When the tsunami struck coastlines in Indonesia, Thailand, parts of India and as far as Africa after Christmas in 2004, no one pointed a finger at anyone. The whole world got together to lend a helping hand to countries and communities that were devastated.
Pointing fingers and looking for someone to blame for the devastation that Tropical Storm Sendong inflicted on Northern Mindanao and Negros Island won’t achieve anything.
The call of the hour is to get together to lend assistance to those who were hit hard by the devastation that Sendong’s rains inflicted on helpless families, communities and entire cities and villages.
The victims have lost everything except their lives. Many of them lost family members. Those who lost only material possession can be counted as the “more lucky ones”.
Those of us who only suffered the inconvenience of losing water and electricity for just a couple of days should consider this Christmas a truly blessed one. In turn, it is best to share part of the Noche Buena and New Year’s Eve meal with those who have been devastated.
Beyond sharing and helping those who have been devastated by Sendong, there is a need for every one to reflect on this calamity that has befallen us, and even those that happened in the past and in other places in the Philippines.
A message is being sent to all of us, most especially to our political leaders. Nature is telling us something. Unless something is done, we will have a repeat of these calamities in the very near future.
Climate change is real. The word “change” is full of meaning here. What used to be, is no longer anymore. Therefore, business as usual will not provide us with protection and safety.
We as citizens and our political leaders need to adapt and respond properly to the climate. One specific response and adaptation needed is our way of locating settlement sites.
The location of settlements has to be safe and secure; not just from theft and fire; but also from effects of the weather, most notably rain.
The International Climate Change Panel presented their findings that rainfall is more frequent, with a marked increase in volume, accompanied with a higher rate of precipitation.
Meaning, there are more rainy days, and more water falls when it rains, and when water falls from the sky, it falls fast.
That’s why weather reports keep stating that what took a month of rain to fall 15 to 20 years ago, it takes only an hour now a days.
The implications are grave and dangerous. The solution has nothing to do with planting trees. Planting trees and throwing your garbage properly are good outward gestures that we care for nature. But when settlement areas are established near rivers and on water channels and pathways, tree planting and proper garbage disposal will not be enough, in reality.
So what needs to be done then? We don’t have to go to the moon. Those housing projects, especially the ones that were established for informal settlers, need to be relocated in an area far from the river. Future settlements should be located in areas that are not prone to flooding from river tidal waters.
Dredging the river and constructing dikes to control the flow of water will only make contractors rich, and still leave communities near rivers and tidal zones unprotected.
Money budgeted for dike construction and dredging will be well spent in purchasing property to relocate residents and establish well planned residential areas.
This may seem complex, but this is the only way to protect lives and property and to ensure that every time rain falls from the sky, people sleep comfortably.
Can our leaders do this for those communities now and the ones that will be developed in the future? Can we as citizens demand this from them? Now.
It’s Christmas and something’s got to be done.
Patrick Jerome S. Guasa
Environment advocate
