How government failed during the disaster Philippine Daily Inquirer
November 08, 2009
WHILE appreciative of and amazed at the bayanihan spirit shown by the people during a time of national catastrophe, we find it quite tragic that the floods and landslides that hit the country were as much a man-made calamity as they were natural.
The heavy rains were as much to be blamed, but there’s more: where were the modern weather radar systems and other equipment, the rubber boats, the rescue helicopters? And we thought we had it all, the Philippines being the dumping ground of US military equipment.
We could only lament as we looked at the faces of mothers carrying their young while wading through raging flood currents. We could only despair as the very old and very young women scampered to flee from what were once friendly roads, now scenes straight out of the story of Noah’s Ark.
What made it even more tragic was that in this scenario, women were the most vulnerable, not only because we are the majority of the poor but because most of us live and survive purely on natural resources. Women as bearers of natural produce, as vendors, as consumers of natural resources. We live close to the earth, not in high-rise condominiums and business towers.
Urban poor women and their families live in shanties, in low-lying, flood-prone congested areas and near rivers and big open canals. Not that the rich ones were not affected by the disasters.
But what makes us seethe in anger, if not frustration, is the Arroyo government’s utter lack or neglect of pro-environment programs, which has taken its toll on women. Must government wait for climate change to make our country a virtual Noah’s Ark backyard? This, as the Arroyo government concentrates on selling our natural resources. Philippine mining and forest lands, including rivers and lakes, have long been up for grabs to the highest bidder for exploration and exploitation.
We badly need more than bayanihan. We have to institute mitigating measures and care for Mother Nature, quick!
