Natural Catastrophes in Asia: Its Major Negativity on the Society

Introduction What is happening to the world? Naturally-occurring calamities in every corner are indubitably caused damages, burdens and dilemmas to the people. But what are natural disasters? As stated by UNDHA (2001, cited in the article State of the environment and policy retrospective: 19722002), it is a serious description of the functioning of the society, causing widespread human, material or environmental losses which exceed the ability of affected society to cope on its own resources. Just years ago, Philippines and Japan struggled from various unexpected disasters, specifically earthquake and typhoon. This research paper aims to allow the readers to visualize more clearly and internalize more deeply, the negative effects of the disasters on the people, the society and the economy in particular to Japan and the Philippines. Background and Definitions of the Different Natural Disasters Earthquakes As what we all know, there are many types of natural disaster that are occurring now and for the past thousands and millions of years. If we are going to compare each of them, we could come up that earthquake would be one of the most terrifying catastrophes. But what is an earthquake? In Encarta dictionary, it is stated there that it is a violent shaking of earths crust that may lead to the destruction of buildings, infrastructures and etc. This kind of disaster is often feared by most of the people for this
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is an unpredictable one that would often lead to a massive destruction. According to Bolt (1999, pp. 55) the first earthquake that was identified by the people through science was in Greece. During that time, the people experienced Aegean volcanoes and an earthquake in the Mediterranean Sea, which probably cause the tidal waves. As Abott (1996) states, the causes of earthquakes are the faults movements associated with the tectonic plates. He added that there are 3 types of movements of the plates, (1) divergent at spreading centers (2) slide past and transform faults (3) convergent at collision zones. Losses and deaths during and after the earthquake were mainly because of the crash and collapse of the tall buildings. One of the examples is the stone and mud block houses that were built by the people for thousands of years along the Dead Sea fault zone, in which these houses crashed down and brought about numbers of deaths. (Abott, 1996) Tsunami When we hear of earthquakes, what comes automatically in our minds is the idea that it would be followed immediately by a tsunami or tidal wave, especially earthquakes that have a higher intensity just like in the case of Japan. In the article, Tsunamis- killer waves, it is stated that a tsunami is a series of ocean waves that sends surges of water, sometimes reaching heights of over 100 feet (30.5 meters), onto land. These tidal waves would often produce a widespread destruction when they will sweep into the land. It is caused by an undersea earthquake at tectonic plates boundaries. According to that article, when the ocean floor at a plate boundary rises or falls suddenly it displaces the water above it and launches the rolling waves that will become the tsunami. It is said that 80 % of the tsunamis are occurring in the Pacifics Oceans Ring of Fire where most of

the volcanoes are active and tectonic plates shift that would initiate an earthquake and would somehow instigate the tidal waves. (Tsunamis-killer waves) In addition, Abott (1996) asserted that the most powerful ocean waves are the tidal waves or tsunamis. Typhoons Ever wonder what typhoons are? People call it by many names. Typhoons, hurricanes and cyclones represent the same thing. Typhoon is basically the famous name of hurricanes in the Western Pacific while in Indian Ocean, typhoons are called cyclones. All are rotating, low pressure weather systems with warm cores that generally form over warm seawater between 5 degrees to 20 degrees latitude and then travel off to deliver their heat to higher altitude (Abott, 1996). Damages done by typhoons are described by the Saffir Simpson Scale, subdivided into many categories. Category 1 is characterized by wind damaging trees and unanchored mobile homes. In category 2, wind blow large trees down and do major damages to homes. Category 3, wind blow down large trees and ship foliage, destroy mobile homes and causes structural damages to small buildings. Category 4 involves all signs of things blown down, damages are heavy to windows, doors and roofs, flooding extend miles and buildings suffer major damages. And in category 5, where damages are expected fatal, buildings are overturned, roofs, windows, doors suffer severe damages and even cause death (Abott, 1996). Volcanic Eruptions The occurrences of volcanic eruptions are very noticeable and clear. But what is a volcanic eruption? Volcanic eruption occurs when magma or the term for lava when it reached the surface of the Earth is released from a volcanic vent. Eruptions can be

