|
There is no clearer sign of climate
change as it impinges on us than our abbreviated summer this
year with two powerful typhoons wreaking havoc in the first
half of May, a rainy Holy Week and unseasonable cool weather
intruding into summer temperatures. The occasional rains are
welcome in summer and so with the cooler temperatures that
come in their wake, but torrential rains and accompanying
winds causing floods, landslides, car accidents and boat
disasters are less than welcome.
Moreover, it seems we can expect more of the
same regarding climate changes as well as other natural
disasters like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. We are in
that neck of the woods. Add to that the peace and order
problems that come with warring actions wherever they occur,
and there is a job cut out for governments and communities to
do.
Several studies about the effects of
disaster (typhoon, earthquake, fire, war, etc.) have been
recently made. Statistics as to the impact of these events
show that urban populations, particularly in developing
countries or countries with poor economies, have the greatest
casualties. In countries with poor economies, the
infrastructure and mitigating measures against disasters are
woefully inadequate. In developing countries where
infrastructure has been rushed as the economy rapidly expands,
the bridges, superhighways, cloverleaf interchanges, hillside
retaining walls and even just the normal roads—having been
built without thorough planning and rigorous preparation—are
often of such bad quality that they collapse with devastating
results during disasters. You may think of the Philippines,
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and any other number of equally poor
economies for the first. For the second there is China and
perhaps some other Asian countries whose economy is booming
but whose infrastructure has not kept up with the needs of the
times. More and more people migrate from rural to urban
settings in the world’s poorer, less developed countries. But
the cities’ administrative capabilities and resources are not
prepared to cope with the influx of millions from the
provinces. They are even less prepared to cope with disaster
emergencies affecting their dense populations.
There are differences in the impact of
disasters on developed countries and on the other kind. For
example, there are the findings of a UN study of the
difference in the impact of typhoons on Japan and on the
Philippines. Japan has more people exposed to them because
their cities, in fact the whole country in general, are more
densely populated than the cities of the Philippines which
still has vast unpopulated regions.
Yet, the toll of the typhoons is 17 times
higher in the Philippines. In fact this study reached the
conclusion that besides economic conditions (Japan’s cities
are first world communities where buildings and other
structures can withstand high winds and rains), it is
preparedness or disaster mitigation undertaken by government
and communities either together or on their own that reduces
the impact of typhoon disasters.
In the case of China where millions of
people have migrated to the eastern seaboard, which is
vulnerable to typhoons and floods, there is still no developed
mechanism that can cope with disasters given the large
population at risk. Or, as in the tragic earthquake last year
in Sichuan where the recently built schools collapsed, killing
thousands of students, the rapid economic growth that financed
the schools did not equally impose building standards that
would have protected them from destruction.
These studies and their survey of real life
conditions show that governments and the people in these
communities within the poor economies that are going to be hit
hard by climate change and the disasters it is foreseen to
cause—in more frequency and with more force—must being to give
more serious thought, attention, planning and work to mitigate
the damage and suffering before they happen. These measures
must be made a priority.
It is not just economics or the ability to
gather monetary resources that matters. Equally or even more
essential is a realistic outlook, the political will to set up
plans and systems to mitigate disasters before they happen and
the united resolve of the people to back up these plans and
systems.
For example, Bangladesh has after the
tsunami created its own evacuation programs for another
tsunami, for reducing the tragedy when the raging floods come.
Colombia also, not exactly a first world
country, has put in earthquake preparedness skills and
instruments among the people in the buildings of Bogota. This
is done by working with the communities and the private
citizens who will be affected when disaster strikes. It all
goes to show that every country no matter how economically
strapped, if it has the will can face disasters and other
obstacles and protect its population.
I know that our own government is putting in
place some measures to face the coming events due to climate
change that need to be dealt with. And it is to be hoped that
they are adequate enough with the guiding principle that they
are of the utmost priority. This is a notice to the general
population and to each community that they too can help
themselves by participating in the government preparedness
programs as well as by implementing their own preparedness
plans according to their means.
miongpin@yahoo.com | 
