BY: STEPHANIE ERICA LOUISE P. RICAMONTE
89,598,068,634.88 number of damaged infrastructure and agriculture, approximately 20,000,000,000 people affected, 6,300 lives killed. All of these numbers caused by just one typhoon, typhoon Haiyan, the strongest one ever recorded. It is quite a large and alarming number and one of the prime suspects that should be blamed for killing and drowning so much lives, submerging homes and washing away sources of living is the flood that comes after the typhoons. The Philippines is one of the Asian countries plagued by constant flooding brought by disastrous typhoons and in 2012 it had the highest mortality rate due to natural disasters.
Flood is an overflow of water that submerges land which is usually dry. Flooding may occur as an overflow of water from water bodies, such as a seas rivers and lakes, in which the water overflows, resulting in some of that water escaping its usual boundaries. This makes our country, The Philippines, more vulnerable to flooding because it is known to be an archipelago. We are country surrounded by mostly of course, water. Floods often cause s much damage especially to homes, businesses, and source of living. Actually speaking it affects everything! Flood is actually one of the Filipino’s nightmare that they have to deal with almost each month of the year for an average of 20 typhoons visit our country. Filipinos are not new to this but why are we still not that prepared? Of all the people in the world, we should be the ones that should be most knowledgeable on what to do when these things happen.
With this in mind it is important to know precisely what to do during the advent of flood. We can do a lot of precautions and ways to be resilient with floods that can cause us so much trouble. Many Non-Government Organizations or NGOs and Government Organizations like the National Risk Reduction Management Council or NDRRMC has been partnering with different private and public sectors to conduct seminars and extend their efforts to help and educate different communities to help them be equipped during these disastrous calamities. Be Educated, this is one of the most effective way to keep your and your family safe. We should know not necessarily everything but of course the essentials about flood we have to know what to do and when to do it. Be Prepared and be alert, the terms are somehow kind of broad but, being prepared and alert just simply means we should be ready with whatever that may happen, your family should know how to respond to flood, each of you should be able to ready your disaster ready bags and kits, should always plan evacuation and communication in case these calamities happen. To further explain what to do before during and after a flood just watch the video below.
Recently with the developments in early warning systems and the formation of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, the Philippines is a step closer to being ready for calamities to come and If Filipinos would be very much educated with the needed knowledge and skills to survive natural disasters like flood. There is a big tendency that it will lower the death rate of our countries due to disastrous calamities. Anyone could do small efforts to keep everyone aware and be educated when these things happen like make blogs and campaigns about these disasters. And being educated is going to be of big help. Be Educated, Be Prepared, Be Resilient and Be safe.
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Stephanie Ricamonte 