Editorial: A new, more wary normal

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

AFTER an uneasy Monday night, when the memory of the morning’s quake kept most of us up late, we in Metro Cebu returned to work yesterday, relieved to find we could resume our routines. Perhaps our homes or workplaces sported some newly hatched surface cracks; perhaps those who joined the crowds running to escape the rumor of a tsunami still felt some soreness in their muscles and traces of anxiety in their minds.

Overall, though, we were very lucky.

Have something to report? Tell us in text, photos or videos.

Consider the alternative: in Negros Oriental, damage to at least eight bridges delayed the arrival of food, tents and the solace of a listening ear. In Guihulngan, they woke up without water, power, or cell phone signals. An untold number of their kin remained buried under a landslide. Food supplies ran low, but many were too anxious to eat.

Disaster does that: it leaves a new wariness that victims learn to bear, like a second skin. But we who survive relatively unmarked find our lessons harder to learn.

And yet, we must come to terms with a new, more wary normal. Learn, for starters, to stop paying under the table so that building safety inspectors will ignore our lapses and give us the permits we need. Learn, too, to observe emergency drills and teach our young how to find safe spots in case of a fire, earthquake or some other upheaval.

The lack of quick, credible warning systems was obvious in Monday’s case. The ordeal proved most difficult for parents who were at work and, because of congested roads and cell phone networks, couldn’t get through to their children right away.

There will be a need to plan for recovery: to provide, for example, micro-insurance for low-income groups who are most likely to lose homes or livelihoods.

Needed, too, is the reminder that our instinct to survive must be tempered by basic concern for our fellow travelers. Those panicked few who abandoned their cars in the middle of Monday’s streets? They may have saved themselves and their loved ones, but what if emergency crews—fire trucks, ambulances, police cars or heavy equipment—had needed access to the roads they had blocked?

There’s a reason emergency exit maps are marked “You are here.” Of course, local governments and authorities bear much responsibility for making our communities less vulnerable to disaster. But the challenge is personal, too. Stay informed, stay prepared. Therein lies resilience.