LESSONS LEARNED FROM ONDOY

Ondoy is considered the worst storm that hit Metro Manila in 40 years and that it was equivalent of one month’s worth of rain falling within 6 hours. The result, landslides and raging flood reminiscent to the great biblical flood during the time of Noah. During which, not a few died, lost loved ones, their own homes and valuable properties.

The factors to consider and blame are:
An extraordinary weather incident
Climate change via global warming
Lack of civil defense planning and vigilance; inadequate weather bulletins and alerts from PAG-ASA
Poor waste management. If the creeks and rivers had not been clogged, they would have allowed for released waters from the dams and floodwaters to have somehow drain faster.
Environment degradation
Wild and unregulated property development

Metro Manila settlers themselves contributed to the disaster. That is, from the plastic bags they throw into the sewers to the trash in the streets everyday. The sewers and drain systems are like veins in our body. If you feed it with junk, it will give you a heart attack.

The garbage was the doing of the common people. These were thrown into the waterways because that was the easiest and quickest way to get rid of them. The result, because the trash clogged waterways, the latter is made shallow and narrow. Eventually with the storm “Ondoy”, nature took revenge. Waterways overflowed the banks and entered the homes, yards and streets and to the very people where the garbage came from. As the trite adage says, “the trash you throw into the streams will come back to haunt you”.

While the flood was heavily accompanied by mud washed down by rain, landslide continue to occur even after the storm Ondoy. This is because there are no more roots of trees to hold the soil together. Those people responsible in cutting down the forest must have been the first to be buried alive by landslide but they are accordingly merely watching high and dry from their mansions and condos. These people who got rich by illegal logging assuage their feelings of guilt by donating some of their ill-gotten wealth to the relief organizations helping flood victims.

“We benefit more from our failures than from our successes; that crises teach us more important lessons than we can possibly learn from books and classrooms. As someone puts it, one of the things that hits you most forcibly and offers ideas of value is failure and suffering. Success and happiness give out great feelings but it is affliction that enlightens and prepare us best for the future.” -- Ramon J. Farolan, Phil. Daily Inquirer Columnist