A Message For the Filipinos - Who is to Blame For the Flooding Brought on by Typhoon Ondoy?
On Saturday, September 26, 2009, Typhoon Ketsana struck Metro Manila and brought with it unprecedented amounts of rainfall that the Philippines has never experienced before.
Locally known in the Philippines as Typhoon Ondoy, Ketsana caught the country totally unaware and unprepared for disaster.
When Ondoy finally blew its way out of the Philippine Area of Responsibility, it left behind at least 300 people dead and millions of people displaced by flooding.
It also destroyed some $100 million worth of property.
After Ondoy has passed, the finger-pointing that is almost natural to Filipinos ensued.
The displaced victims of Ondoy blamed the government for not coming quickly to their rescue.
Some government heads blamed the people for ignoring flood warnings that were announced as early as the Thursday before Ondoy made landfall.
Many politicians eager for attention in time for the upcoming 2010 Presidential Elections were quick to blame the Arroyo Administration for lack of preparedness in times of disaster.
With all fingers pointing everywhere, who exactly is to blame for the disaster that struck Metro Manila and the surrounding provinces in the wake of Ondoy? The answer here is simple: All of us bear equal responsibility for this recent deluge of Metro Manila.
We Are All to Blame for the Flood Yes, the flooding that happened was the fault of each and every one of us.
It was not just the government that was to blame for it; it was us as well.
We are all at fault because we have not bothered to take care of our rivers and waterways.
The rivers and the waterways of Metro Manila are clogged and dirty.
Anyone who believes otherwise must be living under a rock for the last fifty years or so.
The legendary Pasig River is all but dead and even the much vaunted Marikina River is known to have spots of garbage here and there.
The only reason why our waterways are so dirty is that we have made them our garbage bins.
If anyone needs evidence of this fact, one only needs to look at the aftermath of the flooding Monday morning after Ondoy has passed and the floodwaters have already ebbed.
The streets were literally piled high with garbage dislodged by the flood.
Certainly not all of them were furniture and other belongings swept away from individual households affected by the flooding.
A good many of them were garbage disposed improperly in our rivers, canals and other waterways, brought to the surface by the flood.
If there is any lesson that needs to be learned from the coming of Typhoon Ondoy, it is definitely this: It is high time that we learned to respect our waterways.
If we cannot help to clean and rehabilitate our waterways, then we should at least stop treating them as if they are our personal garbage bins.
If Typhoon Ondoy, which was merely a Category 2 storm, could flood Metro Manila the way it did, what more would a stronger typhoon? Instead of blaming other people for the disaster that happened, we should all becoming proactive and prevent another similar disaster from happening again.
We need to start cleaning our waterways now!
Locally known in the Philippines as Typhoon Ondoy, Ketsana caught the country totally unaware and unprepared for disaster.
When Ondoy finally blew its way out of the Philippine Area of Responsibility, it left behind at least 300 people dead and millions of people displaced by flooding.
It also destroyed some $100 million worth of property.
After Ondoy has passed, the finger-pointing that is almost natural to Filipinos ensued.
The displaced victims of Ondoy blamed the government for not coming quickly to their rescue.
Some government heads blamed the people for ignoring flood warnings that were announced as early as the Thursday before Ondoy made landfall.
Many politicians eager for attention in time for the upcoming 2010 Presidential Elections were quick to blame the Arroyo Administration for lack of preparedness in times of disaster.
With all fingers pointing everywhere, who exactly is to blame for the disaster that struck Metro Manila and the surrounding provinces in the wake of Ondoy? The answer here is simple: All of us bear equal responsibility for this recent deluge of Metro Manila.
We Are All to Blame for the Flood Yes, the flooding that happened was the fault of each and every one of us.
It was not just the government that was to blame for it; it was us as well.
We are all at fault because we have not bothered to take care of our rivers and waterways.
The rivers and the waterways of Metro Manila are clogged and dirty.
Anyone who believes otherwise must be living under a rock for the last fifty years or so.
The legendary Pasig River is all but dead and even the much vaunted Marikina River is known to have spots of garbage here and there.
The only reason why our waterways are so dirty is that we have made them our garbage bins.
If anyone needs evidence of this fact, one only needs to look at the aftermath of the flooding Monday morning after Ondoy has passed and the floodwaters have already ebbed.
The streets were literally piled high with garbage dislodged by the flood.
Certainly not all of them were furniture and other belongings swept away from individual households affected by the flooding.
A good many of them were garbage disposed improperly in our rivers, canals and other waterways, brought to the surface by the flood.
If there is any lesson that needs to be learned from the coming of Typhoon Ondoy, it is definitely this: It is high time that we learned to respect our waterways.
If we cannot help to clean and rehabilitate our waterways, then we should at least stop treating them as if they are our personal garbage bins.
If Typhoon Ondoy, which was merely a Category 2 storm, could flood Metro Manila the way it did, what more would a stronger typhoon? Instead of blaming other people for the disaster that happened, we should all becoming proactive and prevent another similar disaster from happening again.
We need to start cleaning our waterways now!
