The latest typhoon and aftermath

The winds were blowing hard. Even the doors inside the house were shaking and making noise. Will the glass windows hold or break? Then silence and stillness. After some minutes, the cycle of strong winds, hard rain, shaking noisy doors came again and again and again. Typhoon 4 or Butchoy as named in the Philippines hit Ibaraki early morning Wednesday.

At about 5 in the morning of the same day, lo and behold, the sun was out brightly! Except for the mild wind that remained to make the branches sway, gone were the wail of the wind, the noise and shake of the doors. It was as if the typhoon never passed. At least in our part of Japan.

Elsewhere, where Typhoon 4 hit harder, about 150,000 people relocated in Toyohashi, Aichi (about 123,085 people), in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, which was hit by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami (about 10,359 people), the city of Kesennuma (about 5,258), and in in Odawara in Kanagawa Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo  (about 11,800 people), according to the Japan Times.

Floods, blackouts, suspension of transportation (air, land and water) accompanied Typhoon 4. Injuries were reported for 13 people but gratefully, no deaths.

As Typhoon 4 moves out of Japan, another one, the 5th typhoon for this year is just around the corner. Already, alarms and warnings are out to better prepare all for the next one.

By Wednesday morning, where we live, we observed that life was back to normal, as if nothing happened. There was hardly any reminder of the powerful typhoon that just passed, praise God for that.

The schoolchildren lined up and walked to school an hour later than their regular schedule. They sounded happier and walked more energetically that morning since they did not have to get up and walk to school between 730-8 in the morning (around 6:30-7 in the Philippines).

Some trains are still adjusting their schedules, with delays reported in areas hit badly by Typhoon 4. Evacuees are probably still in the center, awaiting the go-signal for them to return home, when water levels near rivers close to their homes are declared safe. As Japan braces for the next typhoon, for now, thank God for this grateful break of stillness, of calm, of a blessed sunny day.

The aftermath of Butchoy, especially in worst-hit areas in the Philippines, may not be as positive, especially with reported deaths and destruction of homes and property. The last typhoon’s winds and rains made us pray for God to have spared people, houses, and trees, especially back home.

There is really no substitute to adequate, effective disaster preparation and management. As we live in disaster-prone areas, each day should find us wiser, more creative, more united in our collaborative response to disasters and calamities so that damage and destruction to humans and nature can be minimized, if not averted all together.

Typhoon 5 alert has been sounded. It is interesting how different countries call typhoons that visit their areas. In the Philippines, typhoons are given names that start from A-Z.  Typhoon Butchoy had the international name of Guchol, which was classified as Typhoon 4 in Japan, being the 4th to visit this country this year. The next one, Typhoon 5 in Japan is Typhoon Carina in the Philippines and Typhoon Talim internationally.

Let us all continue to be prepared all the time, individually and collectively, as households and as a nation, as a whole global community. Let us also continue to pray for everyone’s safety and protection from calamities and disasters all throughout the world.

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