Sunday, February 19, 2006

Leyte mudslide tragedy: A fantastic slide show by the Associated Press






These are some of the pictures that you can view in Associated Press' story and slideshow ("Landslide Victims Buried in Mass Grave" by HRVOJE HRANJSKI, Associated Press Writer) about the Leyte mudslide being run online by Yahoo News. The slideshow contains 179 excellent pictures that anybody could email to friends.

Enough has already been said about the tragedy. Let me just extend my condolences to families affected by the tragedy. My prayers are with you.

You may read the statement of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regarding the incident: http://www.denr.gov.ph/article/view/3597/. You may also monitor the reports and updates of the National Disaster Coordinating Council regarding the Leyte mudslide through this link: http://ndcc.gov.ph/ndcc/.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Like what I was texting you last night, MOST Disasters and Accidents are preventable. There always is a choice. It's basically a matter of conditioning one's mindset to forecasting or having foresight of likely events to come. Poverty and hunger are not excuses in any fatal blunder. If only those people had some "common sense for the sake of their own safety", sana, not many had died, di ba?

Kaya lang lang, the psyche of the human mindset is baffling. Recent examples:

1. Why were many people still lingering around Ultra after the stampede? When interviewed, most of them pala were hoping that the show will still go on despite of the tragedy and tickets will be distributed to them - the lucky survivors.

2. Why do most farmers still insist to till lands inside the danger zone of Mount Mayon? Kasi daw doon ang kabuhayan nila. Bakit, wala na bang ibang lugar na pwedeng maghanap buhay?

3. Why is it naman na most of the Aetas left the Pinatubo area when they noticed strange things happening before the big eruption? They claim it to be a sign from their Gods daw, but in reality, mas may common sense pa pala yung belief nila kesa karamihan sa atin.

If I were to choose between "hanapbuhay" and survival at these kind of situations, I'd choose the latter. Most people would also do in near death situations, di ba? But then, bakit may mga bumabalik pa rin sa nasusunog nilang bahay para ilagtas si Ref, si TV or si Karaoke at yun pala ay ang ikakamatay din nila?

It's like this old Russian joke about a woman in a shower when a fire erupted. She hurriedly went out in all her naked glory to save herself. A man, uncomfortable with her situation asked politely if she has missed something. "Oh yes", she cried out. "My diamonds!" sabay takbo pabalik to the burning building.

Life is not only unfair. It's baffling too. Sana nag Sociologist na lang siguro ako para maintidihan at masagot ko man lang kahit konti ang mga katanungan ko ano?

--
Arch. Louise L. Alba

Dave Llorito said...

life is indeed baffling. that's why "social science" (sociology, economics, political science, others) could not graduate from being a social science into a hard, pure science. one couldnot really predict human behavior. that should also mean that man could probably never create robots that behave like humans! (am in making sense here?!)

Anonymous said...

The pictures are of good quality but sad and tragic...

Dave Llorito said...

sad and tragic indeed and i guess i really have nothing more to say about it. with such as scale of tragedy, i found it counterproductive to fingerpoint.