Lets not allow the bad news about the governments relief efforts deter us from trying to help out ourselves. We should definitely still donate, pack relief goods, and above all monitor the situation on the ground. The fact that so many people around the world are trying to help out is itself inspiring, and only shows just how important it is for regular folks like us na *makialam*, politically and in so many other ways. But lets not let our guard down either. The resources are already there... in abundance. Getting them to people on the ground is a different matter entirely. Private citizens and charities can only do so much on their own. Few of us have our own private choppers to deliver aid. We arent mobile relief agencies. We arent messiahs. Were students and employees and tax-payers and working class citizens equally mourning about a tragedy that caught us all unawares. But we expect authorities to know what theyre doing, and not to downplay the gravity of a brewing social crisis that is getting worse by the day. We expect soldiers to deliver aid, not gun down the victims. We expect government agencies to have the resources and manpower to deliver their services - to have well-paid and well-trained staff capable of organising beforehand - and not to have to depend on non-professionals or college undergrads to do the work for them. That is what governments are for, not least in times of crisis. This is whats so frustrating. And this is just one more reason for us to be more critical. Again, this isnt just Pnoys fault. The crisis has gone way over his head (assuming he has one). If I were in his place, Id have killed myself last week. The Haiyan tragedy isnt a one-time event. Nor is it unique to the Philippines. It isnt all the fault of a handful of individual politicians or government agencies. Its part of a much longer drama played out on the world stage. If we do not start seriously questioning or challenging the root causes of the insanity: if we fail to sift through the lies or face the deep structural causes of injustice head on, tragedies like this will happen, over and over and over again. =========== Why the Philippines wasn’t ready for typhoon Haiyan One of clearest explanations for the Philippines unpreparedness may, sadly, also be one of the most difficult to address: its poverty. The country is ranked 165th in the world by GDP per capita, just below the Republic of Congo. One result is that many homes are modestly constructed of light materials like wood. Another is that the government has fewer resources to invest in infrastructure that could resist natural disasters and be used for relief efforts. Three days after the storm, the devastated city of Tacloban remained almost inaccessible; aid workers said it took six hours to make the 14-mile round trip ferrying supplies between the airport and the city center. Officials warn that telecommunications and power could be offline for days, weeks or even months, slowing rescue efforts. washingtonpost/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/11/11/why-the-philippines-wasnt-ready-for-typhoon-haiyan/ The social catastrophe of Typhoon Haiyan A 2012 study by the World Bank revealed that four out of ten Filipinos live in a city with a population of over 100,000 that is vulnerable to storms. Despite this fact, no preparations were made in the vulnerable areas. The so-called evacuation centers are churches, municipal auditoriums and schools, which lack sanitary facilities or relief goods. What has been exposed yet again is the fact that working people around the world, from Tacloban to Port-au-Prince to New Orleans, are forced to live in poorly-built housing, at the mercy of a major storm or other disaster. wsws.org/en/articles/2013/11/11/phil-n11.html bit.ly/1gCMEU6
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 01:32:59 +0000
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