Even though Laguna province wasn’t as badly hit by supertyphoon “Uwan” as did other provinces in the Philippines, the storm was strong enough to strike worry and fear among us.
For us, “Uwan’s” fury began when the electricity was suddenly cut off at around four in the afternoon. We had never really prepared for the eventuality of power being cut off, so my mother sent me off into the intensifying rain and winds to find candles.
Unfortunately, everyone in the neighborhood seemed to have underestimated “Uwan’s” fury, too. The refrain from stores that had managed to stay open to the people who were also forced to brave the elements: Sorry, no more candles.
Fortunately, the power interruption lasted only eight hours or so – a far cry from past typhoons, like for instance “Glenda” in 2014, were we went almost a whole week without electricity.
But that brief (not really brief, for it was a long, agonizing night) scare we had during “Uwan’s” onslaught seemed to have hammered home the lesson for most of us: never ever ever downplay or underestimate the intensity of typhoons.
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In recent weeks, following a series of natural calamities that struck Visayas and Mindanao, preparedness for disasters has once again taken center stage.
Everyone was preparing “go bags,” emergency kits that can be carried around in case of forced evacuations.
And authorities, this time, were quick to activate their response teams and urge residents living near danger zones to flee their homes and seek shelter before the typhoon struck.
Authorities credit this “proactive” approach to “Uwan” to the zero casualties reported during the typhoon in Laguna province, although we all still have to deal with the mess the typhoon left behind such as the masses of fallen trees, debris and garbage that the floods carried into our streets.
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As typhoons are expected to become even more intense and devastating no thanks to the effects of climate change (and, we must always point out, man’s greed), everyone’s finally waking up to the devastating effect of the Filipino attitude of being lackadaisical or “just be chilling” about natural calamities, as one politician so flippantly pointed out (that remark earned backlash among netizens, and with good reason).
The thing is, however: will this become “ningas-kugon” again (another negative Filipino attitude of enthusiasm and resolve fading away after a few weeks or even days)? Will the next typhoon or earthquake once again shake us from our “bahala na” thinking and force us to be proactive when it comes to disasters?
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