Floods That Kill

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I finished my elementary education in Sorsogon, Sorsogon, a province made famous, aside from its pili sweets, by the number of typhoons that hit it annually.  For a while, I thought storms and typhoons were normal (This was only belied when I came to live in Metro Manila).  The howling wind lulled me to sleep and I knew that classes will be cancelled the following day.  With classes called off for the day, I spent my time counting how many ginuyod banana trees fell this time.  For weeks, we will be having ginuyod for dessert.

Lately, Sorsogon is again on the map.  For the past few weeks, floods have submerged parts of Sorsogon, Albay, Leyte, and Eastern Samar  that put a damper on what could have been a joyous celebration of the coming of another year.  The floods were caused by heavy rainfall that amounts to 30% of the annual rainfall of the country.  When in my youth, storms were really storms, this time storms are followed with heavy inundation.  There are reports of people dying, crops and farms are destroyed.  Life suddenly is in a standstill.

It is not only the Philippines that is on the news lately.  South Australia and the southern part of Brazil are also experiencing flooding.  What is happening to our planet?

People clung to dear life by staying on rooftops.

What causes floods?  According to Net Industries, floods are caused by both natural and man-made factors. Heavy rains cause rivers to swell and automatically the water moves out of the channel and becomes flood.  Nowadays heavy rains are not totally caused by natural factors.  Rains have become more damaging because  of the quantity and frequency.  Pollution from carbon emissions leads to production of clouds that precipitate rains.  More pollution brings more rains.    People exacerbate the situation by building houses very near waterways that pose danger to lives.  Instead of water flowing freely, man-made structures  become obstructions that trigger swelling during storms or heavy rainfall.

The wrath of Ondoy (Ketsana) in September 2009 was a wake up call to all of us that global warming is here to stay if we don't made amends with nature. Expect our summers to be hotter and our rainy seasons to be wetter.

Water everywhere.

Related articles

• Rains Inundate More Areas in Philippines; 40 Die (nytimes.com)
• Surviving The Typhoon's Wrath (socyberty.com)
• Philippines floods toll tops 40 (bbc.co.uk)
• South Australia braces for serious storms (news.theage.com.au)

No More Ondoy Please!

It's almost a year since typhoon Ondoy, the worst tropical typhoon depression to hit in recent years, struck Metro Manila.  It is still vivid in my mind how my husband Jun and daughter Nina were stranded in North Luzon Expressway and Ateneo, respectively.  How I almost submerged my father's vehicle when I fetched my other daughter, Kara, from school thinking that it was high enough to pass the flooded street near her school.  There is one song that figure prominently in my mind that encapsulates our worst fear should we continue to abuse the environment, Asin's Masdan Mo Ang Kapaligiran.  This song, which debuted in 1976, seemed very ahead of its time then.  It was Asin's social commentary on their experiences living in Mindanao with illegal logging happening so rampant.

If we continue to squander our natural resources, is it really possible that we will only be able to breathe clean

 air when we are in God's embrace?

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