The Typhoon named Frank

Hundreds of people died in the Philippines because of the wrath of a super typhoon named Frank or Fengshen as its international name. I have seen how sturdy trees knocked down, billboards fell from buildings, flood waters drowning rooftops and destroyed thousands of hectares of rice lands and a ship en route from Manila to Cebu capsized because it was swallowed up by mountain like waves. When you are caught in treacherous storms like this, there's nothing you can think of but destruction, hunger, death.

With typhoon Frank, I would guess that many people who knew me in the Philippines and other parts of the world have associated my name with the typhoon, and if ever they have forgotten my name, they were once again reminded of me. Well, human persons are part of nature and human nature can at times be likened to typhoons. The typhoon's fury was unleashed unexpectedly or perhaps its strength underestimated. Living in the panay island where our local community faces the smaller island of guimaras does make you accustomed to storms, or learned to like to storm. The strong winds test the strength of your house, the big waves wound unearth the lost coins in the sand and the mussels and other sea creatures good for food are washed to the shore.

For us who live in the shores of Panay Island would welcome the coming of southwest moonsoon in the months of June to August. The months when the southwest moonsoon would bring income to the fisherfolks. It's the time when milkfish fry are drawn to the shore by the currents and fisherfolks has something to catch and sell. In the last few decades much have change in milkfish fry catching. Less and less fry are caught because of pollution and environmental degradation. Typhoons are seen as destruction rather than bringing rain to rainfed rice paddies and income for fisherfolks.


Similarly when I saw on tv the destruction brought by storms or hurricanes and tornados in continental US that made houses like cardboard boxes. The sights of totally destroyed houses in the US causes me to think that regardless where you live, whether you are in an upper middle class society or in the developing country like Burma or the Philippines houses are nothing in the eye of the storm. So what kind of houses do we need that can stand the storm? Or what kind of food production technology do we need that can stand the storm? And what kind of society should we have that can anticipate if not is prepared to face the fiercest of storms and earthquakes?

Come to think about these!