By Sujata Jena
Manila: Typhoon Ompong (Mangkhut) struck the Philippines early September 15. It roared across the Pacific; entered the threshold of the Philippines and crossed into China.
Provinces seriously affected in the Philippines are the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon Metro Manila, and Ilocos Region.
Numbers of death, missing, and injured persons along with the landslide rose to 81 on September 19, with most of the fatalities still coming from the Cordillera Administrative Region, the Rappler news reported.
The Philippines National Police said 70 people still missing while 71 wounded. Of the 70 missing, 66 are in CAR, which was heavily affected by landslides.
The Cagayan Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said 10,528 houses were totally damaged, while 65,408 houses were partially damaged in Cagayan province.
The town of Aparri reported the most number of damaged houses at 9,075, while the town of Iguig followed with 7,277 houses. Baggao town, where Ompong made landfall, reported 5,312 damaged houses.
As of September 19, more than 170,000 in Cagayan have been affected by the typhoon, considered the strongest to hit the Philippines this year.
President Rodrigo Duterte visited Cagayan on September 16 and expressed his condolences to the relatives of victims.
Divine Word Father Randy Flores, Parish Priest of Sacred Heart Shrine Parish, Kamuning, near Manila, said the Government must have opened some evacuated centers and availed some emergency supplies to the victims but it is the church and voluntary organization who immediately responded to the victims of calamities.
Sacred Heart Shrine Parish collected money and already sent to the affected areas. Most of the churches have intervened immediately and reached out to the victims of this natural disaster.
Caritas Manila, the social action arm of the Archdiocese of Manila, sent an initial Pesos 1 million (US $ 18518.00) in aid for areas hit by Typhoon Ompong (Mangkhut) reads the information posted on its Facebook page.
The Philippines is visited by an average of 20 typhoons every year.
‘The Philippines’ evident risk to natural disasters is due to its location. Being a country that lies in the Pacific Ring of Fire In addition, the country is surrounded by large bodies of water and faces the Pacific Ocean where 60% of the world’s typhoons are made’, Dr, Tessa Rosana , an environmental Professor and Dean of ICLA (Institution for Consecrated Life in Asia), told MattersIndia.
The damage caused to the environment by the human being is the result of climate change across the world. Changes in temperature results in the changing pattern of the wind that bring the monsoons in Asia, rain, and snow some other part of the world, further draught, and unpredictable weather in most part of the globe, said Rosana.
Natural disasters are irrevocable. “We can make a personal effort to save and protect our environment,” she added.
“When I was a small boy there was no typhoon. When I was growing up there used to be one or two typhoons every year. And now we witness 19-20 typhoons in a year in the Philippines,” said Divine Word Father, Edgar Havier, Missiology professor.
“One of the positive outcomes of every typhoon is the deepening of the faith of the people,” he added.
The world has witnessed and experienced physical degradation and destruction of the environment, climate change, and migration. Indigenous teach us the epistemologies of life are to be lived close to a bioregion. The indigenous groups know how to manage their resources and preserve their ecosystem.
“Hence, the indigenous people are showing us ways not only to understand but also to find solutions to environmental problems,” writes Dr. Edgar Javier, SVD in his book, “Back to the Archaic: Religious Life in Asia.”
It is high time for the church, priest, and nuns to be pro-active and involved in words and action in saving the degrading environment.
“We are also called to engage ourselves in arranging seminars, giving awareness programs to promote and preserve our common kinship with species and nature rather than over-focusing on sacraments and rituals,” said the Missiologist.