TYPHOON “Odette” slammed into several islands in the Visayas and Mindanao on Thursday and Friday, leaving great devastation and deaths, with some 400,000 Filipinos displaced physically and economically.
No matter that the national government had fully prepared for the coming typhoon, with the Department of Social Welfare and Development able to preposition relief goods, food, and supplies in the typhoon’s target areas a couple of days before it made its first landfall. The Armed Forces, the Philippine National Police, Coast Guard, national disaster mitigation officials, and local government units all implemented various degrees of preparation for the cyclone yet loss of lives, agricultural crops, and properties still happened. Hardest hit were Dinagat Islands, Siargao, Surigao, Bohol, Cebu, Samar, and Leyte.
‘The nation’s sad experience
with Odette should jolt our leaders, especially those who are aspiring for the presidency in next year’s election, to have clear and science-based
policies on the environment, disaster response and mitigation, national land use, and similar concerns.’
Super typhoon Odette reminded all and sundry about the strongest typhoon “Haiyan” in 2013, locally called “Yolanda,” which leveled coastal areas in Leyte and Samar, caused massive floods and killed some 3,000 residents and tourists in the Visayas. Yolanda happened in the first week of November that year. Compared to Haiyan, Odette notched some 170 persons killed and more than 50 missing.
Typhoon Odette left a large swathe of destruction and deep grief not only among the Visayans, but also the rest of Filipinos in Luzon, for any national catastrophe strikes at the heart of the Philippine economy and everybody suffers.
The storm season in the Philippines starts in June and becomes more pronounced until the end of the year in December, and the country is visited by an average of 20 tropical storms every year.
These weather disturbances have become more and more intense, as the world itself suffers from the effects of climate change and the warming of the planet.
The nation’s sad experience with Odette should jolt our leaders, especially those who are aspiring for the presidency in next year’s election, to have clear and science-based policies on the environment, disaster response and mitigation, national land use, and similar concerns.
It is not enough that they send food, water and relief goods, construction materials, etc. for the typhoon victims now — although that’s a great help — because the fact that the Philippines is one of the countries most vulnerable to the impact of climate change will need serious government policy direction.
