The curious case of the Filipinos

We Filipinos are a bunch of...never mind. We know that a catastrophe is about to break. We see the signs of its coming all over us. Yet we don't do anything about it. It is as though everything's going to be all right. We sink into deep slumber. And worse, we come back to life only when there's death.

Look at the aftermath of typhoons Ondoy and Peping.

Or better yet, look at The Maguindanao Massacre.

Are our five senses malfunctioning, so that it takes us so long a time to stop what needs to be stopped?

A call to arms

My first memories of a flood are probably of when we were still living in Jade Valley, a low-lying subdivision located along the Davao River. If I remember it right, the place was visited by floods for four times over. They said the worse flood was during the fourth time when the water reached as high as the rooftop.

To me, however, it was the third time because I had experienced it myself---by the fourth flooding, we had already moved out of Jade Valley. On March 15, 2000 (Araw ng Davao!), around 2 o'clock in the morning, somebody was knocking hard on the door, telling us to evacuate as the water was rising fast. When we went out of the house, bringing nothing but the clothes we're wearing, the water was already knee high.

We safely evacuated in Juliville, another subdivision adjacent to Jade Valley. For several days, my siblings and I stayed in my grandmother's house, in Lanang, but my parents stayed in Juliville, and waited for the water to subside.

[caption id="attachment_1090" align="aligncenter" width="458" caption="An aerial view aboard a Philippine Air Force chopper shows devastation brought by Tropical Storm Ketsana in Cainta, province of Rizal , eastern Manila. (Photo courtesy of PSDMN---Private Sector Disaster Management Network)"][/caption]

So we were spared from the ravages of the flood. But when we came back, I heard many stories from my friends. Some recounted how hard it was to wait for rescue that they weren't sure whether it would come. Some recounted how they staved off their hunger and thirst. Others told me how they tried, if vainly, to save their furniture and belongings. Last week, those memories came flooding as I watched on TV, and saw the flooding in many parts of Luzon.