I woke up early this morning to the frightening howling winds of Typhoon Rammasun (known in the Philippines as Typhoon Glenda). Power had also gone out, so there were no other sounds to distract me. I stayed in bed, listening to the strong winds (about 150-185 kph) buffeting our roof, our windows, the trees around our house. I was imagining our roof being torn away, letting the winds and rain into our house. I remembered Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) which had devastated many parts of the Visayan region of the Philippines in November 2013. If this Category 3 Typhoon Rammasun was scaring me this much, I couldn’t even begin to imagine how frightened those people were then Category 5 Typhoon Haiyan was wreaking havoc on their homes.
Typhoon Haiyan was a big wake-up call. Thanks to climate change, strong typhoons like these will likely pass through the Philippines every year. Even in the once thought to be unlikely places. Now, in wherever part of the Philippines we may live, we have to be prepared, and be prepared for the worst. Prepared for strong winds and heavy rainfall, flash floods and landslides, prolonged power outages.
And always keeping in mind, what can we do to help make our homes, our lives, our country more climate resilient? What can we do to save ourselves, our community, our environment?