“Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.” – MARK TWAIN.
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Traditionally, food, clothing and shelter are the agenda lined up as priorities of our government – any government for that matter.
To exist and live a decent life, these three are the basic needs of people everywhere.
(Education was added to the list as man became civilized and developed a sense of culture and civility.)
The recent 5.6 magnitude earthquake that rocked Java – Indonesia’s main island – initially claimed the lives of more than 160 people and hundreds injured as news reports continue to filter in.
It is too close for comfort if I may say.
The videos on social media and many news organizations showed hundreds of collapsed structures – houses, school buildings and small commercial stalls, etc – we heard the wailing and crying for help of many for those trapped underneath the rubbles.
While we deeply commiserate with our neighbors who are just several hundred nautical miles away, it is again time to pick up a good lesson or two from this tragedy.
Since being weaned away from our imperialistic colonial masters, our government has been found regretfully wanting in many aspects of self-governance.
More than once too many, it has been found stagnant (in a state of inertia) in responding promptly and properly to disasters and catastrophes caused by Nature.
The Yolanda typhoon that killed more than 6,000 Leytenos in Tacloban City and elsewhere nearly a decade ago (there are counts that reach up to 10,000) and destroyed billions in properties, etc. is a tragedy that is a serious indictment of gross government mismanagement.
Our legislators should collectively pass a uniform statute for disaster response and management, mitigation and recovery that ideally should endure the test of time.
This will ensure that at any time when a natural calamity with such destructive effects occurs, the government will always be at its readiness and materially prepared in terms of personnel, equipment and resources.
Unfortunately, as the nation watched in utter disbelief and wonder during the height of typhoon Yolanda, government leaders then were more interested in political gimmickry and maneuvering instead of settling down in brass tacks and taking the bull by its horns.
(What is ironic is that Indonesia just concluded hosting the COP27 summit where several Western countries attended to tackle the issue of climate change.)
Until recently, we heard Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez rueing the unfinished and substandard housing facilities for thousands of typhoon Yolanda victims.
Wow! How can this nation move forward with conditions like these?
Today as the world witnesses Indonesia groping for solutions, as immediate and huge as its needs are, we can only offer prayers of comfort and solace for the countless victims, especially those who have lost their kith and kin.
For this matter, I humbly suggest to our lawmakers to promptly enact a law that would provide for all LGUs – the barangays included – adequate resources to build and construct their own evacuation centers and first aid clinics, including provisions for medicines.
Even as the government is applying recovery responses to the two year pandemic that rendered millions hungry and idle and out of work, it should always bear in mind that natural calamities come and go, unpredictably as ever.
Again, the farmers were the worst hit after Paeng wrought havoc in the country just recently.
The installation of preventive mechanisms and adaptable recovery responses with just the push of a button is more compelling than ever.
Meaning, instead of reacting, the government and the citizens in a collective fashion must always be proactive.
Hopefully our suggestion does not fall on deaf ears.
After all, we are only echoing something that has been expressed before. Unfortunately, some people need cotton buds to wipe off the wax inside their otic areas. (Email feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com.) GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!
