Ruby: Let media do its job

ON DISTANT SHORE

By Val G. Abelgas

More than a year after typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) brought death, devastation and deprivation to their town and their lives, the people of Tacloban finally found something positive about that unforgettable tragedy. Learning from the lessons of that disaster, the people braced for another super howler last Saturday and survived without a single life lost.

Of course, their makeshift homes and tents were again in ruins, and they have to rebuild again, hopefully with the help of the national government this time. Power lines were down and they will have to grope through the dark again, but maybe not for weeks because perhaps the national government will do something about it this time. They’ll probably need foods and other basic necessities, but perhaps relief goods will be coming earlier this time.

But the most important difference between now and a year ago is that they won’t have to walk along piles of bodies, or search for missing loved ones through debris and mud. Or leave the town they grew up in droves, lined up at the airport for days hoping to catch a plane that would get them out of that miserable place.

And all because they have learned their lessons from Yolanda. And all because the weather bureau, with the help of media, was able to convince them the storm heading their way could be as disastrous as Yolanda, and so they readily agreed to evacuate to the nearest shelter.

“Haiyan was the best teacher of all,” DSWD Secretary Dinky Soliman said. “People did not need much convincing to move to safety. In fact, many of them volunteered to go.”

Soliman forgot to thank Pag-Asa (the weather bureau), Project NOAH of the Department of Science and Technology, and the media for making the people aware of the possibility of having another “Yolanda-type” typhoon heading their way days before it actually hit land.

She wouldn’t because two days earlier, her boss, President Aquino, had warned media against making alarming but baseless reports on the approaching typhoon Ruby during the “Bulong Pulungan” media forum.

“The recent days in anticipation of this typhoon have been filled with varying opinions and reports from our friends in the industry, and being with you brings to my mind the vastness of media’s capacity to shape discourse, agenda, and the priorities of both government and society,” he told media men.

Aquino also said some reports were erroneously predicting that Ruby would be as strong as super typhoon Yolanda, which devastated Eastern Visayas last year.

“On Wednesday, one of our major dailies headlined Ruby as ‘Yolanda-like.’ Let us remember that Yolanda had maximum winds of 300 kilometers per hour,” Aquino said. In contrast, Ruby is expected to have an estimated strength of 140 kilometers an hour, he said.

Perhaps Aquino wanted the media to downplay the approaching typhoon just as he wanted them to downplay last year the death toll in the aftermath of Yolanda? You may recall that Aquino fired the Tacloban police chief for estimating the death toll could reach 10,000 and insisted that not more than 2,500 could have died in the disaster. It turned out 7,000 bodies had already been discovered when the government stopped counting.

This conflict seemed to have cropped again recently when the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council insisted that only two persons had died (of hypothermia in an evacuation center) even as the Philippine Red Cross reported 21 deaths, 16 of them by drowning in Samar.

Obviously, the government wants to keep the figure closer to zero as it was targeting “zero casualty.” It’s just ridiculous not to believe somebody could drown in a super typhoon like Ruby.

Aquino may be right that typhoon Ruby was not “Yolanda-like” because it had peak winds of only 175 kph when it first hit land. But the Philippine Daily Inquirer, which made the “Yolanda-like” headline, and the other newspapers and media outlets were merely reporting what weather forecasters had predicted at that time.

Looking at maps released by weather forecasters days before Ruby hit land, it showed forecasts that the super howler would pack winds of from 185 kph to 220 kph at 2 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 4; from 215 to 260 kph at 2 .am., Friday, Dec. 5; and increasing to 220 to 280 kph at 2 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 6, a few hours before it finally slams into Samar. The forecasters said that if the typhoon passed over warm waters near the Philippines, it could intensify into something stronger, which could mean up to more than 300 kph based on their earlier forecasts. If that had happened, it would certainly be “Yolanda-like.”

Luckily, instead of hitting warm waters, Ruby encountered a cold mass before hitting land, thus weakening its intensity.

Yolanda had 10-minute sustained winds of from 230 to 275 kph, and one-minute peak winds of 315 kph.
Contrary to Aquino’s claim that the Inquirer’s and other publications’ reports were without basis, the forecasts days before the impact showed that it could develop into something as strong or as nearly as strong as Yolanda.

The bottom line is that because the media decided to take the side of caution and warn of a possible “Yolanda-like” typhoon heading their way, the people took heed and left their homes and tents to go to safer grounds. Thus, zero casualty was reported in Tacloban, the worst hit by Yolanda last year, and only 21 people have died so far in the wake of typhoon Ruby.

I don’t know what’s Aquino’s problem with the media that he blames them at every turn for “negative reporting.” I won’t be surprised that this time around, he would claim that because of preparations made by his administration, death and destruction was minimized. Come on.

Instead of picking a fight with media, why doesn’t the President concentrate on doing what is right this time and launch immediately relief, recovery and rehabilitation efforts to help the people when they need help the most. When the last wind and water from Ruby has gone, the government should immediately start the multi-billion peso rehabilitation program and not wait for the next super typhoon.

The people showed they were ready for typhoon Ruby. Is the government ready? It just has to focus on the work at hand and let media do its job.

(valabelgas@aol.com)