Bracing for more typhoons

By Herbert Vego

AS I was writing this yesterday, super typhoon Nando was weakening and moving out of the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR), according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

No typhoon signal has been raised in Western Visayas.

But as PAGASA admits, there is a clear indication that Western Visayas and its nearby areas will continue to experience a longer period of intermittent rains ranging from light to moderate in intensity, with the possibility of becoming heavy at times.

Sad to say, unexpected changes in the weather could nullify the weather advisory and thus threaten the survival of everybody, especially the less fortunate in life who could not cope with higher prices of food and other basic needs.

PAGASA’s basic advice in that eventuality is to coordinate with local authorities, prepare an emergency kit with water, food, and medicine, secure your home by bringing outdoor items inside, and have an evacuation plan to move to higher ground or a safer structure if advised to do so.

Anyway, it’s scary to even imagine that people who are supposed to rest on their laurels, having retired and are tired of any more work, may suddenly lose everything they have to natural disasters. I have been in a similar situation.

Having lost valuable possessions in typhoon “Frank” in 2008, however, I can say that while good days give us happiness, the bad ones give us experience to learn from.

There are ways to soften the impact of natural disasters. We have heard it said that God would not shower us with problems we can’t solve.

Everybody has heard this saying: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

Everyone needs inspirational reminders that we have the potential to chase and hit our dreams, and rising above the harsh realities. And so, this writer would like to quote a few inspirational writers:

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” – Oscar Wilde

“It’s not about how hard you can hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. “—Rocky Balboa in the movie “Rocky”

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”  – Winston Churchill

“If you are working on something that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you. “- Steve Jobs

May those quotations be our guiding light as we dash through life’s challenges, leaving behind the sad memories of typhoons, floods, landslides, earthquakes and other natural calamities.

To the religious but superstitious, each natural disaster is literally an “act of God” to punish us for all our sins.

I beg to disagree. Why blame God when it’s we who “sin” against nature? An example of such is clogging the waterways, consequently causing killer floods.

For the fault of a few, the innocent also gets nature’s punishment.

On the positive side, we come to terms with this “punishment” as a wake-up call. It alerts us into realization that we are not owners but mere temporary custodians of the earth and all material possessions thereat.

-oOo-

MORE POWER IS PREPARED FOR NANDO

ALTHOUGH typhoon Nando is not expected to hit Iloilo City, MORE Power as its district’s distribution utility has adequately prepared for any emergency.

So said Fil Sonza, the company’s system operations manager on the video podcast “MORE Power at Your Service.”

“We monitor everything in our control center,” he said.

The company linemen anticipate what could transpire, as when swaying tree stems brush against high-voltage wires and cause power outage. It’s not that simple, though. Let us take precaution.

Strongs winds, even without typhoons, always threaten to bring down lines and poles.

Widespread power outages make downed lines incredibly dangerous due to the risk of fatal electrocution.

Objects displaced by strong winds can strike and damage electrical lines and poles.

Flood water can cause short circuits in electrical systems, leading to further damage and outages and posing an invisible electrical hazard.