An Act of God is an “inevitable, unpredictable,
unreasonably severe event caused by natural forces without any human
interference. It is also known as Force Majeure (French for superior or
irresistible power) - an event that is a result of the elements of nature, as
opposed to one caused by human behavior.
In legal parlance, it is unforeseen, but even if foreseen, it is
inevitable.
YOLANDA or Haiyan is
considered an Act of God. It was the
fiercest typhoon in recorded history packing winds in excess of 200 mph. It is stronger than Katrina and Sandy
combined. They are two devastating
typhoons that smashed into U.S. territories previously.
Sandy and Katrina were bad for the United States. YOLANDA is worse for the Philippines. According to reports, the latter may have
killed about 10,000 Filipinos, victimizing hundreds of thousands more, and
flattened homes and buildings in several islands. Severely affected are Leyte, Samar, Cebu,
Malapascua, Panay, Boracay, Palawan, Negros islands and many other isolated
areas.
Charles Watson of Kinetic
Analysis Corp, a disaster-modeling firm, reported that losses to the
Philippines from the Super typhoon would be $12 billion to $15 billion. That’s about 5 percent of the country’s
economic output. Comparatively, Watson
considers this catastrophic.
Expectedly, man-made institutions were called upon to
respond to the effects of this cruel, merciless, inevitable, and unreasonably
severe event.
PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT
The President of the
Philippines, PNoy first appealed to all that this is the time to help each
other. After personally witnessing,
observing, and listening to briefings, he signed Proclamation 628 declaring the
state of national calamity.
The declaration would accelerate the delivery of
relief, rescue, and rehabilitation efforts with the approval and quick release
of about P26 billion coming from the Calamity Fund, Philippine Social Fund,
Savings, and other sources. Implemented
with the declaration are price controls; monitoring, prevention and control by
Local Price Coordination Council of overpricing/profiteering and hoarding of
prime commodities, medicines and petroleum products; programming/reprogramming
of funds for repair of public infrastructures; and granting of no interest
loans by government financing institutions.
Congress, on the other hand,
decided to give up its pork barrel funds amounting to about P12 billion for
YOLANDA victims.
There is no more reason for the Supreme Court to freeze
the pork barrel funds since Congress is waiving its right over it in favor of
the YOLANDA victims through the Calamity Fund.
Upon representation, the Supreme Court is expected to lift the TRO on
the Congressional pork.
The United Nations / Foreign Governments/ NGOs
The United Nations on its part
flashed an appeal for the international community to raise $301 million or
nearly P13 billion in emergency funding to help YOLANDA victims. Some 33 countries and international
organizations, including the UN have donated P2.37 billion so far. Among them are the following:
1.
Australia - $9.3 million + medical personnel + non-food items
2.
Britain - $16 million + military aid +
temporary shelter + other household
items
3.
Canada - C$5 million
4.
Denmark - KR 10 million
5.
Germany - 23 tons of relief goods
6.
Norway - KR 20 million
7.
Saudi Arabia $100,000
8.
Taiwan - $200,000
9.
Sweden - Emergency communications equipment
10. United
Kingdom - $9.6 million worth of
emergency support package
11. New Zealand- $1.7 million
12. Japan - $10
million + 25 strong emergency medical relief team
13. South Korea - $5 million +
40-member disaster relief team. Korea
Red Cross - $100,000;
Fund campaign - $9.32 million
14. Indonesia - Aircraft
and logistical aid including personnel, drinking water, food, generators,
antibiotics and other medication
15. UAE - $10
million
16. United
States $20 million + 90 marines and sailors + aircraft carrier + 4 Navy ships
17. USAID Emergency shelter + hygiene
materials + 55 tons of emergency food
to feed 20,000 children and 15,000 adults for 5 days + $100,000 for water and sanitation
support
18. The European
Commission - $11 million
19. China - $100,000
+ Chinese Red Cross - $100,000
20. International
Rescue Committee – Emergency team +
$10 million appeal for aid
21. MEDECINS
SANS FRONTIERES – 30-people team of
medical personnel, logisticians
and psychologists + 200 tons of medical and relief items
22. UNICEF $1.3
million worth of supplies + water purification tablets, soap, medical kits,
tarpaulins, + micro nutrient supplements
23. The World
Food Programme – 44 tons of
high-energy biscuits, enough to feed 132,000
people for a day + emergency supplies + communications
equipment
24. The U.N.
Refugee Agency – emergency airlift to
send aid and supplies
25. The
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement - $94.6 million to provide
100,000 families with food, water, shelter and other essential relief for
18 months.
The Catholic Church
About 85% of the Philippine population
is Catholic. The Catholic Church is therefore
expected to take some leadership in this hour of pain and suffering among its
flock.
Materially, the Vatican pledged $4 million in addition
to the contribution of the Pope and the Catholic Charities amounting to
$150,000 and $134,000 respectively. It
also encouraged parishes in the Philippines to have a second collection for the
YOLANDA victims for two Sunday masses.
Spiritually,
Pope Francis led 60,000 people in Sunday prayers for the Philippines. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the
Philippines (CBCP) declared November 11 to 18 as days of mourning for the
victims of YOLANDA.
At first, I thought that the message and prayer of
CBCP’s new President Archbishop Soc Villegas appeared playing the blame game
when he said, “How could you, dear Lord, have allowed this to happen to us who
call on your holy name? Have you
abandoned us, Lord? Are you punishing us for our sins against you?”
He continued, “Tama na po!
Hindi na po namin kaya!” (Please stop!
We can no longer make it!) This contrasts to what protestant former President
Fidel Ramos preached a few years ago when he said, “Kaya natin ito!” (Yes, we
can do this!)
I never expected a man of faith to even think that God
would unleash the wrath of YOLANDA in order to punish so many innocent children
and hard-working religious beings in some regions supposedly for their sins!
But to be fair, Archbishop
Villegas also said, “The super typhoon was strong but our faith in YOU is
stronger.” This echoes the message of
his predecessor as President of CBCP, Archbishop Jose Palma who said, “The
Filipino Soul is Stronger Than YOLANDA!”
The Philippine Business Community
The corporate world in the
Philippines also responded to the call for help. The SM (ShoeMart) group set-up a P100 million
Calamity Fund. The Citi Foundation
pledged $250,000 disaster relief grant.
The Jollibee Group Foundation is accepting donations through coin banks
in its over 2,000 stores nationwide.
Harbor Star Shipping Services Inc. is helping the Coast Guard transport
up to 8,000 metric tons of goods, or the equivalent weight of 150,000 sacks of
rice.
The Alagang Kapatid Foundation raised P21 million in a
telethon and is sending 12,000 units of one-liter bottles, 15,000 one-gallon
jugs, and 10,000 pieces of bottled water.
Aboitiz Foundation raised P30 million.
Sharon Cuneta is giving a total of P10 million while Union Bank is
giving P25 million through Alagang Kapatid Foundation.
There are many more donors
like the San Miguel Foundation, Petron Corp, and the PLDT-Smart Foundation who
represent the business community.
INDIVIDUALS
The individual donors in the
Philippines and abroad are countless.
Some friends have actually emailed me on what is the best way to send
help. I responded that my wife and I
sent our contribution via the Philippine Red Cross (www.redcross.org.ph). I thought that it has the best structure for delivery;
the widest reach; and proven to be the most reliable.
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Next Article: Acts of Man Responding to an Act of God (Part
II)
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