Foreign Perspective

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CNN has been providing coverage of the disaster in Tacloban City, with Anderson Cooper reporting live from the scene. I tuned in to see how the international media perceives the calamity in our country. Aside from the occasional humorous mispronunciations of local names due to their accents, I heard their opinions on the situation. According to them, the government's relief and rehabilitation efforts have been slow. They compare it to the organized response seen in Japan during the tsunami, where two days after the event, all the bodies had already been collected. In contrast, it has been five days here, and little progress has been made, except for the growing number of survivors on the verge of starvation.

I somewhat agree with their assessment, but we should still acknowledge the government's efforts in managing the situation. However, we have a tendency to act too late. We Filipinos often realize our mistakes when it's already too late. We have never truly embraced the concept of "prevention is better than cure." While it's understandable that no one could have fully prepared for a typhoon of this magnitude, we could have been more prepared for the worst-case scenario. We could have established a system for quick recovery instead of waiting for disaster to strike and then scrambling to respond. We could have learned a lot from shows like "Doomsday Preppers" on NGC.

The government is genuinely doing its best to recover from this tragedy, and I commend the men and women who have volunteered to assist the victims. I only hope that our government will make significant adjustments to our systems and become more effective in responding to such crises because, whether we like it or not, more typhoons like this will occur in the future. I also hope that the funds donated for the victims will truly reach them and not end up in the hands of corrupt individuals. Additionally, I hope the United Nations will develop solutions for global warming, which is a major factor contributing to these severe storms. Finally, I wish for the survivors of this calamity to continue holding on. Things will eventually improve in some way.

 Photo Credit: http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/131112132657-philippines-tacloban-city-horizontal-gallery.jpg

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