I remember one of my good friends telling me this during a particularly challenging time in my life. This was during my university years – one of the many heartbreaks I had to experience at that time. I was leaning onto this wise friend for a lot of support and insight, something I really needed in order to navigate through those tough times as unscathed as possible.
This entered my mind recently because of the signal number 4/5 storm that hit the country yesterday. The metropolitan was spared considerably, but the provinces were hit really bad. It looked like 2013’s Yolanda all over again. It saw the destruction of structures, electrical posts, trees, and flooding everywhere. It was such a depressing sight.
I wonder how much of the collective lifestyle actually attracts storms into our areas of responsibility. I know this is something people have come to expect from living in a tropical country, but is this really something unavoidable that a major lifestyle change from the population couldn’t avert?
I know this could be quite an ask, but I believe it’s a worthwhile question to pose. The destruction that storms bring about causes a lot of permanent harrowing effects on our lifestyles, especially for those living in the provinces, closer to the sea, and with less stable structures. For those in the more urban areas, it’s a lot of inconvenience to endure, at the very least. Super typhoons such as Ondoy saw injury, hunger, and death to a lot of urban dwellers. This is something I know no one wishes to experience ever again.
What can we do to prevent a storm’s rage? I think the best we can is to really take care of our planet more. Plant more trees, reduce consumption, reduce waste, go for sustainable and durable materials, put things in their proper places.
I do think this needs cooperation on a national level. Governments should reinforce these policies, ensure that road-building projects support the level of rainfall that the city gets each year so that citizens don’t get flooded, destruction to vehicles gets reduced, sicknesses are lessened from the reduced exposure to flood water. Drainages should be fixed so water flows where it needs to be. Buildings should be adapted for the proper flow of rainfall as well. Electrical lines and posts should be stable and shouldn’t be a hazard to human life.
We city dwellers are all pretty lucky to not have experienced the worst part of the storm/s (it was reported that there were two simultaneous ones to enter this part of the country). And I know that no matter how intense, they do pass. That is the silver lining. However, their passing and the damage they inflict could be averted as much as possible too. I dream of a future where storms aren’t as menacing and terrorizing as they have been the past few decades, and maybe, not as violent as we’re used to them being. Even if they just pass, I hope we don’t have to endure as much wreckage as we used to.