effusive, where lava flows like a thick, sticky liquid, or explosive, where fragmented lava explodes out of a vent. It causes disturbance to the people within the vicinity of the incident but the benefit we can derive from it is the mineral-producing capacity of the soil after a volcanic eruption (Ball, 2005). El Nio Sometimes, we could associate drought as El Nio, in which according to Herring and Kermond (What is El Nio?), it is the physical relationships between wind, ocean currents, oceanic and atmospheric temperatures, and biosphere break down into the destructive patterns. This phenomenon is a Spanish term named after the boy child for this would customarily occur during the birth of the Christ Child. As Abott (1996) expresses, drought is not equal to desert. Certainly, it is an abnormality of the dryness of a certain region wherein there is a scarcity of the water sources due to the failure of the normality of the rain cycle (e.g. usual rain does not appear). By this event, agricultural crops, plantation or even vegetation would be greatly affected obviously due to the low moisture level in the farmlands and be the primary cause of famine and shortage of food in a particular place. This would somehow force the individuals to leave the place and migrate to other productive place where they can fully satisfy and meet their needs. Famine We have tackled earlier that famine is the result of drought. As Abott (1996) explain, this type of disaster is the slowest one. He supported his view by comparing famine to earthquakes, hurricanes and even volcanic eruptions. He said that the latter would strike immediately to a particular place and would simply leave damages. But in

the case of the former, it prolongs the agony of the people. Ordinarily, rains do not come and vegetations and other sources food would start to dry up and the resource would be scarce. By this time, the famine would take place. There are three stages of famine. In the first stage or early stage, food would still be available but apparently the supply of these foods does not satisfy the regular needs of an individual. Individuals are still physically and mentally active but they already loss for about 10% of their body weight. In the second stage or advanced stage, people would lose about 20 % of their body weight. In this situation, energy that are needed by the body to do its functions are not enough, and the body would automatically react in order to preserve life. In the last stage or near-death stage, 30 % or more of the body weight would be lost and obviously this would be the time that we can say that its death is near. (Abott, 1996) La Nia La Nia, on the other hand, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary (2012), is the rising of cold water to the ocean surface along the western coast of South America and often occurs following an El Nio. It disrupts typical regional and global weather patterns specifically in a manner contrary to El Nio. Basically, La Nia is described as the persisting occurrence of heavy rains causing floods and landslides. Other Calamities Other natural calamities include floods, famines and drought. In addition to the given definitions above, floods are produced due to an unstoppable duration of heavy rains. Floods are due to lack of floras and trees that help absorb water during rains, cloud burst, tropical cyclones and monsoon. While in contrast to this, drought is the season of

insufficient water sources due to constant and dry season without signs of rain. As a result, a famine may arise which by definition is a widespread scarcity of food. It is a phenomenon in which a large percentage of a region is so undernourished that death by starvation or other related diseases may occur. Other causes may include crop failure and overpopulation (Sanjeeta M., 2011). Environmental disasters like earthquakes, typhoons, drought, La Nia, and other naturally-occurring calamities are known as ecological disturbances. It means that there are changes that transpired during the time of their occurrence. In addition to this, although natural disasters are volatile, irregular and unpredictable in nature, environmental degradation and change are increasingly becoming one of the key factors why a phenomenon is experienced. According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (2001, as cited in the article State of the environment and policy, other disasters, 1972-2002,), people are becoming more fragile and prone to high exposure of natural hazards because firstly, of deforestation that produced massive floods. Another reason points to exploitation of water resources that triggered drought or dry. And lastly not to disregard the rapid growth or change in population that led to urbanization and produced weak land areas. These are the leading and common factors why people are becoming more exposed to adversities. Common Effects and Losses of the Natural disasters If we are going to talk about natural disasters, we can never disregard the damages that it brought to the people, environment and to the economy. As a matter of fact, there are two types of damages known, namely, direct and indirect. Direct Damages

