On Saturday, September 26, 2009, Typhoon Ketsana struck Metro Manila and brought with it unprecedented amounts of rainfall that the Philippines has never experienced before. Locally known in the Philippines as Typhoon Ondoy, Ketsana caught the country totally unaware and unprepared for disaster. When Ondoy finally blew its way out of the Philippine Area of Responsibility, it left behind at least 300 people dead and millions of people displaced by flooding. It also destroyed some 0 million worth of property.
After Ondoy has passed, the finger-pointing that is almost natural to Filipinos ensued. The displaced victims of Ondoy blamed the government for not coming quickly to their rescue. Some government heads blamed the people for ignoring flood warnings that were announced as early as the Thursday before Ondoy made landfall. Many politicians eager for attention in time for the upcoming 2010 Presidential Elections were quick to blame the Arroyo Administration for lack of preparedness in times of disaster.
Obviously, there are different floating boom types for different types of water. As a matter of fact, there are even booms that absorb liquids, notably oil-based liquids and other hydrocarbons.
But the floating booms that are used for containment purposes are non-absorbent. Their job is to contain the spill, not to absorb it. Once the spill is contained, however, the absorbent booms and other absorbent tools can be brought in to absorb the oil.
The rivers and the waterways of Metro Manila are clogged and dirty. Anyone who believes otherwise must be living under a rock for the last fifty years or so. The legendary Pasig River is all but dead and even the much vaunted Marikina River is known to have spots of garbage here and there. The only reason why our waterways are so dirty is that we have made them our garbage bins.
Algae fuel is reported as being “environmentally neutral”. This means that it does not change the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere because it consumes just as much carbon dioxide during its cultivation as is released during combustion. This is in stark contrast to conventional gasoline which only adds carbon dioxide to the environment during production and consumption.
If there is any lesson that needs to be learned from the coming of Typhoon Ondoy, it is definitely this: It is high time that we learned to respect our waterways. If we cannot help to clean and rehabilitate our waterways, then we should at least stop treating them as if they are our personal garbage bins. If Typhoon Ondoy, which was merely a Category 2 storm, could flood Metro Manila the way it did, what more would a stronger typhoon?
Instead of blaming other people for the disaster that happened, we should all becoming proactive and prevent another similar disaster from happening again. We need to start cleaning our waterways now!
Resource Author Francisco R. Higueras
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