Pablo’s deadly reach

Despite early prediction that the worst is over, it seems that Pablo’s deadly reach had risen higher than had originally been thought of.

At least, based on the televised reports by the Rescue and Relief efforts of the Armed Forces set up by President Benigno Aquino, that may take a long time than had originally been imagined.

But it must be admitted that the AFP had sort of assured that most of the hitherto unreachable areas of the Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental had all been covered by choppers. But, of course, there is still the need for the higher-soaring choppers of the US Navy which had been promised our AFP.

The commanding general yesterday zeroed on one area which reportedly is beyond the 8,000 meters elevation.

The other side of the search and rescue effort is that some of the missing fishermen may have drifted to the Indonesian waters. And the Philippine authorities still have to ask for the consent of that country to be able to scout the areas in the Indonesian side.

The repair of one bridge reportedly enabled the AFP to use its heavy equipment and trucks to ferry relief goods to locales which had hitherto been considered inaccessible. That’s the good news.

Thus, we heard of reports of mobs subsiding and the scramble for foods and other relief materials abated.

All one has to do is to see the TV shots of the area around New Bataan to realize the difficulties that local residents and official now confront as they try to rebuild from virtually nothing.

We have already seen that most every building in the area had been flattened by Pablo’s super typhoon gusts. Vast stretches of the poblacion were virtually demolished, the buildings reduced to smithereens.

And worse, evacuees virtually have to sleep with the rain pouring on their faces and bodies.

One can only share with them their travails. There’s nothing much we can do. We can send help but cannot do the things that need to be done to give them the badly needed water, and power.

The military has already brought to some of these areas power generators. That has enabled them to power water purifiers.

But how much has already been activated against the number needed? There’s always the danger of gastrointestinal diseases and upper respiratory ailments which pose a problem for the affected residents.

The problem is that a lot of doctors are needed to attend to the ailing. Although, there was a claim that there were no more queues before hospitals, still it must be admitted that there are only a few physicians to take care of the ailing and the injured. So also with surgical instruments and facilities.

In short, here we see that we need so much to be able to ready ourselves for catastrophe, such as physicians, nurses and para-medical personnel.

And we still have to see the relief workers, who have labored so hard in the past week, still have to overcome invincible problems such as lack of road access, heavy equipment to clear the roads and streets of debris, and the manpower needed to handle some of the heavy chores to help the typhoon victims.

But, we also noticed something lacking. This was the mobilization by the local government authorities of the typhoon victims into self-help units who will handle some of the easy chores to ward off the cold and the rains.

Of course, we understand their problems. Some of them are still quaking with the cold, etc. But perhaps some form of activity for communitarian objectives could have been initiated by the local officials. There’s nothing worse than staying idle with nothing to do but wait for government aid.

In short, LGUs should not just ready their teams to handle relief and rescue operations, but also undertake such other activities as are needed after the initial impact of a catastrophe. Nothing is worse than doing nothing after an incident. It is tragic and, something can result in death.

One just hopes that those of you who still can afford to send help to the stricken victims of Pablo send them badly needed items such as soap, sponge towels, towels, and warm clothes, including blankets and, in some cases, mats. One, yes, for those who really have concern for the victims, remember that you also send them brand new panties and briefs as well as slippers.

If you can afford to give medicines, such as paracetamols, etc., which are usually needed during a major incident, send them but be sure that they are protected. Perhaps, in bottles.

Most important – send whatever you can. The flood victims need your help. As pointed out earlier, some of them had organized themselves into a mob and ransacked warehouses and grocery stores because they had long been waiting for government assistance.

God bless you for your generosity.*

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