Basyang, PAGASA and the third world country

I will interrupt the completion of my vacation blog with a word from our sponsor.

I will take this opportunity, to bash at a government agency. One of my favorite past time.

PAGASA - otherwise known as the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration, is a part of the Department of Science and Technology services in the Philippines. Since I can recall, I have to say that the weather bureau in this country has been the worst I have seen in the world. As a matter of fact, ever since I could read and write, I had already doubted the accuracy of weather prediction from PAGASA.

I remember that when I was still in Grade School (which was gazillion years ago), each time the weather bureau would declare signal number 1, I knew that the sun would be out and that it was another day off from school. As I grew older, these beliefs were reaffirmed every typhoon season. Seriously, the weather bureau in the banana republic cannot be relied upon.

If there is anything, at the very least this God-forsaken country should have invested on in the last 9 years at the very least of Ate Glue's administration, was the brains to at least upgrade our weather tracking system. So we were able to automate the election - big deal? The usage of the PCOS machine comes once in every 3 or 6 years (depending on usage). Accurately detecting the weather in the country - especially when predicting when, where, and how - the next storm's path is, is without a doubt a more reasonable investment on the part of the government. But knowing how the government officials think and work - that there would be no long-term kickbacks nor vested interest in the political playing field in that graft and corruption would be minimized because each local government unit would be more disaster prepared - upgrading the weather detection system in the Philippines is not within the scope called immediate need.

To the shrewd and imbecile politician - the misery of a calamity will always be beneficial to him or her. From all the rubbles of mud, flood, dirt, and death is the money to earn from rebuilding and politicking their way around the gullible Pinoys in this country. What better way to show how third world we are, than to make a mockery of even our simple way of predicting where the next storm will hit.

The latest fiasco on how accurate (or not) PAGASA was in predicting the path of typhoon Basyang simply confirms my hypothesis on how lame and pathetic this agency is at predicting the weather systems that affect the country.

On July 13, I knew that a storm was approaching the Philippines. I heard it on CNN at 10am. The weather person was saying that it was expected to hit Luzon. She said that it was taking an erratic route and would either veer north a little bit or change directions and move near Metro Manila.

Of course, PAGASA had a different story. In the afternoon, they declared signal no. 1. This sent the children (even those that were almost 5'10" but were still in grade school) scampering to the malls with their parent(s) in tow! Why was that? What were these parents doing at the mall? There was an oncoming storm.

Outside, the wind was still and the sky was cloudy. The weather was humid and warm.

Before I went to bed that night, I was watching the news on ANC (ABS-CBN News Channel) and the newscaster assured the people of the Philippines that yes the storm was on track for Nueva Ecija, according to weather experts in PAGASA.

A little past midnight on July 14, I woke up because of the blackout. Then the winds began to howl and the windows began clattering. I told my mom that this was a big storm. Imagine that Metro Manila is only under signal number 1 and we could feel the wrath of the storm. Poor people in Nueva Ecija. This meant that the province would have been eliminated from the face of the earth or the Philippine map by tomorrow. If what we were feeling in Metro Manila was only 1/8th of what the Novo Ecijanos were feeling, good luck to them. But the howling and lashing of the wind and rain didn't stop until almost 5am. For almost 4-5 hours, you could literally feel the battering of the storm against the concrete walls of our home.

At 6am, the storm had left. But not after shutting down power in Luzon for 24 hours. To this writing, only about 50% of Luzon has had it's power back. Many places are still without electricity. To this writing, I now know that the storm did not take the path PAGASA predicted. Typhoon Basyang had a brain higher than that of Prisco Nilo from PAGASA. It made a fool out of the latter by taking the path less traveled by most storms - into the heart of Metro Manila.

The following day after the wrath of Basyang on Metro Manila, President Aquino had confronted PAGASA on the inaccurate prediction. Of course, PAGASA was left with no recourse but to admit that its equipments allowed them to release a forecast only every 6 hours and that they were very very old (short of saying antiquated) storm tracking devices. They also admitted that their best meteorologists had migrated to other countries of greener and verdant pastures. It was like saying and confirming to P-Noy that this the best that PAGASA can do.

As for P-Noy, this is his first test of a disaster. The problem is, will he do something about this or change the image of the Philippines and defuse all political interests for the interest of the Filipino public? It is up to the government to change the image of the Philippines or keep it embedded in the hearts and minds of all the world that the Philippines will always be a third world country - in heart, in mind, and in spirit!

Life after Ondoy

The flood waters have slowly died down. All that's left is cleaning up the mud and dirt Ondoy had left behind. All that's left is caring for the victims of Ondoy. All that's left is burying the dead.

