Cabeza De Vaca Disaster

In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Well, by the time that Cabeza De Vaca returned with only three other passengers alive, everyone knew that, in the world, there would always be some rough times. Speaking of rough times, on October 15th of 2013, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake landed in Bohol, killing over 175 citizens. The local school for the children was destroyed, preventing an accurate education, and 50/250 homes were destroyed by the quake alone. Along with the 2211 aftershocks, 10 more homes went down, and of the less than 100 houses, none of them are even able to be inhabited. So we’ve heard about about dark times arising, and the history of one of the bloodiest natural disasters of the century, but what we haven’t heard about is everyone else. How did others respond in the wake of this disaster? Some of the others tried to help with donations, and the people trying to lead a normal life, while others are not helping, or you’re in the case where you can’t decide if they’re helping or hurting, quite like the government.
One way that the people are responding is through donations given. For example, the Red Cross Foundation has helped over 10,000 families, but what about the rest of these families (A and E)? How will they recover? Another donation given was from an
organization called Bangon (B). They provided a truck of relief goods (B). There wasn’t much information about this organization, so I don’t know if there were enough things for everybody. The last donations consisted more or less of food and water (All passages). Because of these donations, the people are benefitting, but though people are better, doesn’t mean that they have enough. More help is needed. Some things stated on this situation about donations are:
“Unknown benefactors who brought us relief goods-” -Edwin Pilongo Cuenca and “We have food and water, but it will not last long.” -Serafin Megallen.
My next point is the government, and if they’re actually helping. The president, President Aquino had said,
“I was given assurance there is no community that is not being taken care of.” (C)
I’d say that that is one of the reasons that the government is helping (C). Now, despite that, most people would say that the government is doing everything they possibly can, but I must disagree with these statements. If Bohol is clearly not thriving, then there must be something that they could do to improve. I mean seriously! That’s unfair treatment if you ask me. It’s like when you’re staring a puzzle, then not even finishing it. I mean, come on government! Quit spending your money on new highways in healthy places, and help some people who are only in need of houses, and money, and just the necessities like food or water. My last thing on this matter that, despite all of the bad things, they are putting some effort, such as putting people in temporary evacuation centres, but that’s about all that they’re doing (B). I can’t really tell if they’re even trying to put effort in, or if they’re just acting like it, but they’re definitely doing something. Some things quoted on the government situation are:
“No more Janet Napoles, please!” -Edwin Pilongo Cuenca (B).
My final reasoning is what the people of Bohol are doing to recover. Most of this is just trying to lead a normal life, but the hardships of it are simply horrible. To get their housing back, they put up tents, or canvases. The rest are either in temporary evacuation centres, or on the street (A). Some of the people evacuated to locations outside of Bohol (B). The last thing is that the children no longer are permitted to go to school. I don’t know what people are doing about that, but I thought that I’d bring it up. (A). Overall, the people physically can’t do anything. They still need a lot more help if they’re ever want to go back to the way that they were. Some things stated on this are:
“Evacuated to safer grounds like Tagbilaran City.”-Edwin Pilongo Cuenca (B).
So, the question is, how are others responding in the wake of the natural disaster.
People are responding through donations, lazy governments, and the citizens, trying to get by. In conclusion, people are not doing much. The people need a lot more help if they’re ever going to live normally again. My question for you is, what are you going to do? I don’t really know, and I can’t force you to do something, but at least when Cabeza De Vaca only brought home three passengers, he was still putting in a lot of effort to bring those three other passengers back. So the next time you have a bad day, think about these people, who haven’t just had a terrible day, but a terrifying three
years.