Direct damages are usually those that actually take place right after a disaster. According to Cavallo (2010, pp. 7) these are damages to fixed assets and capital, that includes the inventories, damages to raw materials and extractable natural resources, and of course the mortality and morbidity that are a direct consequence of the natural phenomenon (i.e., an earthquake, a flood, or a drought). There is also what we call secondary direct damages. This pertains to the extra or supplementary effects that would be created as a result to the primary damages that had occurred. For example, after the earthquake, a building collapsed, and later on it created a fire in that particular area that may lead to the death or destruction of properties. In that case, the secondary direct damage was clearly the people who died and the properties that were destroyed due to the fire. (Impacts of natural disasters, 1999) Indirect Damages Indirect damages refer to the effects on what might be the possibilities that would happen in the economy of the affected area. This primarily focuses on the availability in the production of supplies that the market will not be able to provide it to the customers. Evidently, these are mainly because of the direct damages. (Cavallo, 2010, pp.7) According to Torrente (2004), indirect damages also include human suffering, insecurity, psychological stress or victims. These are harder to measure than the direct effects of calamities. One example is a ruptured power line is readily observed and cost of its repair evaluated. This is an example of a direct effect while far less obvious are losses such as those of industries that are forced to close down because they lack critical power supplies, the loss of their businesses and the rate of the unemployment rises. These

in effect are the common, possible things that may happen that are not properly observed or seen. (Indirect loss natural, 2011) In the study of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (2001, as cited in the article State of the environment and policy, 1972-2002) earthquakes, floods, windstorms and the like are considered to be the most expensive natural disasters in terms of financial and economic damages while famine and drought are ruinous mostly in the human effects. It is believed that earthquakes were accounted for about 30 % on the estimated damage, but only 9% on the human victims. On the other hand, these droughts and famines accounted for about only 4 % on the human victims but 42 % on the estimated damage. Naturally occurring calamities have been reaching us since then and for some reasons, it continuously occurs consecutively and is quite fast. For this reason, many have concluded that these natural disasters only give rise to destruction, death and negativities in life. (Reice, 2001) Latest Disasters that Brought Damages in Japan and Philippines About 75%of the worlds natural catastrophes between 1970 and 1997 occurred in Asia and the Pacific region, mostly in developing countries. There have been uncountable events of catastrophes and natural disasters in the region and it is in a general upward trend according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (2001, as cited in the article State of the environment and policy, other disasters, disasters in Asia and the Pacific, 1972-2002,). Earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011

Damages in the lives of the people. On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake shakes Japan and it cause tsunami along Japans Pacific Coast. It has been said that it is black Friday in Japans history for this was the worst earthquake that they had experienced (Chan, 2011). The strong earthquake resulted to a tsunami that extended as far as six miles inland of Japan creating a massive destruction across the Pacific. (Nanto, Cooper & Donnelly, 2011, pp 4) The catastrophe left bad memories and

experience in the people of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, Japan. In Iwate, a total of 3,092 people were killed and 4,878 were missing, in Miyagi 6,097 were killed and 6, 237 were missing, and in Fukushima 855 were killed and 5, 934 were missing. A total of 10,102 people lost their lives, 17, 053 were missing and 2, 777 were reported to have acquired injury in that particular event as of March 2011.There were also 245, 000 people were in the evacuation centers, 243, 000 homes were out of power and 720, 000 homes without clean and safe water. (Nanto, Cooper & Donnelly, 2011, pp 2) Damages on Infrastructures and Agriculture. On March 13, 2011, around 4:30 pm, a nuclear blast takes place in Fukushima, Japan that caused a leakage of radiation. Another nuclear blast was observed on March 14, 2011. According to the source, the radioactive particles may cause cancer, burns or even alopecia. (Chan, 2011)In connection with that, physical damages on infrastructures or even in agricultural aspects were indubitable. According to Nanto, Cooper & Donnelly (2011), Physical damage has been estimated for about $ 250 billion to as much as $ 309 billion, the latter figure being nearly four times as much as Hurricane Katrina which is about $ 81 billion and roughly equivalent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Greece and twice of that the New Zealand. (Nanto, Cooper & Donnelly, 2011, pp. 1)

