Social responsibility

WHILE the typhoon victims are fighting the elements and struggling to survive, netizens are engaging in a “word war” on a bevy of topics related to Typhoon Haiyan (aka Yolanda) in social media.
From rants about the Philippine government’s inefficiency in implementing rescue and relief operations, to Korina Sanchez criticizing Anderson Cooper’s CNN coverage of the situation in Tacloban, to reposts of “hearsay” horror stories  from unverified sources, to seething anger towards corrupt government officials — social media has been bustling with activity since Day 1 of Yolanda’s wrath.
As the week progressed and slow relief efforts became more pronounced, netizens’  frustration further escalated.
Blinded by impatience and anger, we overlooked the degree of destruction that Typhoon Haiyan (the strongest storm to make landfall in recorded history) left in its path.
It also slipped our minds that the October 15 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Bohol and the recent Zamboanga siege have depleted government provisions for disasters and calamities.
And to make matters worse, CNN’s  coverage of the aftermath (via Anderson Cooper, Christiane Amanpour and Andrew Stevens and other international media fanned the flames even further.
Thankfully,  there are still those who view the situation objectively.
Spokesman to the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Martin Nesirsky said that “The Philippine authorities have done a tremendous job in extremely difficult circumstances.”
“People have not received aid in some cases where they desperately need it. Everybody’s aware of that. It’s a question of being able to marshall the resources you have and to get to the locations you can as quickly as you can. Not easy, but know people are doing the very best that they can,” he added.
UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Baroness Valerie Amos was frustrated herself because of the challenges.
“We are not able to get our resources to Tacloban and other areas. It is a frustration… because part of the job I have is to recognize the challenges and overcome those challenges,” referring to the “lack of air assets and roads that remain impassable” which made relief efforts difficult for both government and relief organizations, as reported by InterAksyon.com.
“Every disaster is different and unique to the country to which it occurs. Given the number of disasters that have happened in the Philippines just this year … it is all the more difficult as humanitarian (organizations) and government cope.”
“Our capacity is stretched. We are still dealing with other disasters and also the supplies are run down,” she added.
Amos explained: “The key element is that local officials should be the first to respond, but they themselves lost people. The local capacity on the ground should be doing a huge amount of work but that capacity was lost. We have to remember that even a mayor almost lost his wife. People are besides themselves looking for family members.”
“It (storm surge) could not be anticipated. Essentially tsunami-like, it is the thing that has done the maximum amount of damage. It surprised everyone.”
“I can see operations scaling up significantly. Today and in the coming days, things will get better as logistical capacity increases and facilities at the airport continue to improve,” she said, but reiterated that “much more is required.”
“People with absolutely nothing are doing their best to regain some degree of normality. We all must do much more now to ensure they receive the help they desperately need and the support required to rebuild their lives,” she emphasized.
In her blog, Elizabeth Ferris, Co-Director of Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement and a senior fellow in Foreign Policy, had this to say about why initial government responses appeared lacking:  “Be wary of initial news reports, especially those of inadequate response by the government of the Philippines. While I’m sure valid reports of government missteps will emerge over time, the Philippine government has invested heavily in disaster preparedness and response. The Philippines has strong civil society organizations, including the Filipino Red Cross, and has practiced, drilled and prepared for disasters for years. I’ve always thought that the Philippines should be given the opportunity to be a leader in teaching other countries about disaster preparedness. In fact, hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated before the cyclone hit. However, there weren’t enough safe areas to accommodate all of the evacuees (remember that the Philippines is made up of thousands of islands). The government should be credited for doing the right thing and evacuating as many people as it could.”
On the question of “why responses to disasters always seem late in coming and uncoordinated,” this is what Ferris had to say:
“When you don’t know what’s happening, it’s easy to blame the lack of coordination. The truth is that coordination is always difficult when national and local governments are still assessing and communicating need. Lack of coordination is also often difficult for the best of reasons: lots of people and countries want to help but national disaster response capabilities (sometimes due to closed ports and airfields) and international capacities can be limited. Yes, let’s continue to work to improve coordination mechanisms, but let’s not be too quick to point the finger at coordination failures when other factors may be to blame.”
Bringing all these to the forefront DOES NOT MEAN WE ARE APOLOGIZING for the shortcomings of the Philippine government.
Admittedly, much still needs to be improved in terms of infrastructure, disaster preparedness, disaster risk management and emergency response.
It is our way of giving a wake-up call to the citizenry, to play an active role in relief and rescue efforts. The government needs all the manpower it can get.
To meet the demands of this grueling feat, President Aquino underscored the need for volunteers.
“ We are trying to produce close to 140,000 food packs per day. So ito ho, lahat nung pagbo-volunteer ninyo dito, gusto ko lang i-emphasize, malaking tulong ho talaga ito para makalma ang mga tao doon, para hindi maging desperado.”
“So, magpapakapal na ho ako. Kung pupuwede may mga mamungkahi pa tayong tumulong sa atin dito para mas mapabilis natin iyong paglilipat nung mga pagkain, tubig, may mga tents rin at saka iba pang mga bagay na kailangan ng ating mga kababayan na talagang dumadaan sa matinding paghihirap,” the president urged.
Let us move forward from the government’s deficiencies and volunteer ourselves to fill the gaps.  We do not need another storm surge of hate, anger and blame at this juncture.
Instead of bickering in social media, let us utilize its power to bring together Filipinos across the globe and disseminate much-needed information on volunteering, updates on relief and rescue efforts, and updates on devastated areas which still need relief.
As netizens and participants of social media, we are equally responsible for the information we spread around. It is up to us to discern the truth from the untruth.
Instead of fingerpointing, let us put our hands to good use and be proactive.
Instead of fault-finding, let us rack our brains and help the government come up with concrete and effective solutions to the setbacks they are facing, as well as contribute to devising long-term plans for rehabilitating and rebuilding what was lost.
Kayang-kaya, kung sama-sama.
(AJPress)