Ompong shows our need for sanctuaries
There are features in international television depicting natural calamities of harrowing magnitude. We can just imagine that with the reported unspeakable loss of lives and unparalleled property damage, those who missed media coverage must be far more horrible. As a startling example, there was recently a billowing of lava in the middle of a residential subdivision in Hawaii. The rare volcanic activity caught everyone by surprise because thorough and scientific pre-planning by the developers never foresaw that the exclusive subdivision they built would be a dreadful scene of flowing lava.
I may be alarmist but whoever coined the statement — “better be safe than sorry” — hit the proverbial nail on its head. There’s no more fearsome warning against future disasters than what we witnessed few days ago. Typhoon Ompong poured unprecedented volume of water into the Cordillera and Sierra Madre mountains that cascaded to the low lands. Landslides in Itogon buried people while many provinces in Luzon went flooded. Like the Hawaiians, Luzonians did not expect the monstrosity that hit them.
These horrible sights should jolt our Cebuano leaders out of complacency. If they care for our well being, they must not take for granted the warning signs that are alarming and realistic. Truly, our island province is blessed with a terrain that does not produce the cataclysm our Luzon brothers experienced, but still any disaster is tragic. It is best that they factor those data and prepare for the worst.
With PAGASA airing helpful forecasts, government agencies mobilized before Ompong made landfall. Among the most basic preparations was to identify centers of evacuation. Most of these were school buildings, because there were no other choices. Yet, apart from the supposed shelter the structures provide, the schools offered no other prospects of viable relief. This is my beef today.
Cebu City is not small. We have about a million residents, mostly living in houses not expected to survive three foreseeable risks: Fire, category-3 typhoons, and the kind of earthquake that devastated Bohol in 2013. There are still Cebuanos who live in areas threatened by rampaging waters or landslides. These are the people, government must move to evacuation centers.
It may be an ambitious and radical plan for the city to consider constructing at least three large structures, better described as sanctuaries. One must be built somewhere in Mambaling area (for pre-identified sectors in the South district; another in Apas for pre-identified people in the North district; and in Pong-ol Sibugay, which sits at the cross-roads of mountain barangays inhabitants. These areas must be chosen based on factors, among which are accessibility to intended evacuees and capacity to withstand earthquakes and tsunamis.
The buildings must truly be sanctuaries and, approximating the real meaning of “sanctuary,” these must be stocked with the immediate needs of survivors like food, clean water, dry clothing, and warm blankets, coupled with toilets.
Our leaders must also have a place for responders. When disasters strike, policemen, firemen, rescuers, medical and health teams, and social workers must coordinate with each another for swift reaction time and operational effectiveness. Housing them in one place eliminates the effects of communication bog-down and promotes efficiency.
This idea is still crude, but if our leaders pursue this with their brilliant minds, and with relentless vigor, then we can be assured that our future is somehow secure.
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