1. A Hitachi Factory North of Tokyo that makes 60% of the worlds supply of airflow was shutdown. 2. Two Japanese plants accounting 25% of the worlds supply of silicon wafers for computer chips were closed. 3. Toshiba plant making liquid crystals displays damaged 4. Texas instruments had to close a factory in Japan- accounting for its 10% revenue 5. Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd. 6. Nippon Chemi-con Corporation 7. Nihon Dempa Kogyo 8. Nissan- importing engines 9. Japans major automakers are expected to produce about 400, 000 but they did not able to meet the quota 10. Delta Airliner Table 1- Some of the physical damages in Japan (Nanto, D., Cooper, W. & Donnelly, M., 2011) Japans 2011 Earthquake and tsunami triggered its negative effects when two nuclear power plant reactors melt down and was damaged. It caused chemical explosion that resulted to a leakage of toxic substances that are harmful to almost all living organisms. Evidence shows that the level of radiation as detected in Tokyos water supply, vegetations and plantation (e.g. leafy vegetables plantation) and milk around Fukushima Daiichi was consistently high. (Nanto, Cooper & Donnelly, 2011, pp. 1).It was said that there were about 200,000 families that need to be evacuated especially those within a 10 kilometres radius of the Fukushima II nuclear plant and 20 kilometres radius of the Fukushima I Nuclear Plant.(Chan, 2011). It also caused the disruption in the operation of electricity in the affected areas. These worst events brought burdens and dilemmas to the affected people. The countrys total recorded physical damages or destroyed properties and infrastructures was said to be 143, 359 homes, 2, 804 other buildings, 2, 035 roads and 56 bridges. These totalities were composed of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima. In Iwate 12, 930 homes was damaged, 9 093 in Miyagi and 10, 512 in Fukushima. For about 1, 348
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other buildings in Miyagi were also reported to have been harmed. (Nanto, Cooper & Donnelly, 2011, pp 5) The negative impacts highly involved on the operation of electricity, the place and the duration of evacuees in the evacuation centre, the explosion and leakage of harmful power plants and the alternative source for the production of electronic and automotive parts. First, Japans generators of electricity were harmed obviously because of the strong earthquake and tsunami. It is now a big problem to the people living in the affected area on how to cope a place without electricity and how to operate useful machines and gadgets that are supposedly to make their works easier and faster. Second, most of the evacuation centres were fully occupied. By this, we could see and visualize the absence of the basic needs because of high rate in competition. Lastly, as we all know Japan is one of the producers of different electronic and automotive parts and that includes mobile phones, laptops, computers, cars and others, but because of the disaster the production of these things limited and reduced.. In general, these things would be a great factor that would determine that the economy of Japan is obviously declining. (Nanto, Cooper & Donnelly, 2011, pp 1) Damages on the Economy. According to Nanto, Copper and Donnelly (2011, pp.1), Japan as the largest economy in the world, it sums up a GDP at $ 5.5 trillion which consist for 8.7 % GDP of global. As what we have observed, in that particular disaster, a huge part of Japan was affected. By that we could we could say that it has a greater negative impact in its economy. The damages was approximately $ 309 billion or 5.7 % of GDP and less than 2 % of capital stock including the dilemmas on evacuation centers, Fukushima power plant and others. (Nanto, Cooper & Donnelly, 2011, pp 5)

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United States considered Japans disaster as the worst one because of the inclination of the market prices of some products like oil and food and also to the slow revitalization with high unemployment rate that reaches for about 9%. It worsens the market problem in the country. The major effects would be definitely the fall of financial state on the stock markets. Nanto asserted that Equity markets, however, are expected to recover over time as impact of disasters is factored into risk calculations and the economic effects become clear. Those things implied that Japan causes the fluctuating market in the United States. (Nanto, Cooper & Donnelly, 2011, pp 6) Certainly, the value of yen in US dollar was greatly affected. On February 15, 2011, it was said that the equivalent of one dollar was 83.8 yen and 122 yen on the last four years. On March 17, 2011, it marks a record of 76.25 yen per dollar. Nanto says that the investors, hedge funds and speculators assume that Japans wealth holders, insurance companies and possibly the government will need and repatriate the investments on other countries. It is because for the damages that has been brought by the disaster and also for rebuilding of the destroyed properties and infrastructures. (Nanto, Cooper & Donnelly, 2011, pp 7) Typhoons Ondoy and Sendong in Philippines 2009 and 2011 The Philippines, as a part of Asia, in spite of its innate beauty and abundant natural resources, is still affected by naturally occurring calamities. The Philippines is located near the Earths equator, in Southeast Asia, an archipelago that consists of more than 7,000 islands, of which over 800 are inhabited. It is situated beside the Pacific Ocean making it a common passage for typhoons and other disasters; typhoons are usually formed in the said ocean. To generalize, these typhoons have greater possibility of

