DISASTERS AND CALAMITIES By Ernesto R. Zárate, FPIA NATURAL CALAMITIES have recently been occurring all around the world in different grades of severity—from earthquakes to floods to tsunamis and even volcanic eruptions, that one might well ask “What’s the world coming to?” Being at the Pacific rim, our country is a member of the catastrophic “ring-of-fire” community of nations. We have several dormant (not extinct) volcanoes that may explode in anger at any time. The beautiful Mt. Mayon has a short time ago spewed rocks and pyroclastic material. Mt. Pinatubo has already shown its devastative capabilities. Even the crater-within-a-crater volcano that is Taal is being closely monitored just in case it will again start acting up. A dozen or more thought to be dormant volcanoes are proving to be “malignant.” Our local scientists have already established the areas of possible tectonic shifts by identifying fault lines all around the Philippines. Many fear that the “big one” may occur at any time here too since the earth plates have shifted very lately in other parts of the world. Extreme weather conditions are also occurring in many parts of the world where such events were never felt before which is blamed on global warming and the ever-widening hole in the ozone layer. Hurricanes, which happen only in the Northern Hemisphere, have become more deadly and disastrous, devastating hundreds of homes in the United States alone. Typhoons meanwhile occur only in our corner of the tropics which is augmented or made more disastrous by the periodic natural phenomenon in Southeast Asia called monsoon which regularly drenches our area with rain. Our forefathers had already known about this regular occurrence long ago by calling it “habagat”. Awa ng diyos hanggang ngayon kulang pa rin ang ginagawa ang ating gubyerno para maibsan ang epekto ng problemang ito. Science has advanced by leaps and bounds… we now have satellite videos tracking these weather disturbances. We already know how strong the approaching typhoon is and the direction it is taking even while it is still a hundred kilometers from our area of responsibility. We can already determine if it is a howler or a rain-bearing one. But are we making practical use of all these valuable information? Why do we still lose so many millions of pesos each year? Why do crops still get destroyed? Why do houses still get blown away? What’s worse, why do many Filipinos still die? We architects have been trained to look ahead--to use our talents of foresight. That is why we are sometimes called planners, WE ARE TRAINED TO THINK AHEAD. But we should go further than just planning structures to withstand calamities. We should probably be the leaders in looking for ways to prevent and not just alleviate their effects on our countrymen. Makialam tayo. And then share these ideas with the right persons so that the proper action would be done right away. Typhoons, I repeat, have been with us since time immemorial. And with typhoons come the floods. All of us agree that floods in the metropolitan area are caused by clogged drains and can be solved only by the concerted effort of everyone to throw their garbage properly. In the countryside, it is another matter. It is the when dams open their floodgates and release tons of impounded water that cause massive flooding. Diligence in the monitoring of the critical water level is of prime importance. In other words, water must be released little by little even BEFORE the onset of rain laden typhoons and not wait until the dam is ready to overflow and then release its contents together with or at the height of a heavy downpour. It’s like strangling to death a person who has just eaten poisoned mushrooms. Some government agency should take the cudgels and probably organize a series of seminars where each and every barangay official should attend that will take up way and means to prevent the ill effects of disasters and calamities. But first there should be an honest-to-goodness study of the various methods and systems of preparative action to address the awful consequences all these natural phenomena so that the ones who will conduct the seminars will be armed with the right information to disseminate. What do you think?
Posted on: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 03:08:54 +0000
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