Next time, we may not have time to panic!

In the last few days until yesterday noon when I wrote this article, we were terrified by the threat of a climactic disaster called typhoon Ruby. The initial forecasts were a bit confusing because they were projections out of various models. But all weather bulletins indicated that even if Ruby did not gather strength approximating that of the catastrophic Yolanda, it packed heavier rains. Projected to follow the course of last year's super typhoon, Ruby brought panic to some sectors of our society.

We do understand the deep Yolanda-related trauma harbored by Tacloban City residents that led them, the other day, to buy in huge throngs and in great haste whatever there were on the food shelves of the city's wet and dry markets and leading malls. They were panicking! The video footages were touching, er, most frightening. But, who would want to be caught without any food supply for days on end after disaster struck?

What happened in Cebu City last Friday afternoon was a different kind of panic. It appeared to have been started by an innocuous announcement made thru public address systems mounted on motorized units by barangay workers untrained in emergency management. Authorities had it that the criers were instructed just to forewarn the people that should there be a need to move to safer grounds, they should go to certain pinpointed evacuation areas. Less adequately prepared, they acted less prudently resulting in miscommunication.

Residents of a coastal barangay, called by sociologists as informal settlers because the lots on which they put up their houses are not their own, perceived the barangay alert differently. Thinking that they were urged to seek immediate sanctuary, many went to centers other than the one designated for them. When told that they were at the wrong shelter, they claimed that the place assigned for them could hardly be called a refuge because it was unsafe.

This confusing situation was replicated among the other kind of informal settlers, and I mean those who have settled on the city's riverbanks and esteros. They too, are known as informal settlers because their homes stand on legal easements and therefore, not owned by them. They knew then (as they are continually aware) of the angers of waters overflowing the banks. In the past, their lives were at stake each time waters rampaged from higher levels. But, they would rather face that risk at their "homes' than meet the same terror in another place not their own.

These two incidents have, time and again, brought forward the face of an inevitable problem that hounds the city with such a force that it now commands immediate attention. The one ultimate objective of this government, or any government for that matter, is to protect the vast majority of its people from the horrors of rampaging floodwaters. Our leaders must not drag their feet. This has to be addressed with a profound sense of urgency because any delay can mean tragedy multiplied many times over.

Not very long ago, the city embarked on the very project that would have somehow led to an attempt at solving the flooding problem. Amidst a plethora of publicity stunts, it started clearing the riverbanks. Illegal structures were torn down. The majority of us even lauded His Honor, Cebu City Mayor Michael L. Rama, in silent admiration, for his daring policy. We believed in his vigorous pursuit of preparing against the hazards of flash floods. In fact, we silently cast our bet on his side when affected settlers sued him in court.

Unless my senses fail me, I think something probably went wrong without our knowing it. It is observable that the city has stopped dismantling illegal structures built along riverbanks. If it is now a policy of this administration to allow people to squat on the legal easements, it just adds to the increasing risk of loss of lives not only to the settlers themselves but to the rest of the city residents the next time a kind of typhoon Ruby pours its heavy rains on our land.  If that is the case, we will not even have the luxury of time just to panic because by then such a disaster has crossed the barrier of preparedness. 

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