Storm watch
Another typhoon is on its way. It's a super typhoon at one time thought to have the potential to be a Category 5. To put that into some perspective Hurricane Katrina was a Category 5 that hit Louisiana as only a Category 3. If worse comes to worse the last typhoon, Milyeno, won't even be in its league. As I'm sitting here wondering whether or not I should move to higher grounds I find it almost shocking that there is hardly any current up to the moment news of this super typhoon heading this way. After having over 1,000 people die due to Milyeno you think they would have some sort of 24 hour storm watch on one of the local channels. However, as I surf the channels right now there is absolutely no information on it. You kind of get the feeling that this storm is not even a concern of the Filipino people. In fact I can hear construction workers outside still working on the building next door. As I sit here waiting for this storm to rip through my province I find this nonchalant attitude so addicting.
The rest of the world, however, seems to be more concerned about this storm than the Philippines. Basically all the current information I have regarding the storm is coming from outside sources via the internet. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical & Astronomical Service Administration website with their Real-Time Weather forecast is 5 hours behind. The lack of current information made available to the public by this government is absolutely astonishing. My friend just seemed tossed this lack of available news aside as due to being in a "backwards" country but, even for a third world country as the Philippines getting urgent information to the people as in regards to this storm shouldn't be that difficult to do. In fact it should be a priority as it can help to save lives. With a lack of information one may even think there is nothing to worry about at all when there definitely is.
I just got news from another friend that the storm has already touched down on land an hour ago but as I surf my television channels I still find no current news on it. By the end of this storm I just wonder how many people will end up losing their lives due to ignorance and an incompetent Philippine government.
The rest of the world, however, seems to be more concerned about this storm than the Philippines. Basically all the current information I have regarding the storm is coming from outside sources via the internet. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical & Astronomical Service Administration website with their Real-Time Weather forecast is 5 hours behind. The lack of current information made available to the public by this government is absolutely astonishing. My friend just seemed tossed this lack of available news aside as due to being in a "backwards" country but, even for a third world country as the Philippines getting urgent information to the people as in regards to this storm shouldn't be that difficult to do. In fact it should be a priority as it can help to save lives. With a lack of information one may even think there is nothing to worry about at all when there definitely is.
I just got news from another friend that the storm has already touched down on land an hour ago but as I surf my television channels I still find no current news on it. By the end of this storm I just wonder how many people will end up losing their lives due to ignorance and an incompetent Philippine government.
posted by ducked at 6:30 PM
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2 Comments:
hmm... actually, news about the storm was given 3 days prior to the storm actually touching ground. and every night in the news, they do mention something about the storm in the weather forcast to warn the people to move to higher ground, if not, move to the nearby shelter constructed by the government.... you probably just missed it man.... furthermore, once the storm touches ground, with that kind of power, theres bound to be loss of electricity thus no TV. what you're left with are the batery operated radios.... so if you listen to the AM on radio, you'd hear about the storm non-stop. the TV gives reports about the storm every weather forcast and breaking news around 7am, 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 6pm, 10pm and 11pm. :D
I guess I missed some but what really seemed surprising was the down play of it. I mean most people did not seem to care about it at all even though they new it may go right thru their town. It was no small storm to blink an eye at. Over 500 people dead and they expect the toll to rise. Lucky the storm went out to see instead of heading up to Manila or there would have been a lot more people dead. One of my friends was heading back home from Manila when it was supposed to head his away in only a few hours and I'm sure he wasn't the only one traveling around. If it's only the AM radio and the 5 minute storm reports the show on TV to warn people of how bad it could really be they're doing a bad job because obviously not many people were getting the news. Out of all the people I knew here I would say not one of them knew how potentially dangerous that storm could be if it did head our way except for the one guy from Florida who was monitoring it's progress thru a Navy website.
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