Have you for some reason watched one of the disaster movies shown a few years ago? It was entitled “The Day After Tomorrow” which was created by the “disaster movie” master Roland Emmerich (maker of 2012 movie).
There was this scene in the movie where a scientist talks about the impending danger of a major climate shift due to the melting of the ice shelf in Greenland thus affecting the climate in the foreseeable future. While the speaker attempts to warn and gain support from his audience, a political panelist questions the validity of his reports. Making such claims will cause worldwide panic and chaos.
The same thing seemed to have happened according to an article in the broadsheet – The Philippine Daily Inquirer, suggesting that the tragedy that happened in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro were predicted way back three (3) years ago.
The environmentalist groups – PICC (Philippine Imperative for Climate Change) WWF (World Wide Fund) and Filipino scientists, made a simulation of the effects of extreme weather phenomena and it has shown that major cities in our country are at risk of flooding which included Cagayan de Oro.
This research was ignored and dismissed by the law makers as claimed with the phrase “too alarmist” if they are to consider the group’s case.
Though they have laid out several facts on the tragedy, I think there is no reason to point fingers on who are the responsible people right now and start impeaching them or putting them in prison for not doing their jobs.
It is essential that given the results and data from the said research, we should make steps to avoid another one like this in the future.
Don’t we ever learn? Or are we just too selfish to see beyond the facts?
First was Ondoy which ravaged most parts of Metro Manila. Then Pedring came, sinking our rice fields in Central Luzon. And now Sendong – killing more people than the former two instances of weather disturbance. How come we let three events in succession (in increasing magnitude) cause this much destruction?
I remember the saying “first mistake is forgivable, making it happen twice can be a coincidence, done it thrice is stupidity.”
I hope we (not just the government or any authorized entity) make ways to prevent such disasters. We can no longer depend on our agencies for our very own preservation. Prevention is the key and not evasion. Instead of wasting our time and resources putting people into prison for the past administration’s demented actions why not spend our time and our energy (and money!) shielding our communities at most risk from impending natural danger?
