Jerry Yakking, Tactical; s vice mayor, told Reuters that “ some people just did NT believe us because it was so sunny. Some were even laughing. ” Many local men reporter idly stayed in their homes to protect their belongings from looters. “ People were warned about the storm surge,” said Toby Monsoon, an economic CSS professor at the University of the Philippines in Manila. “ Though, many probably thought t hat it would be one meter high, not five.
This storm was off the scales,” she told NBC News.
Many are now blaming not just the reportedly 1 75 MPH winds, but the flimsy construction of moms and buildings in the Philippines – and the years of government corrupt ion which prevented the building of anything better. Built Marquee / AP A resident walks inside a damaged home in Tactical on Novo. 10. Shacks instead of reinforced concrete Antonio Lilies is a residential home builder in Manila who has spent the past week like most Filipinos -? glued to his cellophane, accounting for family members and making sure friends and employees are safe.
He’s also watched every video clip he could find on TV and Youth of Super Typhoon Hanna, one of the most devastating storms ever to hit land. Lilies says he was shocked to see Alfred Remodeled, the mayor of Tactical – the wordsmith city within the disk aster zone – telling the BBC that he and his family decided to ride out the storm in their SE level beach house. “ What really angers me is that, if the mayor didn’t think seriously about evacuee dating Tactical himself, I assume he didn’t ask his [220, 000] people to evacuate either and SE eek higher ground,” Lilies said.
He noticed the rolling hills in the background of many oft he apocalyptic images.
“ Why didn’t people, especially car owners, drive up the slopes or away y from the cast? It must mean they didn’t know about the 1 foot tsunami heading their way, or just didn’t care. ” Even Monsoon admitted that lessons need to be learned if the Philippines is to avoid -? or at least limit – such devastating loss during future typhoons. “ Historically, Filipino so adapt to the climate,” she said. They get through the storms and rebuild fifthly have to. B UT this is not sustainable in the long run. ” Recalling the eerie Tactical images of a few reinforced concrete structures juju ting out from a morass of twisted metal and smashed plywood, she said: “ We need to invest I technological solutions like lowest housing with climacteric’s materials.
We’ve seen this in places like Guam. ” Courtesy of Roberto Lilies Architect Roberto Lilies, right, talks with the foreman at a construction site in Valley Verdi, a suburb of Manila.
Roberto Lilies, Notation’s older brother and a successful architect, agrees that much of the wreckage from dozens of typhoons that strike each year could be greatly red cede if lowest, procrastinator housing replaced the traditional flimsy wood and tinwork horn “ There is Costs housing that can resist the storms. But most people in those aural areas are so poor, they still can’t afford them,” he explained. But if private builders like the Lilies brothers find lowest housing schemes UN profitable, why doesn’t the Philippine government subsidize them? In a word: corruption.
History of government corruption President Benign Aquinas Ill, known as “ Annoy,” the scion of Non political FAA miles some compare to the Clinton or Bush dynasties, was elected in 201 0, above all, to ere dedicate the endemic corruption that drains some $50 billion a year from state coffers. He was seen as the only man for the job: his father, Senator Benign Aquinas J r. , was assassinated in a plot by alleged loyalists of authenticator Ferdinand Marco’s; his mother, Crayon Conjuring Aquinas, led the “ People Power” revolt that toppled Marco s and became both the nation’s first female president and a living symbol of democracy.
But Annoy Aquinas now finds himself implicated in his own “ pork barrel” sac m. While there’s still no smoking gun, Aquinas has been accused by association of using more t Han $500 million in public funds -? including money meant for local infrastructure, like r dads and bridges, in the very areas that took the brunt Of Hanna -? to buy Off key senators’ loyalty .
Last week there were nationally televised hearings on the scandal just as the storm was barreling toward the Philippines. Aquinas has strongly denied the accusations, but his approval rating has plum meted.
And critics say the scandal has left him too distracted and on the defensive to deal with the nation’s perennial problems – poor urban planning, an exploding population, climate change and systemic poverty – all contributing factors to the death and destruction el Ft in the super typhoon’s wake. For his part, Aquinas stands by his record, telling CNN earlier this week that Ha Ian; s death toll loud have been much higher without his government’s evacuation of more t Han 750, 000 people. ” But, of course, nobody imagined the magnitude that this super type non brought on us,” he said.
But it must be said that the roots of the Philippines’ losing battle against info mousey bad weather long predates this Aquinas administration. Amelia Marco’s, the larger hemline former first lady who is notorious for her elaborate shoe collection, hails from Elite p roving, ground zero for the storm surge. But during some 20 years of the Marco’s regime, while Elite was blessed with a massive shrine (where Mrs..
Marco’s kept her shoes) and a big pink church, no one built lowest housing or paved roads for the people. Unnecessary disaster?