Residents of Manila and Eastern Metro Manila Area were awaken by steady rain on September 26, 2009. Typhoon "Ondoy", a mild tropical depression with winds travelling approximately 50 to 60 Mph. This type of typhoon is not regarded as strong or powerful typhoon and posed no risk considering the Philippines is accustomed to typhoons ranging from signal #3 or #4. "Ondoy" is weak compared to the usual Typhoons that make land fall in the Philippines. One news agency regarded Ondoy as a mere gloomy and rainy weather condition.
Due to the fact that Filipinos are somewhat used to flooding when there are heavy rains, no one really expected that the flooding will be as bad. Flood waters are usually expected to be knee high and in some areas it is expected to rise to the maximum of waist high flood waters. "Ondoy" however is a different typhoon. It packed heavy rains and travelled slow. This I believe why "Ondoy" was able to dump and saturate its path with large amount of rain, thus, causing massive flooding. Steady rain allowed the rapid rise of flood waters ranging from 3 to 17 feet of water in some areas.
It is known by both the citizens and government officials that all drainage in Manila and other nearby areas are clogged up with bulk trash. When heavy rains fall, the water has nowhere to go. Espana area along the University belt in Manila is notorious for flooding. This has been going on eversince I could remember and no one has done anything to fix this flooding problem. Is this because the Filipino Engineers are not smart enough to figure out how to prevent flooding and fix this on going problem? I think not. Flooding occurs because no one cares. The government will not invest on a project to clean the drainages because flooding is not something that happens on a daily basis. The Philippines is so used to floods that the people actually think that this is natural and its a part of their way of life. It doesnt have to be this way if both the people and the government cared. The people have a bad habit of polluting the city. Bulk trash dumped in places it should not be. The government on the other hand is so busy with corruption and getting rich that they have neglected their duty to the people. Unfortunately, corruption issues in the government is tollerated and deemed as a way of life in the Philippines.
It is up to the individual families to prepare for such calamities. Government rescue could not relied upon due to the fact that they are also ill prepared and they are not really trained to handle such rescue efforts. Lack of training and equipment make the government incapable of doing anything in these incidents.
I can name several words that end in "tion" that caused this calamity. Government CORRUPTION and people causing POLLUTION due to lack of EDUCATION and NO PREPARATION.
As I have said before our ennvironment is changing. We need to train and prepare for disasters. For further info and questions regarding Survival and Preparedness please E mail me at srps.ph@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment