THESE past few years, the Philippines has been subjected to a number of problems: floods, outbreaks and earthquakes are some.
It’s enough for you to reconsider if living in the archipelago is a good idea. The latest calamity was the series of earthquakes in Kidapawan (and they are expected to happen for the next six months).
To top it all, typhoon “Ramon” ravaged the same areas where the earthquake happened! It’s a nightmare for those who lost their homes since it was recorded at magnitude 6.
I talked about this with one of my co-teachers during our break. She knows that we flood easily and quakes are getting more often. Then she said, “But at least you are able to make preventive measures because of that, right? Like what they do in Japan?”
I wanted to grin and proudly say, “Yes!” But that would be a lie. No matter how many calamities have hit us, flooding remains the same, cities get flattened, thousands of people get displaced.
However, I did say the quality of the Filipinos that reigns true, “Well, we don’t let things like that to faze us. We are resilient and see hope in the most dire situations.”
With that she smiled as if commending our general optimism.
It is true, though, even if most of the calamities happened near Christmas (remember “Yolanda”?), people still keep the merry spirit alive. They do so even if the only property left to them is a tent in an evacuation center. We never lose our jolly nature even if all seems lost.
An optimistic attitude can only get you so far though. My co-teacher is right. Since things like this happen all the time, we should have proper prepping measures. A clear drainage is one simple thing that could really help a lot of people. Not only will it be less of an inconvenience, but it will also prevent diseases like leptospirosis from spreading.
Mapping out active fault lines and making sure no high buildings are built there will also help prevent damage.
There are so many things our local government units and the national government could do to prepare civilians for calamities. I hope they will, even if it’s just through baby steps because just smiling through hard times isn’t enough.
Action is what yields results. (angelica.panaynews@gmail.com/PN)
