tTyphoons in the Phillippines and what they can do to that Country!

Another international disaster has occurred  – this time in the Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan has caused mayhem, certainly killed many thousands, and made hundreds of thousands more homeless and destitute. This was another cruel result of nature at its most powerful. Like most people who live in dangerous areas (like under volcanoes, or on or near earthquake fault lines, or in flood plains, or on coastlines suffering hurricanes, this population felt that they could get away with it – and they do 99% of the time.

In the Philippines,like many other such countries (say Indonesia), they  don’t provide the right foundations or materials for their buildings to withstand the elements – so they all fall down when something really bad happens. In this case though the typhoon was so powerful that such precautions wouldn’t  have saved everything – but certainly the devastation and loss of life wouldn’t have been as bad.

The International Relief Agencies are galvanised into action as usual to supply help to that country. Other populations are being encouraged, and even pressurised into providing donations to raise many millions of pounds of financial support to get aid to a desperate set of men, women, and children – just basic stuff like water, food, and shelter. Many of us will do so, whatever our circumstances – because we care. [In Britain over twenty million pounds have been raised in the last week].

What is distressing is that their own Central Government don’t seem to have the same care – like in many such countries, the rich live a life of untold luxury & wealth at the expense of their people. Anyone could have seen such a catastrophe coming a mile off – it is a country that suffers from multiple typhoons of varying strength every year throughout the year; it is said that they have had 20 this year so far – so it was only a matter of time before another big one hit (the last really gigantic catastrophic typhoon there was only some 15 years ago!).

Why then was their government so ill- prepared for it (nil geared up by the look of it)? Why didn’t they have any effective contingency plans or emergency funds put aside – and worse still, where are they now when the relief agencies are at the sharp end carrying the brunt of the problem, and even being criticised? Where are their resources, where are their forces, and where is their critical help for their own population? Where is their coordination of the much needed assistance? No wonder the survivors feel angry and cheated, and are in total ‘despair’.

Oh yes, these rulers are likely to remain totally imperceptible until the caring world sorts out the mess – it is WRONG!.

[Please find the will and heart to give some money to the agencies – they desperately need it and need it quickly. The Philippines may seen a far off land, but the people are suffering, and it is not their fault; families have lost their houses, there possessions – everything, including the lives of their loved ones, mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, and even their children and sadly their babies snatched from their hands]