A few days had passed since the arrival of Tropical Storm Sendong (International Name: Washi) which caused an unexpected deluge that cost the lives of already a 1000 residents of Cagayan De Oro and Iligan City in the Southern Island of Mindanao. Nothing paints a more graphic view of the devastation and aftermath than the pictures found in the Atlantic.
I was watching the news and one of the first reports that came of the tragedy was of an interview of a resident who said that in the over 40 years that he had lived there, this was the first time that they had experienced something like this. It came suddenly in the night without any warning, because of which a lot of residents weren’t able to flee the rapid arrival of flood waters in their homes, so some of them drowned in their sleep. What really bleeds my heart was the news that majority of the victims were children.
What we all have to watch out for is the possibility of collateral damage even after the mud and grime has been swept away and we go back to our normal lives. An example of which was a friend who recently also had their house flooded. A few weeks later when they thought that things were going back to normal, their father died suddenly of a heart attack. Speculation as to what caused it was the undue stress and heavy mental burden of coming to grips with the realization of having lost everything they had in the house and having to start from scratch.
Our Thoughts and Prayers go to the people of Mindanao and Visayas that were affected by Sendong. Scientists who warn us of the effects of Global Warming always point out that we should expect harsher weather and with this, we should expect more events like this in the future and therefore should be prepared.
Category: Global Warming, Climate Change
