Hope

Browsed over my daily dose of blog inspiration and read Ms. Daphne's blog entry Remember Typhoon Pablo and her story on Rappler. Does anyone here remember Pablo?

Read Ms. Daphne's story here

You can read more about Typhoon Pablo here and some updates from government site and local newspaper as well. Why care and share Ms.Daphne's story?  It's not really her's alone but of the families in Pablo affected areas. I applaud people like Ms. Daphne Osena Paez and other private individuals and organizations who are making people remember about Pablo and sharing their skills and talents in helping these families. I also give high regards to local workers (social workers, health workers, teachers and even soldiers who assists in the relief operations and psycho-social healing of the victims). I could not solely blame the slow delivery of assistance to the government but I wish they could have done it better, its been four months already and the victims are waiting and hoping. The funds are there and still coming, the question now is whether these funds are efficiently utilized. But that's another story.

I can relate to the victims as my family was also a victim of the 2009 Typhoon Ondoy which destroyed my parents' house and store, our sole source of income. The experience did teach the family a lot, for three months, the typhoon made us rebuild not only our home but also our lives. My parents and our trusted helpers built the house and store from scratch while my siblings pursue their education through scholarships for that semester, two of them were still in college when Ondoy literally drowned Provident Villages. All ended well and made the family stronger. 

I know Pablo is different from Ondoy just like Sendong or any other typhoons in terms of strength and damaged done but I think that these are all partly man-made. We have abused nature, we have cut so much trees, used so much rocks/soil, burned so much coal, dug so much mines in mountains, thrown so much garbage and blocked natural waterways, yet none of us care or at least would have stopped and think twice before doing such acts. Pablo victims still needs help but there should also be something done if not to prevent but at least lessen the impact of natural disasters such as this. Government preparedness to respond to such incidents is just one part of the pie, citizen's responsibility to the environment is another as well as the decency of local and foreign businesses that profits from the resources of our land.

They say climate change is the new normal and let our hopes be build upon greater responsibility to our fellow and our environment. Just me thinking aloud.