Pepito’s Out, Who’s Next?

Okay, Pepito’s out. Who’s next? Is there anyone still coming? That was letter P. There had been a Typhoon Yolanda which starts with letter Y. so, it’s possible that typhoons Q to Y could still come, although they could be less stronger storms.

It really is typhoon season. But, we really took a beating from the last string of storms. NASA, yes, as in National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the American space agency that sends astronauts to space, has called this month’s “parade” of typhoons in the Philippines as unusual and extraordinary. Yes, it does come with the season. But, recently, the storms have overlapped in frequency and grew in intensity. The blame is placed on climate change, and the agency warns that it could get worse all the more. What are we to do then?

It is nice that the authorities have started to implement some innovative changes. Classes were suspended very early on. Before this typhoon parade, there had been times when rainfall would already be obviously heavy, yet, students would be advised to take caution and bring their rain gear on their way to school and back home. Authorities would wait for really heavy rains before declaring that the kids could stay home. At the same time with that, the public were encouraged to prepare; and prepare they did. Everyone did get going. Every household exerted effort to reinforce roofs and windows. Residents in vulnerable positions immediately and without coercion accepted their vulnerabilities and volunteered to seek safe shelter in evacuation centers before the winds even came. We went to the grocery shops and stacked food. Furniture and appliances were brought upstairs. Kristine really made a mark on our psyche.

It was commendable how Mayor legacion implemented a curfew which started at 12 noon on Saturday. Now, why didn’t we think of that before? It also included mandatory ceasing of operations of commercial establishments. That is understandably justifiable. Let’s all stay home and not taunt the typhoon. I remember that there had been times when a typhoon was already making its presence felt with heavy downpour, and people were still partying in Magsaysay. Employees got stranded in terminals because some employers would operate their businesses even in the middle of the torrents. Heck, even I had found myself stuck in the middle of a strong typhoon in downtown Naga because I was too stupid to update myself with weather reports. It was a scene out of a disaster movie. Inside the car, the people with me were mumbling prayers, their cellphones were ringing with calls from family asking where they were. A large signboard missed the car when it fell from the roof of Metrobank along Penafrancia. Outside, glass panels were crashing and people were screaming. This was in the mid-2000’s . Had a curfew been imposed, we would have not found ourselves in that predicament.

But, like a crash on an already crashing crisis, some men who apparently didn’t care about their family at home decided to try to break in to some of the closed unguarded establishments. I heard they were able to actually break the locks of some restaurant. There were worse lootings in the middle of Kristine. This is something the police should prepare for. In the middle of the fatality causing devastation of Hurricane Katrina, there were massive ransacking and looting of shops in Louisiana, USA because cops were too busy with rescue, in 2005. (Wait, that was about the same time that I was stuck in the storm in Centro.) So, I think, cops and tanods should look into this when a storm starts strutting our way next time. I’m not asking for it. It’s going to happen eventually. The scary part of it is NASA says that the typhoons could be more intense. What would that look like? Would floods swallow the second floors? Would there be more days of incessant deluge of rains? If this string of storms will happen again, we need to restructure how we do things. The early suspension of classes and curfew are already good points to start from. Maybe, offices and stores could think of ways of waterproofing their equipment or maybe, storing them at the highest level possible. Maybe, reinforced windows and roofing could be permanent fixtures. Preserved food which could be eaten uncooked and drinking water should be available in satisfying amounts. Maybe, we could consider temporarily going to work-from-home and remote learning. We could implement those schemes when there are forecasts of series of typhoons. We have to make some inevitable adjustments.

2 Corinthians 4:16: “…we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day….”