prevent loss of lives or just to say when nature takes it course we are helpless. Studies show that prior to the occurrence of these disasters, signs had been observed, noted and published.
I would like to quote what Randy David had said in his column in one of the local dailies (PDI): “With at least 400 people dead in Bicol and Southern Tagalog in the wake of supertyphoon “Reming,” we may expect, yet again, another round of national reflection aimed at gathering lessons and lecturing our people on natural disasters. This is a favorite sport of politicians. Unfortunately, such reflection yields little by way of self-understanding because we fail to recognize that the one thing that makes living in these islands particularly disaster-filled is mass poverty itself. Many like to believe we are being singled out for punishment by Nature. This belief has a certain plausibility in view of the unnecessary damage we have mindlessly inflicted on this beautiful archipelago. But, in truth, Nature is neither grateful nor vengeful. Its ways are not moral or immoral. There are no such things as natural disasters; there are only such things as natural phenomena with sometimes disastrous consequences. (12/3/2006, PDI). These incidents again leave us this question that needs your immediate response, WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE? It seeks actually two answers: the now and the future.