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As expected, sifting through the responses to my challenge to identify the possible points I intended to make in my last blog post was a no-brainer. Only a few stood out as noteworthy, and as usual, I had to rely on, well, primarily myself for an injection of true insight into the matter. Some of [...]
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Lately there’s been a lot of backpatting accompanying all the feel-good stories surrounding the heroism and “bayanihan” supposedly exhibited in the aftermath of the destruction wreaked by tropical cyclone Ondoy on Metro Manila. Indeed, there is reason to congratulate ourselves. The motivation to “help out” and “contribute” to the relief effort transcended social class and [...]
Just an hour ago I was in touch with the former chair of the UP Geography Department, now with the Australian National University (ANU) Prof Doracie Zoleta-Nantes as we discussed the Ondoy disaster. Prof Zoleta-Nantes is one of the few scientists we have who has an expertise on disaster geography and how society responds. I [...]
Clean up the trash. Upgrade the sewage system. Pick up your trash. Don’t throw plastic into the rivers. Rationally apply Urban Planning. Enough of “spot zoning”. Don’t vote bozos into Congress. Vote for bozos who provide winning solutions and demonstrated these in the past – not because they are “winnable”. Everything that can go wrong, [...]
So far the initial Pinoy scientist response to the Ondoy (Ketsana) disaster is more of trying to find out how the massive flooding of Metro Manila happened rather than if hydrological, weather, climate or hazards models failed or succeded to predict the events of Sept 26, 2009. Of all the science agencies of the government that [...]
In recent days we’ve been hearing and reading the word “Bayanihan” to the point of its being reduced to but a mere platitude of the sort politicians and most media folk mouth off when their faculties for spin are on auto-pilot. The concept of Bayanihan is now just this much short of being included in [...]
The devastation wreaked by cyclone Ondoy this weekend hit close to home. It impacted our immediate families and circle of friends, and it disrupted that sense of “normalcy” that the latte-sipping classes of Manila had grown accustomed to. I cited in a previous blog article how the flashfloods and mudslides that killed 5,000 in Ormoc [...]
It is perhaps part of our culture to have blind faith in many things, not least faith in two social forces that most shape our collective lives – god and government. This weekend has clearly demonstrated that our faith can only take us so far. God only helps those who help themselves. And government will [...]
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