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passing the countrys area of responsibility. More than 20 typhoons are said to enter our country annually unlike other countries having only at most 5 typhoons per year. Its geographical location makes it a calamity prone area. This means that anytime of the year, a typhoon or an earthquake is expected to happen in the Philippines (Philippines: Country Specific, 1995). Typhoon Ondoy Damages in the lives of the people. It was dated last September 26, 2009; an immense and upsetting tragedy struck the Philippines and surprised its citizens. Typhoon Ondoy, considered as one of the most catastrophic events that had happened in the Philippines, disturbed and killed many lives, drowned many ambitions and caused

trauma and burden to the lives of the people. In some areas of Luzon, NCR specifically and some parts of region I, II, III, IV-B and V, 69,514 families composing of 337,216 persons were affected. It leads for 11,967 families or 59,521 persons to move and transfer to live temporarily in evacuation centers prepared by the government. Overall, the casualty brought about 464 persons dead (Philippine Typhoon, 2009). Right after the devastating disaster, updates flooded the news. The typhoon made highways unrecognizable filled with overflowed river waters that swept away cars, houses and buildings. Communication was interrupted as well as power services. Telephone lines were cut-off and even hospitals were used as evacuation centers and international airports were closed (Evangelista, 2009) Damages to infrastructures, which fuel investments, production and

employment, also remain a concern. There were doubts in the resources and capabilities of the government to bring up a massive reconstruction within 90 days. Another concern

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from former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director general CayetanoPaderanga was their inability to foresee the future possibilities. They can only predict what will happen if they can compute the total damages the typhoon brought. He deduced that the typhoon reduced the chances of hitting better growth in the second half of the year, consequently, in the entire 2009 (Ondoy to slash, 2009) The effects of the typhoon on the key economic factors, including agriculture and manufactured goods were recognized.But there were doubts in an economic rebound from agricultural output and manufactured exports. As what Agricultural Undersecretary Jesus Emmanuel Paras reported, the typhoon damaged a sum of P3.1 billion worth of paddy rice or merely about 3% of an expected fourth-quarter output. (Ondoy to slash, 2009) The effects of the storm may likely reduce Philippine economic growth. It is likely to shave off at least 0.043% of the Philippines economic target in 2009. Acting socioeconomic Planning Secretary and NEDA Director General Augusto Santos specified in a statement that the preliminary estimates show that the storm could cut or decrease the real Gross Domestic Product of the Philippines in 2009 by 0.043 percentage points. He based his findings on the reports from the Natural Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC). Therefore, the Inter-agency Development Budget Coordinating Committee (DBCC) reduced the growth (GDP) assumption from an earlier forecast of 0.8%-1.8% to an estimate of 0.7%-1.7% in 2009. First Metro Investment Coop-University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) executive director Victor Abola stated that the 3rd quarter expected GDP growth was around 2.35% before hitting 4.2% in the 4th quarter. But due to typhoon

