Nineteen towns in the Iloilo province was inundated because of the sneaky wrath of typhoon Quinta, four people were dead, and millions worth of properties were left damaged. It was the day after Christmas. With the changing weather patterns and climate in general, tragic situations like this will keep on happening. 

The recent flash flood is one of the many calamities that the country has faced and will have to face.  A recent United Nation study named the Philippines second most disaster-prone country in Asia, second to China. This fact isn’t a surprise, with the entire disastrous phenomenon that happened within this year.  Typhoon Pablo alone killed almost 1,500 people topping list of deadliest typhoons of the decade. The huge wound that Pablo created is still fresh and gaping but here we are mourning about the destruction close to home. 

It does not take a storm signal for the water to swell as proven by the flooding caused by torrential rains last August. Manila was submerged in flood water halting offices and lives of the people in general. This did not happen before.  While the countries that produce biggest carbon emissions refuse to believe Climate Change, climate actually changed.  With Doha Climate Change Conference, reaching a mere 18 percent agreement, global climate awareness is far from being a success. We can’t rely on other countries for immediate actions; we must act individually and collectively as a country.

Without global cooperation, mitigating the effects of Climate Change will be a feat hard to achieve.  However, the Philippines has proven to cope with the devastation through innovations that did not just alert everyone but also helped in the relief and rescue efforts during calamities. The resourcefulness and the bayanihan spirit worked their magic during the height of typhoons, reducing damages and avoiding further destruction. People turned to online social networking sites and the internet to help and to ask for help. The true Filipino ingenuity definitely showed in desperate times.

The recent flooding in the Iloilo province is blamed on the water coming from the mountains making its own way since the rivers have over flown.  The city was allegedly spared because of the Jaro floodway. In the wake of the flooding, Sen. Drilon announced that there’s another floodway project in the works. The government doesn’t have much choice but to heighten risk reduction efforts and with the involvement of environmentally concerned and capable individuals somehow they have achieved commendable results. 

The year 2012 was a tough time for the climate, there were too many calamities all over the world and the people are left trying to adjust to survive.  Bob Dylan has said it in his immortal song “The Time They Are A-Changing”, “we better start swimming or we’ll sink like a stone.”*