The Super Typhoon Yolanda aftermath can now be said as a true test of humanity. Faced with destruction and death of proportions that may be go beyond human comprehension, it is not only the Filipino people who are in the limelight here. Every human being, whether suffering on ground zero or observing from afar, will be undergoing a personal test of conscience, understanding, and endurance.
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Image Source: ph.news.yahoo.com
The Indescribable Grief
No words can ever be enough to describe the depth of grief in losing loved ones and in watching personal properties earned for many years disappear in one click. This is not even the worse part since the life after the actual tragedy itself may be more difficult. Finding the dead bodies of loved ones and friends, rebuilding homes with nothing to start with, and looking at the desolation all around is never easy.
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For a nation and its people who has had its share of tragedies in the past, this latest tragedy still strikes a raw nerve. The pictures of despair are many. The cries for help are resounding all over.
The Race to Respond
There is no question of the urgency for the need of assistance required by those people who had to face the wrath of nature. There is great fear in the hearts of typhoon survivors that they may just succumb to death as well because of hunger, thirst, diseases, and what many of them feel as indifference. On the other side of the fence are the rescuers and relief workers who are trying to overcome the obstacles presented by physical isolation, downed communication lines, and probably the sense of being overwhelmed with such a gargantuan task ahead.
Image Source: ph.news.yahoo.com
The country is not alone in its efforts. The international community has responded accordingly with some previous petty animosities set aside for the sake of addressing what is obviously the more important task of helping the victims. With financial aid and medical contingents coming in from all over the world, the task of rebuilding just got a little lighter.
Image Source: mb.com.ph
My Say
Natural tragedies are great equalizers. It does not distinguish the rich from the poor especially with a typhoon of this magnitude that has proven its strength of flattening even seemingly strong concrete structures. Although there is still some disparity seen between the two social classes since the former can have the option to leave the danger zone by going to another home, this does not necessarily make them safer than the rest, all the time. I am also sure that many privileged people will not leave just to save themselves especially if there are duties to be performed.
Everyone is trying to do something. It cannot be overemphasized however that a more effective system of extending assistance needs to be in place NOW, if not yesterday and the other days before that. The Philippine government needs to put its act together and avoid over-thinking lest the help comes too late to those who need it.
That said, I think tragic incidents like this will time and again show and remind us that we humans are responsible for each other. A single tragedy can test humanity more than a hundred joyous events combined. For in tragedy, we are called upon to give up something without expecting anything in return. In tragedy, we will be helping people that we may never get to know in our life time. In tragedy, we are pulled to tap the innate goodness of man that we may have forgotten along the way.
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