I recently had a conversation with a friend who's one of those working for the relief and rehab of Sendong victims in CDO and Iligan.
He said there are already a total of 7 persons who committed suicide due to intolerable depression following the loss of their loved ones and the subsequent suffering and the seeming hopelessness they have gone through at the evacuation centers. Shortage of medicine, food and psycho-social support are among the immediate needs of the victims.
Meanwhile, the group of my friend made a study on the causes of Sendong. The causes of Sendong, the study says are: destruction of watershed in Bukidnon-Cagayan-Lanao Sur areas due to logging (mainly legal), quarrying, mining, destructive farming practices and overexpansion of dole, del monte farms and others.
Because of this, the experts have issued warnings many years back to LGUs and other concerned agencies of the looming disaster these so-called "development" projects posed to the communities. And as usual, the warnings that stemmed from studies remained in the papers buried somewhere in the government offices.
Maybe those warnings were among the stack of trash that mixed with the mud when Sendong unleashed its fury.
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