The damage caused by typhoon Frank – estimated at P 4.27 billion – is just one more episode in the series of catastrophes that have hit the country over the last few years. Every year, around 20 typhoons are expected to hit the Philippines, and the corresponding damage particularly to agriculture and fisheries will add to the misery of Filipinos who are already reeling from the unabated rise in the prices of oil, rice and other commodities. During his one-on-one meeting with GMA, George Bush, aside from expressing his condolences, promised additional food aid and pledged P4 million worth of emergency relief goods – the maximum amount that can be sent without prior approval from the US Congress.
But US resources are fast dwindling because all over the world, major disasters and tragedies are happening. In the meantime, the US economy is reeling from global recession, and it has also had its share of disasters, the latest of which was the flooding in Iowa and parts of Illinois. Considered the US “corn belt,” Iowa had been declared a disaster area with about $1 billion in agricultural damages and four million acres of agricultural land ruined by excessive rains. The disaster – which has been described as “epic” in proportion – will drive up food prices even more since corn is an essential ingredient in a lot of processed foods.
According to the US National Weather Service, a record number of tornadoes will hit the US this year, taking more lives than in any year since 1998. Since Hurricane Katrina’s onslaught in 2005, experts have been mapping out areas that would be hardest hit in case of natural disasters – and this includes places with highly-urbanized and low-income populations and where a lot of low-income populations. California, the Texas-Mexico border, San Francisco and New York have the “greatest potential for suffering” with injuries, fatalities and infrastructure losses expected to be huge.
While the US has been a major source of aid for many disaster-struck countries, there will come a time when the magnitude and the increasing number of calamities all over the world could dry up funding sources. A typhoon devastated Bangladesh; China experienced its worst winter storm early this year followed by a 7.9 magnitude earthquake which ravaged Sichuan province and killed more than 70,000 people. Burma (Myanmar) is still suffering from the onslaught of cyclone Nargis. The death toll has risen to 84,500 but foreign officials say it could reach up to 100,000. The UN says Burma will need food aid for a year to feed the survivors. In the past three weeks alone, there have been a series of natural disasters – mostly floods from heavy rains – that displaced hundreds of people in South Africa, Surinam, Kenya, Somalia, India, Colombia, the Honduras and the Yucatan Peninsula.
Scientists are certain the future is literally not going to be sunny but dark, with clouds of more disasters coming due to rising temperatures and extreme climate change. Temperatures rose an average of 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit in the past century, accounting for the erratic weather patterns everywhere. As the world gets warmer, disease outbreaks, droughts, floods and heat waves could kill hundreds of thousands and drive millions into extreme hunger and poverty. In Africa, 600 million people are going hungry due to global warming; 400 million will be exposed to malaria and other diseases and 20 million more will be driven out of their homes due to floods. A panel of experts said rich nations must come up with $86 billion by 2015, with the US needing to cover $40 billion to help poorer countries cope with climate-related dangers. But considering that the US has also been hit by major disasters, the time will come when America’s resources will be stretched too thinly to the point that it will have to cut down – if not altogether withhold – aid simply because the US needs them itself.
Countries with a large population of poor people will be affected the most by these natural disasters because they will not have the means to weather the shock – and one of them is the Philippines. Granted that erroneous policies have contributed to poverty in the country, definitely rapid population growth has exacerbated the problem since food production could not catch up with the increasing number of hungry mouths to feed. A Wall Street Journal article pointed out that the country’s runaway population growth is reaching “tipping point” – and headed for a Malthusian catastrophe unless something is done about it.
Philippine population today is approximately 90 million with 40 percent belonging to the poorest sector of society, and this “baby boom” is deepening the country’s dependence on expensive imported food items. Filipinos are already feeling the pinch, and the situation could get even worse when disasters strike. Clearly, the Philippines must not rely too much on aid and donations from other countries to get through tragedies.
Former Joint Task Force Katrina head, Gen. Russel Honore, exhorted the US to develop a “culture of preparedness” for natural disasters, saying disaster readiness is the responsibility of every part of society and every individual, with the private sector cooperating with government to tap into the best resources when they are needed most. He could have been referring to the Philippines, which must continue to strive for self sufficiency and invest in food security as part of its responsibility to prepare for disasters. Whether we like it or not, there is no way out but to start managing the population the way Thailand and other nations did, in order for our resources to match the threat of looming disasters and the growing number of hungry mouths this country has to feed.
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