Many of my friends and colleagues were devastated by the storm. The day after Ondoy had left, people were trying to pick up the pieces from the aftermath. Many lost properties and personal belongings. Many were lucky to have survived this onslaught that had taken a lot of people unprepared. I guess for many Filipinos, preparedness is never in their vocabulary.

Now the rescue and relief operations are on the way, but the devastation is overwhelming. One cannot fathom how many of us would put our lives back in order. Help has begun pouring in. And during these times of despair, crisis and loss, one cannot help but appreciate the spirit of camaraderie as a people. Today, there is no rich nor poor. No sick or well. Just plain helping out his fellow man.

After we have cleaned up all the garbage, mud and debris from this disaster, I hope that we take stock of what has happened and not just blog or write or talk about our experience from this tragedy. As responsible citizens, we need to rise from this a better people, a better nation. If we need to clean the garbage, we should. If we need to get rid of the squatters, we must. If we need to shut down greedy business, it is time.

We only have today to act on this tragedy. Nature and God will rarely give us a second chance. Next time, when all is lost and the losses hit home, it might be too late.

Life after Ondoy means learning the lessons that should be learned.

Ondoy

Last Friday, CNN had announced the arrival of Ondoy. In the local news that night, both TV Patrol (Ch 2) and Saksi (Ch 7) casually talked about the arrival of Ondoy. But the rains started pouring that night. I woke up early Saturday morning to listen to news reports on the location of Ondoy. Turning on my TV to listen to the news, Julius Babao and wife Tintin were just cheerie and yacking to death about the headlines discussing about the impending radio frequency stickers for cars. Babao called on all to wake up with his baritone voice screaming "GISING GISING GISING"!!! Umaga na". I was waiting for some news of Ondoy while I got dressed for classes.

I teach the graduate school on Saturdays and as I quickly got prepared for classes, I was worried about the rain. The clouds were there and the sky was getting darker. I asked my driver to turn on the radio, but there was no news of Ondoy.

In the middle of my class, around 930am, the secretary of the graduate school announced that due to the rains, classes were being suspended at 11am. My students and I looked out the window and knew that Ondoy had made his presence felt already.

After seeing a few patients right after my class I immediately left the university. By that time, we were already Waterworld. Every nook and cranny, every road and side street, every walkable pavement was simply eradicated in just 2 hours of non stop rain. And it poured and poured and poured for the next 4 hours more.

This was one of my most unforgettable day. When mother nature strikes at the core, you realize your humanity and a tragedy like this does not delineate the rich and the poor. You realize that the guys who are wading in the flood waters in skimpy underwear all soaked are not different from your dry clothes waiting for the flood waters to subside. I was hungry and tired. I picked up my wallet and noted that not even my Visa or Mastercard or the cash in the wallet was going to make a difference between me and the young children swimming in the flood. One guy was busy plying water, Ovaltine and junk food, clearly taking advantage of the calamity. My driver had jumped to the nearest Jollibee as we were stranded in stand still traffic. There was no more food. They were closed at 2pm.

As I looked out the windows of my car, I was humbled watching the people on the streets because they were free to wander around and wade through the water without any care in the world. They were making the most out of the worst scenario, while I was imprisoned in the confines of my car - miserable, hungry and tired.

After 4 hours, our car had moved 10 meters. Probably the flood waters had pushed the vehicles forward. Night time had arrived. A few meters away from our car were delivery vans for San Miguel Beer. Young men in states of undress were climbing up the back of the van and carting away cases and cases of beer. It was dark and the workers of the van had given a chase, but after several cases had been stolen. Up front you could see the despicable low lives of the people living around the San Andres area. Where was a cop when you needed one? Where were the MMDA traffic enforcers when you needed them?

Ondoy had come and gone. I had to experience getting stranded in 15 hours of traffic to come to grips with reality - that in the worst of tragedies, we are all the same.

Typhoon Ondoy left lessons imprinted in both the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor. The Philippine government officials and media had a heyday finger pointing at each others underestimating the supposedly "weak" storm. Let's face it. We were all unprepared. Complacency is man's greatest tragedy. We never learn until we come face to face with calamity. Perhaps we simply brush many things aside when it affects only the poor. But when it affects even those like us, we realize our vulnerability.

I shared some cookies and candies and some water with my driver during this 15 hour ordeal. When we were able to get through the traffic, we had a hearty early morning dinner at 3am at a 24/7 ChowKing outlet near our home. Hungry and tired, we shared a meal together with my partner who had come to meet me to find out if we were alright.

When we got home, I told him to go home to check on his family and thanked him.

It takes a calamity to humble us.