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Ondoy, the GDP growth forecast has shrunken to 2.1% in the 3rd quarter of 2009 (Ondoy to slash, 2009). Typhoon Sendong Damages in the lives of the people. Just recently, last December 2011, another strong and dreadful typhoon successfully entered the Philippine premises. Similar to the other typhoons that struck the country, the citizens were again shocked and stunned by the gigantic storm. This time, the storm landed on most parts of Mindanao including Cagayan de Oro City and Iligan City in Region X and some areas in Visayas, Dumaguete, Cebu and Leyte. The powerful storm killed about 521 people as confirmed by the Philippine Red Cross with a number of missing people. The retrieved bodies that have not yet been confirmed might be recognized as one of the 370 people missing (Dalizon, 2011). Meanwhile, funeral parlors in the two cities, Iligan and Cagayan were heard to have turned away dead bodies due to lack of coffins and workers to attend to their needs (Acosta, 2011). As of 3 pm on Monday after the storm, the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) raised the number of dead people to 684, making the typhoon the deadliest in terms of death count. It surpassed the Ondoy storm that has only mounted up to 464 numbers of deaths. In general, many lost lives (Acosta, 2011) Damages on the Infrastructures, Agriculture and Economy. The deadliest disaster inflicted P38 billion damages to infrastructures including homes and farm outputs. It destroyed private and public farmland. Sendongs damages to farmlands reached P8.1 billion according to the Department of Agriculture (DA). DA Central Action Cebu said that the storm harmed total of 1,904 hectares of rice farms where P3.57 million worth of

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seedlings in vegetative stage were planted. For corn, the estimated production loss is 189 metric tons of about 2,060 hectares affected (Acosta, 2011). The typhoon also toppled power and communication lines that caused block outs trough out the cities and interrupted transfer of information and exchange of communication in the area. Water connections were also cut-offed (Yap, 2011, p. A22) Because of the negative outcomes, the economy is expected to decline. Preparatory Measures to Avoid Massive Destruction Peoples lives are solely affected by unpredictable natural hazards occurring every now and then. Hazards become disasters when it destroys lives and alters the daily routine of people. This causes the expansion of poverty, pollution, and environmental degradation occurring disasters. But occasionally the economic and environmental damages are not entirely vast because of the preparations done by the public and the government. Risk reduction management and disaster management programs are the methods used (Natural Disaster Management, 2010). Disaster Management is a complex series of activities that include risk assessment, prevention, measures, and preparedness to cope with future disasters, emergency response to a disaster, recovery and reconstruction (Natural Disaster Management, 2010). Asian countries are at different stage of institutional development with respect to disaster reduction. Japan for instance has a long-established system of disaster management motivated by the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction [IDNDR] and that is according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red

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Crescent Societies (2001, as cited in the article State of the environment and policy, disaster responses, 1972-2002,). The Philippine government has also produced organizations and administrative bodies that are responsible in creating rules and conducting information drives to inform the public on what to do before and after a disaster. Normally, in times of distress and danger, people tend to panic. People caught in disasters fall into three categories: 10%15% remain calm and act quickly and efficiently, another 15% or less completely freakout weeping, or otherwise screaming while the vast majorities do very little; they are stunned and bewildered. This causes more deaths and danger; therefore it is their duty to build a disaster management program (Ripley, 2005). Unfortunately, the Philippine disaster management program was a failure. It is in contrast to what we expected. Upon the typhoon Ondoy calamity, more than 300 people were reported dead and nearly P9 billion in total damages to agriculture and infrastructures were calculated. The responsibility of destructive flashfloods has been blamed by certain sectors on the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo with regards to a failed disaster management (Bernardo, 2010). Proper and right preparations must be done to prevent fatal results from disasters. There has been a number of government and international organizations and institutions that are promoting and supporting risk reduction as the only sustainable solution for reducing the social, economic and environmental impacts of disasters. Risk reduction strategies include: firstly, vulnerability mapping or inspection of areas that are susceptible and more exposed to disasters to make these places the principal focus of preparations. Second, identification of areas that is safe for settlement and development.

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Third, resilient engineering and on local hazard risk assessments and lastly, enforcing plans and codes by economic and other entities as declared by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (2001, as cited in the article State of the environment and policy, International Policy Response, 1972-2002,). After every disaster wherein damages have already been done, the first action rendered is to save lives or better termed as humanitarian action. Any type of disaster may need different types of action. The most common response carried out is the search and rescue operation where specific organizations volunteer and perform their duties to retrieve bodies and help those who may be trapped under debris. Another way is to assess the needs of the victims; provide medical care, prevent the spreading of diseases, supply the victims basic necessities, provide food, clothing and shoulder their shelter. After a specific range of time wherein the people have already gain their energy and consciousness, the government and other organizations assist the victims in earning a living and finding a job. To properly speed up their recovery, they conduct counseling to stabilize the emotions of the wounded and to forget and leave the traumatic event that had once happened in their lives. Unfortunately, the government doesnt have enough funds to cover all the expenses to amend the casualties. But there are solutions rendered. Fund raising and donations are some of the answers to the systems financial needs. Therefore, the victims are given relief materials from the support of other people as well (Natural Disaster Management, 2010).

