Tino reminds us of Yolanda

By Herbert Vego

AS I was writing this yesterday while typhoon Tino was bringing heavy rains and winds across the country, I recall typhoon Yolanda that devastated the same areas in the same month 12 years ago on November 8, 2013. Let’s hope and pray Tino would not be so cruel.

To recall, Yolanda swept away thousands of buildings and killed thousands of residents in Leyte and Samar, and in lesser proportions in Iloilo, Aklan, Capiz and Antique.

It claimed the lives of more than 8,000 people nationwide and damaged properties estimated at about 95.48 billion pesos.

To this day, there are still survivors of that tragedy who remain homeless and hungry, who have yet to feel the “tender loving care of government,” who have not moved on and are still struggling despite the billions of pesos worth of donations that have poured from both government and non-governmental organizations worldwide.

One vital lesson that Yolanda taught us is that the rich and the poor could suddenly lose everything and find themselves on equal footing. There are even instances when the poor are more comfortable because they are already used to poverty and so have better coping mechanisms.

A lesson from past typhoons is that we should keep track of today’s and tomorrow’s weather forecast. Have we stocked enough food and water? Have we fully charged our emergency lights and cell phones? Do we have money to spend for emergency situations?

People with no immediate prospect of bouncing back because they have lost everything, including their only source of income, face a blank wall. They could be so desperate that they would consider committing suicide.

Natural disasters like typhoons, floods and earthquakes – inappropriately called “acts of God” – cannot be prevented. But it is within our power to minimize their consequential harm.

Why cry over the proverbial “spilt milk”? It is no way to deal with the wrath of nature. It is only by calmly dealing with its consequences that we may recover losses.

As the saying goes, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

Let us not blame certain sectors because of unproven beliefs, like that which postulates that “climate change” is a latter-day man-made phenomenon. It is not.

There were already “Yolandas” in the distant past – and coincidentally in Leyte, too, 128 years earlier. As immortalized online by Google (“A History of Storms”), an Australian newspaper dated January 12, 1898 belatedly reported:

“It is estimated that 400 Europeans and 6,000 [Filipino] natives lost their lives, many being drowned by the rush of water, while others were killed by the violence of the wind. Several towns have been swept or blown away.

“The hurricane reached Leyte on October 12, 1897, striking Tacloban, the capital, with terrific force, reducing it to ruins in less than half an hour. The bodies of 120 Europeans have been recovered from the fallen buildings. Four hundred natives were buried in the ruins.

“Thousands of natives were roaming about the devastated province seeking food and medical attendance. In many cases the corpses were mutilated as though they had fallen in battle, and the expressions of their faces were most agonizing.”

Indeed, history repeats itself.

-oOo-

MORE POWER EVER READY

I had the opportunity to chat with MORE Power Vice President Maricris D. Cabalhin, who was at the distribution utility’s control center.  She said that while the power situation in Iloilo City remained under control, they could not remain complacent.

Here’s a message from their Facebook page:

“We are deploying additional manning and crew resources, including standby teams, additional response vehicles, and specialized support personnel. These measures ensure rapid mobilization for immediate response should situation demands arise, such as power outages or emergency repairs. Our crew rotations are also being adjusted to maintain adequate rest periods, minimizing fatigue and ensuring optimal performance during this critical period.”