Why the casualties and destruction were not humongous
It was because of technology and our much easier access to it. Several days before Typhoon Lawin entered the Philippine Area Responsibility (PAR), its potency to cause heavy destruction was being aired by the international TV channels. The local ones followed suit, echoing findings of reliable weather forecasters such as those of the USA, Japan and even CNN. And their forecasts were on the spot.
Perhaps we have now passed the time when what PAG-ASA said was the opposite of what would happen. If they said we would be experiencing a storm of Signal No. 3 category we would even end up having the smiling sun shining bright. So much so that whatever PAG-ASA said was the butt of jokes.
Contributory to the straightening up of PAG-ASA was when then PNoy fired all the officers and personnel there for committing what they always did, making forecasts that were so off the mark. The result was the fired people’s heaving and hawing regarding the outdated and unreliable equipment PAG-ASA had then. But they should have done that even decades before. Yet they could not be totally blamed for that as the Philippines then was not known for having cutting edge equipment or technology. Any demand for such by any government official would have made him stick out like a sore thumb. For the rule in government was outdated and unreliable equipment, thus unreliable results. Generally, competence then in government was almost nowhere to be found. Isn’t it still?
Now, even if we don’t have state of the art technology at PAG-ASA, we have access to the very reliable forecasts of other countries and outfits. And we and the government are taking advantage of these to the hilt.
So warnings were out days before Typhoon Lawin had any effect on us. We were on notice long before D-day that any lack of preparation could only be blamed on us. The good news was most of us prepared for we knew the forecasts were not a joke. It was not like those of PAG-ASA in the past.**
