By CARLOS H. CONDE
A disaster-prone country like the Philippines should by now be a nation of experts on calamities and how to deal with them. But, as Ondoy has shown, Filipinos are almost always caught unawares. And often, the high cost of these calamities are caused not so much by lack of knowledge or resources as by poor governance.
Day: October 2, 2009
Tales of Woe from Those Who Had it Worse
MANILA – Aside from killing them and displacing them from their homes and exposing them to illness, tropical storm Ondoy dealt poor Filipino families severe blows that could make their lives in the months ahead much more difficult. (Read sidebar: Ondoy Pushes Tens of Thousands of Families Into Severe Difficulty, Long-Term Poverty) Take the case…
Slideshow: For the Poor, Ondoy Strikes a Double Whammy
For the Poor, Ondoy Strikes Double Whammy
In Marikina, Ondoy Shatters a Myth
Residents were unprepared for a disaster of such scale in a town that had gained headway in reducing flooding and in sprucing itself up. But as some of them point out, everything in Marikina had been so good that they never thought it could be this bad. By MARYA SALAMAT Bulatlat.com MANILA – Of all…
Why Rizal Province Suffered Greatly from Ondoy
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO Bulatlat.com SAN MATEO, Rizal — Marivic Cristobal has been living in Barangay Sta. Ana, San Mateo, Rizal province for almost 20 years now. She is used to a home where floodwater would easily rise from the slightest rainfall. Cristobal learned how to keep important things and documents safe from the…
In Tatalon, Hell and High Water
In Tatalon, Hell and High Water
After Ondoy: Things We Ought to Do
By CARLOS H. CONDE Bulatlat.com MANILA – It is an essential part of survival that people learn from every calamity, particularly the mistakes that may have contributed to it or its high cost. Here, some experts suggest ways to move forward after Ondoy. Fouad Bendimerad, chairman of the Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative: It’s time now…
Ondoy Pushes Tens of Thousands of Families Into Severe Difficulty, Long-Term Poverty
MANILA — Tropical storm Ondoy could cause lasting poverty and severe difficulties for at least 206,000 families in the National Capital Region (NCR), Central Luzon and Calabarzon regions, research group Ibon Foundation said Friday. Even as the government downplays the long-term impact on the economy as a whole, there are going to be severe effects…
Where Did Millions of Aid for Disaster Relief Go? Ibon Wants to Know
MANILA — Research group ibon Foundation asked on Friday how aid for disaster relief given by donor governments was spent by the Arroyo government, in the face of the administration’s apparent lack of disaster preparedness and response when tropical storm Ondoy hit Luzon last week. Poor Are Worst Hit by Ondoy; Inept Political Leadership Makes…
Ondoy and Climate Change
By ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO Bulatlat.com MANILA — According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), Ondoy brought Metro Manila its highest amount of rainfall in the last 42 years. “In 1967, a typhoon brought Metro Manila 334 mm of rain in 24 hours,” said Pagasa spokesman Nathaniel Cruz in an interview with…
Analysis: Beyond Ondoy and Climate Change, Blame Goes to Arroyo, Teodoro
By ARNOLD PADILLA MANILA — “A President must be on the job 24/7, ready for any contingency, any crisis, anywhere, anytime.” “As a country in the path of typhoons… we must be as prepared as the latest technology permits to anticipate natural calamities when that is possible; to extend immediate and effective relief when it…