A nation threatened by disasters

Let’s face it , we are a nation plagued by disasters every so often. Along with the blessings of abundant natural resources so abundant as well are natural killers that have hounded the Filipino’s existence since time immemorial. Earthquakes, typhoons, volcanic eruptions, what have you. As a nation of 7,107 islands, natural disasters associated with water are not surprising. It does not help that we are sitting on one of the most dangerous areas of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Almost every year, hundreds if not thousands lose their lives unnecessarily. And every year, the same complaint has been aired. “We weren’t warned.”

And yet…

Every year, we see the same horrifying and heart breaking images of bodies being pulled out of debris, orphaned children huddling in the cold. Or of teary eyed families looking for their lost loved ones. Every year.

And we applaud ourselves with how good our hearts are that we were able to help give relief to the victims. But these victims, although they need relief, need to get things back to the way they were. To have their normal lives back. No amount of tuna cans and noodles will be able to do that can there?

In the wake of the colossal human tragedy of the Asia tsunami that claimed the lives of almost 135,000 humans (death toll still climbing), Filipinos should be more than thankful and feel more than lucky to have been spared of this wrath of Nature. Moreover, it is time to rethink the way we value human life, specifically our countrymen who are at high risk of becoming nature soup. It is undeniable that we will sooner or later be hit by a similarly fatal calamity. We must come up with a cost efficient system and/or technology such as that of early warning systems to fit our local conditions. I wonder why only 12 years after the great three earthquakes of 1990, we have stopped teaching safety drills in our schools? Why have infomercials dealing with disasters disappeared on TV? The disasters have not gone away and they come back every year more powerful and fierce. Why should education of such stop? Why should the tragedies be forgotten?

Let the re-education begin. Let every Juan, Pedro and Maria (or in this generation, every BhongBhong, Gigi and Junjun.) know about earthquakes, typhoons, floods and yes, tsunamis. Let everyone know them by heart. Our lives depend on it. We are now more sophisticated than when a killer tsunami hit Mindanao in 1976. Even the janitor has a celphone nowadays. Instead of receiving the latest gossip on your favorite stars, the Mobile phone is a readily available tool for communication and warnings that can save lives by the thousands.

Calling on Madam President, DECS, PAGASA, Globe, SMART, Sun Cellular and Juan dela Cruz…