catatonic_17 . reflections about CDO (Reply)

I was in CDO as the the storm raged during the night. We were supposed to fly back to Manila that night (Dec16), but all flights canceled because of the rains. There were warnings about the storm a week before but people thought, "Hey! This is Mindanao. Hindi binabagyo sa Mindanao." That night, I prayed for the people living near the river, who were sleeping soundly as the rain poured down. No one expected that the next morning they would be losing their houses, their properties, and even their loved ones, in the flood. That morning, I saw from the deck where we were staying how much has changed over night. Everything was brown and it was hard to believe that it was the same place. Just last morning, we were enjoying the beauty of nature as we went white water rafting. It was really hard to believe that the same river which gave us so much fun and adventure, in the same day swept everything away. Before I knew it, I was crying. When I returned to our room, I was weeping, for the lives lost. I was with a team of psychologists who specialized in psychosocial training and counseling and disaster management. One of them asked me why I was crying, and another said, "that's compassion." No, it was helplessness. I felt so helpless. I don't know anything, I couldn't do anything but cry and hold on to God's promises.

As I read articles trying to explain Sendong, I am enraged and I have no idea who I should get angry at--the govt officials who didn't heed the warning three years ago, illegal loggers who don't care about the forests only thinking about profit, the NPA who allow these illegal loggers to cut down forests. I'm so mad that even if so many deaths could have been prevented, this had to happen. Haven't we learned anything from the past disasters we've had in the last 5 years? Every year, we always have storms, and every year one catches us by surprise and so many people die, go hungry and then die. The we point fingers, environmentalists say "I told you so," but their proposals remain unheeded. They say that hindsight vision is 20-20 but after all the disasters we've faced, should our foresight be improving as well?

So my resolve to be a psychologist is strengthened. Filipinos are a resilient people. I only hope that as I train, I can help pave their way towards recovery and starting over.