Every typhoon which we get every so often, we seem to have never been boy scouts or girls scouts. Where did that “Be Prepared!” motto go? We seem to be always unprepared when winds start howling, whipping the rain on our walls, windows and roofs like millions of arrows from battalions of Roman infantry.
Take this latest super typhoon that just passed. Long before it hit our region it was repeatedly being announced through mainstream and social media that it will not be ordinary so take the necessary precautions against floods and landslides. Along with that were the speeds by which the storm will roar. Innumerable precautions were being announced to prevent houses or their parts from being blown away. Yet majority of those to whom these were intended seemed to have heard nothing.
And when the tempest settles down, so many roofs are strewn everywhere. To restore these would mean a lot of work and expenses. A pound of prevention could have saved tons of problems.
What would have the penny of prevention take? Not much. Some stones, hollow blocks, tires, or anything of considerable weight placed on top before the typhoon hit us could have done the trick. As always though, only a few took the precaution advisories to heart. Most of us ignored these, grandly under-estimating nature’s wrath at their own peril.
Others were great fans of the question, “Why fix it if it ain’t broke?” The results as we have seen so many times before can be fatal or serious. The muttering or repetition of the word “stupid!” as one climbs the roof on a stormy day, or worse at night, if only to ameliorate a really bad situation “ would be too late the hero.” And what can be worse than having a whole family huddled together and trembling for being wet and buffeted by rain and strong winds in a roofless house?
So next time, which might be just around the bend, be more alert, take precaution advisories to heart. For what you will save might not be just your house, but the lives and limbs of your family, and that . . . .includes you.**