Everytime it rains for a day, somebody dies in this country.
A baby in an estero (sewer), children in collapsed plywood houses, informal dwellers on a river bank, vagrants scavenging at a bayside, an entire barrio at a foothill buried by a giant mudslide. In this instance, entire barrios near Mayon buried by the mud from the ashes spewed by the volcano months ago.
When the fatalities reach a hundred, government says tragedy and appeals for unity.
All efforts and attention should be aimed now at rescue, retrieval, rehabilitation; those buried alive have only seconds and minutes of air to live; and all talk and exchange are useless in the face of gasping and dying; the authorities, those who have the means to rescue must know the urgency of the work and those who watch should give whatever help, even pressuring the authorities to move quickly, helps. At some point after the rescue and retrieval, the mourning and the gnashing, someone should ask: What happened to the budget for the landmapping project, where each barangay nationwide is informed and educated of where the mudslide-prone areas are, assign tanods (watch/ guards) who would monitor the signs of an impending mudflow, devise a barangay-wide emergency signal system that works, and point to elevated areas where the residents could be evacuated before the rains and mud start crashing. There was such a plan submitted by the NDCC then under Secretary Nonong Cruz but no budget was given for it. Apparently, no budget was ever given for it.
Later.
We can talk about it after the rescue.
(When you sit at home or in you office or in a pub, while it rains the whole day, know that someone in some plywood shanty in this country is drowning.)
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Compassion is what we should practice. I’ve blogged about this in my other blogsite. It seems that NGOs and private citizens have more compassion than this administration. The lack of response and funds is inexcusable. They can afford to spend money on unessential things like Cha-Cha but refrains from spending on the people. We all try to do our share in helping the less-fortunate while the administration busies itself with how to save their necks.
You wonder why I received hate mails regarding Nicole a few blogs back. I suppose its because I tried to spread the awareness regarding her plight. I think I got the message through as some people and groups took notice. A group in Tokyo had taken interest on the case that they are trying to inclide this in the PPT in the Hague. I also raised the awareness of our ‘kababayans’ in different parts of the globe. I tried to promote her site through my blog and postings on other sites as well.
With the resolution of the case forthcoming, I hope that justice will be served. I may be biased about it and if I may state, its not just her rape but the fight for equality. I strongly believe that we as a nation is at the losing end of this treaty. In Japan and Korea, cases like this are taken seriously by the people and the government. Back here, its become a lonely fight for Nicole. The government instead of protecting us seem to favor the stronger nation.
Nicole has been raped once, the government is raping her a second time by appointing a prosecution team who themselves has sold her out by issuing statements that had put her credibility under a cloud of doubt. I hope the judge would see the facts and evidences clearly than give in to pressure.
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As a UP professor who does research on geo-hazards including landslides, allow me to share my opinions on the subject matter:
1). The MGB of the DENR finished the hazards maps some time in the middle of year. They held a consultation with the various stakeholders and experts sometime in late August of this year. Whether these maps are accurate is another story. And this is not entirely the fault of the government, as geo-hazard experts are few and far between. The geologic setting of the Philippines makes it unique in terms of the various mechanisms underlying landslides. This is one of the very few countries in the world where you find various the geohazards (flooding, volcanic eruption, earthquake, typhoon, landslide, tsunami) occurring in the same place simultaneously. In this country, everybody even the richest people face the risk of some type of geohazard.
2). Together with various government agencies, we are working on a project involving the devolpment of low cost sensors to monitor critical slopes in the Philippines, and provide an early warning system. Prior experience indicates that depending on people as a monitoring system is not effective.
3). Based on my expereince with community based seminars me and my collegues have given, I have the following observations:
a). People tend to engage in wishful thinking, ie even when they know a place is unsafe, they try to convince themselves that the place is safe.
b). Even when you explain to them the dangers, they do not believe you and refuse to leave, refuse to make contingency plans, and do not welcome people warning them of the dangers of their place.
4). During a disaster, many people who have never studied geo-hazards suddenly come out of the woodwork and claim to be experts on the subject matter. Then when all the interest dies are nowhere to be found.
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i think we have become a refugee nation. people are forced to flee their homes not just because of internal wars but also because of environmental disasters. the sad thing is that we should have the know how, the expertise to deal with these disasters, more than 20 typhoons enter the country, but we do not prioritize the production of scientists, we push our professionals to leave the country.
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