The Philippines is very fortunate in these times

When one compares what is happening around the world with what is happening in our country, one cannot but feel that the Philippines is very fortunate in being spared of calamities, both natural and man-made. In the United States, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, the people of New Orleans were totally shocked and helpless as they saw their old city completely destroyed in one day by Hurricane Katrina. This was followed by Hurricane Rita that hit the state right next to Louisiana.

Incidentally, the State of Texas had a different name when it was part of Mexico. It was called – believe it or not – Nuevas Filipinas. This was because many Filipinos accumulated in Mexico during the Spanish times. Many Filipino sailors in the galleon trade abandoned ship and stayed in Mexico.

There is also the bad news from South America. In Spanish, when they want to say "from bad to worse", they use the expression "de Guatemala a Guadapeor." And that is what happened in Guatemala; only things went from good to worse. A hurricane caused mudslides that totally buried parts of cities and total villages.

And closer to home comes the calamity that has hit Pakistan where 30,000 people died in a 7.6 Richter scale earthquake. And now Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita has issued the statement that according to Director Renato Solidum of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, Metro Manila is now under threat of major temblors because many fault lines are very close to the metropolis. This means that every individual and every household should be on an earthquake alert. The first thing is to make sure that we secure our homes by removing things that can fall and harm the members of the household. Children specially should be instructed on where to go in the event of a tremor.

But to repeat, so far we have been lucky. The peak season for typhoons is already past, but the typhoon season is still on till December. These are the two natural calamities that we should be wary of – earthquakes and typhoons.

We are lucky that despite the occasional heavy rains, we have had no serious flood or mudslide problems. For that matter, we also have had no big fires in the whole country. Let us be thankful to God for all our blessings.