It's no secret to anyone that our country is plagued (or maybe blessed as some may call it) by its geographical location to be passed by an average of 26 tropical storms a year. Ever since I was a child, it's been a common notion to us when we were kids that whenever there are rains, classes will get suspended and will not resume until the floods subside.
Today, I'm already in graduate school and that's still the case. But up until a few months back I've had this notion that perhaps nothing could possibly be done to alleviate this concern especially in the metro areas of the country. But quite honestly, I do not believe that nothing can be done. I think something can be, but it is just not being done. Why? Your guess is better than mine.
Last year I have had the privilege of having the experience of being stranded in a coffee shop close to campus during a thunderstorm for about 4 hours. I have spent those hours sitting, looking around, eating, reading, posting, and mostly mindlessly doing nothing. I write this entry now because it is actually raining outside again, and it has been raining for the entire day. No doubt the streets have already been flooded a few hours ago and the news will feature more of the disastrous outcomes of this calamity.
The headlines of the news will probably say something like "Isang pamilya patay sa baha!" *knock on wood*
But more of the media criticism later on.
As I was saying, the streets of this country have always sunk below sea level during times of storms. Now this problem has been around ever since before the Marcos era has started. The concern I have is why has no administration ever come up with a proper solution to this? Is it too much of a rocket science problem that the solution is too difficult to find? I don't know. But as a concerned citizen, my mind only goes into the part where I'm concerned where the taxes are going.
But as I make this criticism, it seems the current administration has taken a step forward. And for that I commend them. I commend both the national and local government for at least recognizing that there is a problem with our roads, and sewage system. I commend them for trying to act upon this concern. Most especially I commend them for taking a step, a small step though, to developing the streets.
A few months back after the last storm passed, they started changing the pipes of the sewage system and rehashing them. This is good actually because the outcome showed itself immediately when a recent storm passed by and flooded the streets again. Only this time, the floods subsided immediately instead of the 2-7 days it takes. However I think this is not enough. Such a solution they have come up with is merely a short term one. They need to think of a more long term solution. For example, clean the sewers underneath the cities and change the pipelines leading to them with larger ones. I'm not entirely sure if this can or will bring about a proper recourse, but I do feel like it can at least shorten the period it takes for the flood to subside.
But even though this may work for the cities, it is not enough because there are large parts of the country that are agricultural lands. And these are the ones that are mostly affected by the storms because the crops get destroyed. If sum, we need to find a solution for the irrigation and sewage systems there as well. If not, then we can say goodbye to our agricultural sector and hello to more importation of food.
But this is all just a thought. Might as well slap a tape over my mouth because they won't hear this anyway.
But hey! Cheers to them for trying... right?
Today, I'm already in graduate school and that's still the case. But up until a few months back I've had this notion that perhaps nothing could possibly be done to alleviate this concern especially in the metro areas of the country. But quite honestly, I do not believe that nothing can be done. I think something can be, but it is just not being done. Why? Your guess is better than mine.
Last year I have had the privilege of having the experience of being stranded in a coffee shop close to campus during a thunderstorm for about 4 hours. I have spent those hours sitting, looking around, eating, reading, posting, and mostly mindlessly doing nothing. I write this entry now because it is actually raining outside again, and it has been raining for the entire day. No doubt the streets have already been flooded a few hours ago and the news will feature more of the disastrous outcomes of this calamity.
The headlines of the news will probably say something like "Isang pamilya patay sa baha!" *knock on wood*
But more of the media criticism later on.
As I was saying, the streets of this country have always sunk below sea level during times of storms. Now this problem has been around ever since before the Marcos era has started. The concern I have is why has no administration ever come up with a proper solution to this? Is it too much of a rocket science problem that the solution is too difficult to find? I don't know. But as a concerned citizen, my mind only goes into the part where I'm concerned where the taxes are going.
But as I make this criticism, it seems the current administration has taken a step forward. And for that I commend them. I commend both the national and local government for at least recognizing that there is a problem with our roads, and sewage system. I commend them for trying to act upon this concern. Most especially I commend them for taking a step, a small step though, to developing the streets.
A few months back after the last storm passed, they started changing the pipes of the sewage system and rehashing them. This is good actually because the outcome showed itself immediately when a recent storm passed by and flooded the streets again. Only this time, the floods subsided immediately instead of the 2-7 days it takes. However I think this is not enough. Such a solution they have come up with is merely a short term one. They need to think of a more long term solution. For example, clean the sewers underneath the cities and change the pipelines leading to them with larger ones. I'm not entirely sure if this can or will bring about a proper recourse, but I do feel like it can at least shorten the period it takes for the flood to subside.
But even though this may work for the cities, it is not enough because there are large parts of the country that are agricultural lands. And these are the ones that are mostly affected by the storms because the crops get destroyed. If sum, we need to find a solution for the irrigation and sewage systems there as well. If not, then we can say goodbye to our agricultural sector and hello to more importation of food.
But this is all just a thought. Might as well slap a tape over my mouth because they won't hear this anyway.
But hey! Cheers to them for trying... right?
