It has been two years since the day Typhoon“Yolanda”came and altered the lives of Filipinos. Thousands were killed, millions were displaced, billions of pesos in infrastructure and agricultural produce were laid to waste. November 8 will always stand out in our memory as an ominous day.
Two years on, life has not returned to normal for those who were affected. How could it? We in the capital and other places can only remember during anniversaries, or when other developments are reported in the media. We are shielded by our distance from the disaster site, by our many other concerns. But for those who were affected, this is their reality—and two years on, it still does not look good.
Focus has been on how the government handled the response and the rehabilitation and recovery phase. Most of the feedback is disheartening. Despite the suffering being universal, government response has sometimes been determined by politics. Funds that came in from numerous sources have been found to lie idle in banks instead of serving the purpose for which they were donated. Families who lost their homes still live in tents and makeshift shelters.
Efforts to mitigate disaster and prepare for them should equally take center stage. More natural disasters like Yolanda and human-induced ones are likely to happen in our lifetime. Science is an indispensable ally in determining and anticipating the risks we face. Organizational and institutional preparations on the other hand will allow systems that can be activated at a moment’s notice.
Yolanda has given us much to grieve about, but also to learn. We acknowledge that we are not completely clueless and helpless in the face of disaster. We can be informed about the risks we face and take action to mitigate these risks. We can organize ourselves so that we would not be as surprised and as lost. We can build back not only to recover what we have lost but also to be stronger and better prepared for the next test.