Typhoon Ondoy, an Act of Us?

Two typhoons in 10 days weekends. Typhoon Parma didn't hit Manila hard, but according to Jim Gomez of the Associated Press, Parma "dropped more rain on the capital that slowed the cleanup [from Typhoon Ondoy] and made conditions more miserable." Parma also took the lives of 16 people in the northern Philippines and flooded a number of villages in the north on Sunday.

Ondoy, international known as Ketsana, killed 300 people in Metro Manila and flooded numerous neighborhoods, ruining homes. As of now 680,000 people are still in evacuation centers, according to the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) of the Philippines.

An "academic" (in the negative sense of the word) issue that development and disaster relief agents through about, is whether events like these are "natural disasters" or a "human-made disasters"? "Acts of God" or "Acts of Us"?

This article by Rowena Burgos on the Philippine Inquirer website argues that the wreckage of Ondoy was caused by poor - no, willfully ignorant - urban planning, and so much more. I feel like the issue becomes less "academic" and more practical when applied to a specific instance and in real-time.

And Burgos makes a strong case.

In 1977, says Burgos, the World Bank sponsored the creation and publishing of a report entitled “Metro Manila Transport, Land Use and Development Planning Project". But it's recommendations were never implemented. An example of wasted development funding.

Burgos adds: "The incomplete implementation of the flood control plans in the ´70s is only part of the problem. Runaway population growth and grinding poverty coupled with accelerated (and poorly managed) urbanization of Metro Manila are as much to blame. Proper implementation and enforcement of laws are a national weakness. One of the roots of this problem is that, while the challenges are long-term, the solutions are often applied as political band-aids."

The Philippines will see more storms like Ondoy, says Burgos, and I wonder if it's at all possible that the government, AND the rest of us, will even try to take the necessary, drastic and expensive precautions required to save lives the next time around.