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Thursday, December 22, 2011

Pity the Poor

Filosofo Tasio Lives

In one of the video analysis on the floods, there was discussion of the great basins where flood occurred:   Pampanga, the Marikina, and this time, the Cagayan de Oro basin.  These basins drain to the sea or lake.  However, to prevent flooding, the basins must drain quickly.

And what do we have:   clogged waterways due to poor people who have nowhere to build their houses complete with bathroom facilities and solid waste disposal.  And you have a perfect formula for flooding:   when it rains hard (due to climate change) and sudden run off from the mountains (caused by poor people (what else can you call them if they live off on few pcs of lumber?).  Then all of a sudden, we blame PAG ASA because there was warning.  All along, we know these are bound to happen -  the technocrats and experts know these;  only the residents and the LGU heads cant seem to understand lest they lose votes.

Just look at the floodway in Mangahan, victims of Ondoy.  They were supposed to have left 2 years ago.  Only a few left.  But most of them are still there.  And when the next heavy rains come, there will be flooding again and many people will die. And the whole cycle repeats.

There was an uprising vs a FB user who said that let Sendong come again and end the misery of these poor people.  I think she got a point too.  Pretty soon,  the waterways draining  the basins will be again populated by people who have nowhere to go.  And when it rains, the narrow waterways all ready full of debris and solid wastes thrown away....