Prologue
As a third world country, the Philippines is looking up to the United States of America as a technologically well-prepared nation and physically impregnable. However, when Hurricane Katrina wrecked havoc in its Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, that third world notion was shattered. By then, the sustained winds of 100 to 140 miles per hour which stretched to some 400 miles across was too much for those in the warpath of destruction. For them, the catastrophe is already an eternity.
When the storm subsided, hundreds of thousands of people in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were displaced from their homes, and experts estimate that Katrina caused more than $100 billion in damage.
Preparation, prevention, evacuation
Meteorologists were able to warn the people in the Gulf Coast states that a major storm is coming after a tropical depression named Hurricane Katrina was formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005. In fact, by August 28, evacuations were underway across the region. The National Weather Service then predicted that most of the Gulf Coast area will be uninhabitable for weeks after the storm.
Historically, New Orleans, which is almost always the hardest hit area in the Gulf Coast during the past century, had been flooded five times due to hurricanes: in 1915, 1940, 1947, 1965, and1969. Therefore, New Orleans was at particular risk in 2005. Notwithstanding the fact that the city actually lies above sea level, its average elevation is about six feet below sea level – and it is completely surrounded by water. This is the reason that in the 20th century, the Army Corps of Engineers had built a system of levees*(*Levees a natural or artificial embankment to prevent overflow of a river.) and seawalls to keep the city from flooding.
The city mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, had issued the city’s first-ever mandatory evacuation order. At the same time, he designated the Superdome, a stadium located on a relatively high ground as a shelter of last resort for people who could not leave the city - for people who have no access to a car. In fact, by nightfall, almost 80 percent of the city’s population had evacuated. Some 10,000 had sought shelter in the Superdome, while tens of thousands of others chose to wait out the storm at home.
The Missing Link
With the magnitude of the damage, questions linger on. Was there no way to prevent or just minimize such magnitude of damage? What happened to the nation’s budget that has been allocated for the purpose of securing the lives, limbs and properties of the inhabitants? What happened to the communication protocol? Where are the technocrats? Who are the people at the receiving end of the accusing fingers? Who gets the brunt of the people’s ire? Nonetheless, at the end of the day we can do nothing, except that everybody should work hand in hand in order to avoid the same catastrophic tragedy.
The Zealousness of Davao del Norte
In this part of the globe, the provincial government has never been complacent. The time-tested dictum that says: an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure, has ever-since been embraced. Necessary preventive measures had already been in place and it is only hoped that the people can maintain their composure and focus when calamities may occur. From physical structures that are resilient to calamities, intensified information and education dissemination, to awareness and application of gender sensitivity, and almost anything that may be of import to every Dabaonon, are being taken care of and shared to the people.
It is the fervent prayer of every Dabaonon that calamities will spare the province and its people.
References:
http://www.history.com/topics/hurricane-katrina;date retrieved 2005
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/reports/katrina-lessons-learned/chapter5.html; retrieved 2005
In Davao del Norte, planting of vetiver grasses and other forest trees along the riverbanks with Elementary students.
Men and women government employees do their share of mitigating climate change by joining regular tree planting activities
