Revisiting climate change

I MUST have written about climate change in previous columns, so why am I writing about it again? Recent events have made it a current topic and perhaps it will never be outdated since climate change is a perennial problem. Typhoon "Karding" had just passed our country and resulted in so much damage to property and lives. My heart goes out to the rescuers who died while trying to perform their tasks. The efforts exerted by both public and private sectors during the typhoon and the floods deserve a lot of commendation. We saw how government organizations, especially the local government units (LGUs), immediately came to the rescue of the affected residents and their properties. Evacuation was orderly even if we had the usual resistance from people who would not leave their homes. Television and radio stations were announcing the developments as they occurred and immediately sent relief goods to the evacuation centers. Large malls like the SM Malls offered to shelter people at the height of the floods. Their parking areas were opened to the stranded vehicles in flood-prone areas.

How admirable! It looks like we have learned a lot about coping with such events considering that the Philippines is visited by about 20 typhoons a year. Not to mention the flooding and the storm surges that accompany such typhoons. But we are not always successful. Inevitably, there is the resulting damage to crops, property and even lives which take a long time for us to recover. Yes, there are mechanisms and opportunities to recover through insurance and other solutions which are now available in the market. But how does one recover from the loss of a loved one and the destruction of livelihood? Maybe never.