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Saturday, February 25, 2006
Libre: Dealing with tragedies
By Mel Libre
Seriously Now
The Philippines made it to the headlines of international publications and broadcast entities, no thanks to the disaster in St. Bernard, Southern Leyte that claimed 1,500-1,8000 lives. The last time we figured in international news was during the “Wowowee” stampede that killed 74 people and injured 500 others.
The tragedies that have befallen the Filipino people merely confirm our title as one of the most disaster-prone area in the world. You name it, we have it: earthquakes, typhoons, volcanic eruptions, landslides, floods. One thing we don’t have is forest fire, mainly because we have lost our forests. Then we have the man-made ones like terrorist bombing, boat sinking, vehicle accidents, stampedes.
While other countries have their share of catastrophes, it seems like we have more of them.
It is not difficult to understand why natural disasters occur more often in the Philippines. We are located in all the belts of disasters---typhoon, earthquake, volcanic. As to landslides and floods, we have never seriously addressed the denudation of our forests and the wanton abuse of the environment.
We have yet to hear a terrorist suspected of bombing civilian targets convicted.
The sinking of the Titanic may have killed many people but the Philippines had far worse sea disasters. Sadly, those responsible have never been prosecuted and those seeking justice have yet to get it. The same may happen with the recent stampede; it may take forever to get the culprits punished.
Less publicized, but more dangerous, is the deaths of innocent passengers and hapless pedestrians caused by reckless drivers and irresponsible public transport operators. The procedure in the issuances of licenses is prone to corruption, allowing incompetent individuals to drive.
The hostile fires that periodically strike slum areas and squatter colonies cause untold miseries and the displacement to families. Yet, dwellers insist in returning to their densely populated clusters despite the lurking danger of another inferno.
It does not take much intelligence really to know what we ought to do to prevent lesser deaths and damages when disasters strike. All we need is to be pro-active.
But despite the availability of public funds and private sector contributions, disaster agencies and voluntary organizations have yet to make a workable blueprint to make each and every individual, each and every family, and each and every community disaster ready.
There is a lot of hard work needed to create and implement a more effective and mass-based disaster preparedness program and this won’t make good copy for media. But such a program will save many precious lives.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 25, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
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