Vital lessons

Weeks after Typhoon Yolanda, inspiring stories of resilience, hope, faith and kindness are being shared. Disasters may have lashed out on our people, yet the violent winds and storm surge did not dampen the Filipino spirit.

Emerging clearly from the typhoon debris and wreckage is the quiet yet firm resolve of the survivors and their local and global supporters to move on together, to claim today and tomorrow to start anew.

Gratefully, while many families have been reunited and communication resumed, still there remain those who are still searching and hoping to find and/or to contact their missing loved ones. Included among these people still hopeful to receive news about their families are our overseas Filipinos.

Through social media, we witnessed the frantic messages, calling, begging for any assistance and information about their family members in the typhoon-affected areas. Pictures and addresses were posted together with contact details. There were calls as well for any information about what places have been hit by the storm surge and more. There was a huge need for vital and reliable information about families and places affected by the calamity. There were the added questions about how to save or assist the victims and survivors, which routes were open to travel and so on.

The despair and anguish that followed the long wait before crucial data started to come through various media were very palpable. How to help, how to comfort, how to reach out to those starved for any news about their loved ones - the readers empathized and agonized as well with those who made the calls for help.

Moving on, now we are all aware of the vital need for secured communication channels that will allow for faster people search, that will provide reliable information about the location and type and extent of the damages to lives and communities, and that will guide rescue and relief teams to reach victims and survivors quickly and promptly.

Regular utilities will be destroyed by disasters so alternative, disaster-resistant sources of power and water supply as well as communication should be installed as among the top priorities after this calamity.

Preparing relief goods and transporting these items need to be improved and quickened. Per locality and all throughout the country, coordinated teams should be organized, ready to be mobilized into action quickly, within seconds if possible, since we all know now how crucial time is for saving the victims of disasters.

Restoration of peace and order is crucial as well and therefore teams both from the military as well as deputized civilian volunteers have to be organized as well soon.

Relief management teams to handle the receipt and distribution of relief goods will also have to be formed. Financial teams to handle and account for monetary donations in a transparent, honest, and speedy manner need to be organized as well.

Psychological teams aside from medical teams are needed, as well as those who will take care of clearing the roads, those who will reinstall water and power, and those who will sensitively take care of the victims, especially the dead.

Teams have to be organized and checklists of what to do and prepare for, and tasks assignments need to be ready before, during and after disasters.

So much to do so as to prevent further losses and grief from here on.  So many vital lessons from the various disasters that hit our people and communities. So much rebuilding and reconstruction to do from now on.

All of us are called to contribute our share however we can, wherever we are. We can move forward together, united and with God.

Tara na, tabang ta! Tindog Visayas, bangon Pilipinas!

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