IT SEEMED like only yesterday, but today marks the fifth year since Nov. 8, 2013 when super typhoon “Yolanda” swept away thousands of buildings and killed thousands of residents in Leyte and Samar, and in lesser proportion in Iloilo, Aklan, Capiz, and Antique. Roughly 15,000 of the poorest families were ordered relocated from the worst-hit city of Tacloban.
Unfortunately, there are still survivors of that tragedy who remain homeless and hungry, who have yet to feel the “tender loving care of government,” who have not moved on and are still struggling despite the billions of pesos worth of donations that have poured from both government and non-governmental organizations worldwide.
The social media throbs with punches and counter-punches hitting the past Noynoy Aquino presidency and the present Digong Duterte administration for alleged anomalies in reconstruction of homes. A Manila daily yesterday pointed to a Lita Bagunas, leader of the cause-oriented Uswag Este-Katarungan, as having said that in many rehabilitation corridors in Eastern Samar, complaints about the poor quality of housing projects had been ignored by the National Housing Authority.
That problem, fortunately for Ilonggos, hardly batters Iloilo. We have personally seen with our naked eyes how local government officials have walked an extra mile to deliver urgent services aimed at keeping “Yolanda” victims self-reliant. For example, Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. has acquired hundreds of motorized boats to replace the typhoon-wrecked boats of fishermen in Estancia, Concepcion, Carles and other coastal municipalities.
One vital lesson that “Yolanda” taught us is that, the rich and the poor could suddenly lose everything and find themselves on equal footing. There are even instances when the poor are more comfortable because they are already used to poverty and so have better coping mechanism.
Another lesson is that we should always prepare for tomorrow’s disaster, even if today’s weather is fine. It is a “given” that disaster victims with reserve wealth – money in the bank, for instance – recover faster.
Those with no immediate prospect of bouncing back because they have lost everything, including their only source of income, face a blank wall. They could be so desperate that they would consider committing suicide.
We who are non-victims of “Yolanda” must think of ways and means to redirect them to where they can rediscover their means of livelihood.
Natural disasters like typhoons, floods and earthquakes – inappropriately called “acts of God” – cannot be prevented. But it is within our power to minimize their consequential harm.
Let us not blame certain sectors because of unproven beliefs, like that which postulates that “climate change” is a latter-day man-made phenomenon.
There were already “Yolandas” in distant past – and coincidentally in Leyte, too, 115 years earlier. We would like to quote again this story published in an Australian newspaper dated Jan. 12, 1898. (See “A History of Storms” via Google.) Excepts follow:
“It is estimated that 400 Europeans and 6,000 natives lost their lives, many being drowned by the rush of water, while others were killed by the violence of the wind. Several towns have been swept or blown away.
“The hurricane reached Leyte on Oct. 12, 1897, striking Tacloban, the capital, with terrific force, reduced it to ruins in less than half an hour. The bodies of 120 Europeans have been recovered from the fallen buildings. Four hundred natives were buried in the ruins.”
“Thousands of natives were roaming about the devastated province seeking food and medical attendance. In many cases the corpses were mutilated as though they had fallen in battle, and the expressions of their faces were most agonizing.”
True, history repeats itself. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
