Yolanda has Got the Best of Me???

It’s been close to two months now since my last post (except for one from the office). Yolanda has immobilized and silenced this blog, but I have gone to the thick of efforts (and I am glad) to bring help to the places devastated by the strongest typhoon that has hit land in the country –also touted as the strongest weather disturbance ever recorded.

We, in the office, succeeded in persuading the management to forgo an otherwise lavish Christmas party –a much toned down event was replaced– and donate the amount allotted to it to relief goods for the victims. I joined my office colleagues in volunteering at the Villamor Air Base where my backbreaking experiences as a young boy in Calbayog came handy –we used to carry sacks of sands from shore to construction sites for like 75 centavos per “lata” (big tin container of assorted biscuits), and gather firewood from deep in the woods, among others. I carried some twenty sacks containing varied goods from stacks outside and into a gym, which served as warehouse, and from the gym to waiting military trucks -until I felt like I would need some help walking.

I have joined all sorts of fund drive to get something across to the needy.

Honestly, I felt like I needed some pain to relieve the guilt from just watching the hapless victims in such a desperate situation –while we go about our convenient lives. I could sense the indescribable anguish in their faces.

I could not thank God enough, and I continue to dread the thought of what could have happened if Yolanda did not, in the last minutes, change course and plowed through Calbayog City, which is literally just a stone’s throw away from the sea. Anyone who’s traveled by land from Luzon to Leyte would have passed by coastal Calbayog City, and know what I am saying. For most of the stretch of Maharlika Highway traversing the city, only its road separate the city and the sea.

Now, I think the people in coastal towns and cities have since completely reconsidered their view of that once prized “house by the sea” dream. It’s like now you have to see to it that from where you live, you have a clear pass through higher grounds, in case anything like this threatens your locality. This certainly will have implication on property insurance premiums and coverages.

Behind all the grim prospects in the face of this enormous tragedy, a silver lining lies. The government and organizations involved in the task of rebuilding Tacloban City and all the other affected places must make an  opportunity out of this unspeakable tragedy, and inspire the whole country if not the world. The opportunity is to build a city that complies with all the environmental demands of a safe and sustainable metropolis. The government has long complained that the reason it could not implement the measures that are even mandated by law, like mandatory sewerage, is because these houses and establishments are already in place, and for some logistical and practical considerations compliance is either prohibitively costly, or unwise.

Now we have clean slate status. From the ruins, raise a city that will obliterate the horrible memory of Yolanda and showcase the resilience of Waray and Leytenos.