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Conclusion Natural disasters are very widespread and common yet we are still instinctively stunned and troubled by the occurrence of such calamities. This is for the very reason of the people being afraid of the probability of having direct and indirect damages to their lives, their society and their economy. Therefore, natural calamities highly bring burdens, inconveniences, difficulties, shortcomings, drawbacks or simply give numerous disadvantages to the fatalities. However, According to Reice (2001), we must develop an ecological worldview to appreciate not only natures regular patterns such as the changing of the seasons but also the irregular onesthe untidy, dangerous occurrences: the disturbances and natural disasters, fires and floods, hurricanes and droughts are part of the natural fabric of nature. We must accept that disturbances are natural, vital part of life despite their destructiveness. Thus, the people must continue to understand that natural disasters of our time are solely part of our being human. Although it brought so much pain, agony and discomfort to the people, we must always continue to move forward and forget the disasters that caused severe damages physically and emotionally. Without these, living would be incomplete, that we should always remember. We must not only see the destructions it brought but also the benefits we acquired. Though the fact is undeniable that natural disasters are destructive in nature, people should always think positively, be assured to be even stronger, rise up after the storm and above all be thankful to the Lord Almighty for He has never abandoned us in times of despair. A lot of questions cross our mentalities, why us?, why now? and why that destructive? Well, everything has a reason. Why not make these challenges become opportunities

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instead? Make it an opportunity to change for the better. For now, the best thing we can do is just to trust the Him. Have faith for he will never let the righteous fall!

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Bibliography A. Non Internet Sources Abott, P. (1996). Natural disasters. Times Mirror Higher Education Group Inc. 2460 Kerper Boulevard, Dubuque, IA 52001 Acosta, R.(2012). Sendong deadlier than Ondoy Bernardo, J. (2009). Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) Death Toll in The Philippines: Killer Mall or Killer Corruption Figured?,January 21, 2010 Bolt, B. A. (1999).Earthquakes, Causes of Earthquakes (p.55).W.H. Freeman and Company, 41 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10010, 20 Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2NQ, England. Dalizon, A. (2011). Shades of Ondoy: journal. Ripley, A. (2005). How to get alive. Time Magazine April 4, 2005, Vol. 165, No. 13, New York, Oxford House 30th Floor Yap, J. E. (2011). Typhoon Sendong 200 killed, hundreds missing, villages in Cagayan de Oro City experience loss of loved ones, homes. Sun star, Cebu City, Vol. 30, No. 24, December 18, 2011, p. A22 B. Internet Sources Ball, J. (2005). Types of Volcanic Eruptions.Retrieved March 9, 2012.http://geology.com/volcanoes/types-of-volcanic-eruptions/ Chan, L. P. (March 15, 2011). 2011, the disaster year for earthquakes, tsunamis and other natural disasters. Retrieved January 29, 2012 from http://newsflavor.com/world/asia/2011-the-disaster-year-for-earthquakestsunamis-and-other-natural-disasters/#ixzz1kpRE3NfU Cavallo, E., (2010). Economics of natural disasters-a survey. Retrieved January 29, 2012 from http://www.iadb.org/res/publications/pubfiles/pubIDB-WP-124.pdf Evangelista, K. (2001). Ondoy Toll: 73 dead, more than 300,000 displaced by Ondoy. Retrieved February 2, 2012 http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090927-227130/51dead-280000-displaced-by-Ondoy Herring, David &Kermond, John. What is El Nio? Retrieved February 7, 2012 from http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/ElNino/ Impacts of natural disasters: a framework for loss estimation, indirect losses of natural disasters (1999). Retrieved February 2, 2012 from http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=6425&page=35
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