This is in America!

Waist to neck-deep floodwaters. Cars haphazardly piled on top of one another. Basement parking lots filling with floodwaters. Super rough seas with giant waves crashing against the seawall. Debris flying all around in hurricane winds.Large areas without power, and a fire razing a neighborhood. These were the images flashed on TV in the previous days. One would just say that itís just another day in the Philippines during the rainy and typhoon seasons. But as you read the crawlers, these scenes are from the eastern seaboard of the United States!

 A freak supertyphoon has battered the eastern seaboard of the US. ìSandyî or what some call ìFrankenstormî made landfall last Tuesday and practically closed down New York City! That is a feat all its own! Deserted streets, boarded-up shop windows were the scenes reminiscent of scenes from ìI Am Legend.î Then Sandy came tearing through, and the lights go out in large areas of the East Coast States! Thatís when the winds and the rain created much of the destruction and unfortunately death for more than forty people. But it could have been worse had it not been for the strong political will of the stateís politicians. Everything was ordered closed, and those in dangerous areas asked to evacuate to safer places, no questions asked. Only the real hard-headed ones needed to be rescued. They would have had a field day if that happened here!

 What I saw was how different our country and the US handles a natural calamity such as this one. What struck me was the image of a toppled house. A whole house, mind you! Winds from Sandy were that strong to be able to do this. But then again, weíve had our share of supertyphoons as well, and you just donít see a whole hose on its side! A missing roof, probably but definitely not a while house. It shows just how differently houses are constructed. Weíre fairly used to having so many typhoons come tearing through the country in a year. I guess in the US, thatís just freaky weather once in a while. Probably why some houses are made of light, ready-made materials you can just buy from a store and put together yourself, not to say that thatís wrong or anything. Here, we use hollow blocks and cement! We do have a lot of flying GI sheets though from the houses of the less privileged.

 Iím sure New York, New Jersey, Maryland and the other states will rapidly recover from this natural calamity. Thatís how their infrastructure and bureaucracy works, not to mention money. But it should impart certain lessons regarding Mother Natureís wrath, whenever she decides to unleash it. Houses may have to be built a little stronger than what they are accustomed to. Ready-made materials definitely will not stand a typhoonís howling winds.

We can also learn from what they have gone through, and what they did right, such as closing everything down without exceptions under pain of punishment. And making people realize when they are in danger. Thatís the biggest problem we always have. Convincing people of the dangers, and then having to save them simply because they wouldnít listen. Political will. That what it takes.