My OFS team in the Visayas and Mindanao experienced a strong storm last month. It’s a tropical depression named Kabayan.
It was not the biggest storm, but it was strong enough to cause flooding and cancel classes. This is one of those things I want to know about, but I don’t hear about it from my team because to them, it’s not that strong or unusual.
Sometimes, I only hear about this from the news or from my son, who is on a mission in Marinduque.
It kind of baffles me why many in my team aren’t concerned or worried when a storm like this happens. What do they usually do when they get a storm warning?
So I’m having Julia explain.
We experience typhoons and earthquakes all year round, so we have learned to prepare for, live with, and adapt to most natural disasters.
We all know how well-prepared the Japanese are for almost any disaster. The Philippines and Japan have a close relationship. So, one of the ways Japan has helped us over the years is with disaster preparedness. In addition to aid, they share their techniques and technology, and the Philippines has tried to integrate as much as possible. I wish we could be as good as Japan, but politics sometimes gets in the way.
Another reason why we’re more prepared now is because of the Luzon earthquake back in 1990, which caused the death of 1,600 people and injured thousands more. This event triggered massive political and social changes to push for better earthquake preparedness. This earthquake is the reason why you don’t see massive skyscrapers in most places in the Philippines.
We have many ways to adapt to most storms that come our way. Most places have established evacuation centers in case of flooding. We use social media, TV, radio, and text alerts to tell people if they need to stay at home or evacuate, or cancel classes and work etc.
If there are affected areas, they’re communicated right away so nearby affected regions can step in and help.
All these things have made us pretty resilient. Even when we encounter really strong typhoons and earthquakes that cause a lot of destruction, we know how to bounce back.
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Since 2005 I’ve had people in the Philippines working for me. I’ve seen a lot of natural disasters. It’s always amazing to me how they react to them and how quickly they rebuild. When someone on my team is affected, their email to me almost always includes something like:
“But don’t worry Sir, I took my laptop with me so I won’t miss work.”
John