Lessons from Ondoy

By Joshua Miguel

September 2009, the world witnessed the devastation brought by Typhoon Ketsana (Ondoy) to the Philippines. Said typhoon flooded most parts of Metro Manila and left more than 400 deaths and $1 Billion worth of damages to properties.

Aside from the record rainfall unleashed by Ondoy, the massive flooding was also caused by loose garbage that clogged the water channels of Manila. These garbage mostly came from the numerous informal settlers who built illegal residential structures close to the rivers or creeks and who directly threw their wastes directly to the water system. These restricted the natural flow of the river and eventually contributed to its swelling during the onset of Ondoy's fury.

The Ondoy incident only showed the unpreparedness of Filipinos and its government if faced by sudden anger from nature. It also highlighted the government's poor urban planning of Metro Manila as seen in its polluted rivers, polluted air, overcrowded communities, dilapidated infrastructures, and the unprecedented growth of informal settlers.

Three years after Ondoy, came another tragedy. Last August 7, 2012, flood waters brought about by an extra ordinary monsoon rain submerged 90% of Metro Manila, killing residents and destroying properties.

The Ondoy and the August 7, 2012 floodings were not pure acts of nature, these are disaster triggered by nature but aggravated by irresponsible human actions towards our environment.

How many lives should be sacrificed in order for the Philippine government to finally implement clear and speedy solutions to these problems? Do they need funds? manpower? technology? The Philippine government can provide all these items. They have the funds, they have the manpower, and they have the technology as well. What they lack is simply political-will.

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About Joshua Miguel

I grew up believing that dreams do come true. I was taught that as long as you work hard, follow your heart's desire, do good, and pray to God, your dreams will someday become a reality. I was also taught that If you fail once, try again and if you still fail, try harder. As they say, try and try until you die. I turned into writing blogs to release my frustrations in life. I wrote articles in Hubpages, Triond, Bukisa, and Associated Content. I am no longer active on those sites, I just created this blog site and concentrated on this instead. Who is Joshua Miguel? Our real name was given to us by our parents. Not that I don't like the name given to me but if given a chance to change my name I would choose Joshua Miguel. That is the story behind my pen name and that is the reason why my blog-site's name is "Joshua's Page ". All articles in this blog-site were inspired by my day to day tho ughts and experiences. Hope you will en

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