How com the Phillipines were so unprepared?

[mistermack]

I feel sorry for the people. But I don't understand how people aren't more ready, when they know that a huge storm is going to hit them.
The Phillipines get about twenty typhoons every year. And it's obvious that it's possible that a big one will come.
If I was living there, I would at the minimum have some drinking water stored. How hard can that be?

I like spring water, and I keep up to seven 25 litre containers full of spring water in my garage at any one time. I get it free from the famous Malvern springs.
Large plastic containers are used all over the world, how hard would it be to dig a few into your garden, if a storm was brewing? You could easily store enough drinking water for a few months. And much the same applies to food.
You could bury some plastic sacks of rice, and some tins. And you know that there will be plenty of firewood around after a big storm.
I know I don't live there, but I know what I would have done, if a huge storm was coming.

[pErvinalia]

Everything was flattened. It would be hard to dig stuff out, let alone find it after an event like that. The reality is that the Phillipines is a very poor country. Natural disasters are particularly devastating for poor people.

[mistermack]

Everything was flattened. It would be hard to dig stuff out, let alone find it after an event like that. The reality is that the Phillipines is a very poor country. Natural disasters are particularly devastating for poor people.

No, everything was damaged, but not all flattened. I've just been watching people going through what's left of their houses. No problem finding it. Or digging stuff up. Especially if you buried your spade.
Better than having nothing to eat or drink.
And the Phillipines is poorer than the west, but I'm talking about stuff that you're going to have to buy anyway, not extra expense.
I expect that plenty of people DID do what I suggested, to some degree anyway. It's not rocket science.

On the BBC ten seconds ago, a BBC idiot just said, ''people here are saying that no food aid has arrived'' as people were walking past him with huge sacks on their backs, which he said were rice and noodles.

Not a hint of irony.

[klr]

Most people poor, can't afford more than a day or two's spare food most of the time.
Most people living in very cheap and flimsy housing (relative to the power of the typhoon).
Most people living near the coast.
Very difficult to move people to safety en masse at short notice.

[mistermack]

Plenty of dogs running around.

They look well fed. I'd be quite tempted to sample a bit of dog, if I was feeling peckish.

[pErvinalia]

Probably got rabies.

[Clinton Huxley]

The UK grinds to a halt if a snowflake lands in Kensington.

[FBM]

How com the Philistines were so unproofread?

[pErvinalia]

Speaking about eating dog..

[Clinton Huxley]

Give the UK a bad winter, technical problems at only one power station and the power will go off. 5 minutes after that we will be eating each other's giblets. Raw.

[Tero]

The Philippines does not have drinkable water coming out of faucets. So they haul it normally. So unless all containers are gone...

Send the boy scouts/army drinking water tablets.

[mistermack]

The Philippines does not have drinkable water coming out of faucets. So they haul it normally. So unless all containers are gone...

Send the boy scouts/army drinking water tablets.

Well, that's exactly what I do. I get my drinking water from twenty miles away, in 25 litre containers. The sort that you get in water coolers in offices.
I was looking at tv pictures just now, of a guy using a home-made raft in a flooded area.
It's floats were 25 litre plastic barrels, so there are plenty available over there.

[FBM]

Speaking about eating dog..

Dunno what yer gettin' at there.

[mistermack]

I just looked online, to find out if much of the Philippines had tap water.
They do, except in the poorest places. But most local people don't drink it.
There are three classes of water over there. Tap water, which they use for washing.
Distilled water, which is cheap and widely available. Most people drink that. They have ATMs, which are not cash machines, they are distilled water machines. It's cheap, and you just put money in and get distilled water out.
Then there is bottled water, which is expensive, and usually only drunk in restaurants.

People don't trust the tap water, but the distilled water is cheap. Many people buy it in 25 litre barrels, like I use.
So you would think that a lot of people would have a barrel or two in the house.

Interestingly, the europeans on the site generally said that they drank the tap water with no problems, but the locals don't drink it.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/t ... ID=2356172

[Svartalf]

The Philippines does not have drinkable water coming out of faucets. So they haul it normally. So unless all containers are gone...

Send the boy scouts/army drinking water tablets.

USS George Washington did just that this morning.