After the Tragic Flood of Pangi River

A destructive trail of the flood...

It was a Wednesday morning of June 29, 2011 when I encountered a heavy traffic in an intersection just before the Pangi Bridge.  During a stop, I asked a local resident of what seemed to be the problem.  He just had one answer “baha (flood)”.  I then realized as I passed by the ruins left by the flood that the Pangi River overflowed.  For the Pangi River to overflow there must had been a massive amount of water considering the length and height of the bridge from the river.  And it would spell disaster...

Upon reaching the office, I searched the net for any news of the incident and my suspicion was confirmed, a flashflood hit the villages in Matina Crossing and Matina Pangi Tuesday night, more or less at 11 o’clock  in the evening, leaving a couple of people dead which were mostly children.  I just can’t imagine the horror, a flood came rushing at a moment when everyone’s asleep, with total darkness (since the power was shutdown and rainclouds covering the skies)... and everyone was in shock, nothing of this happened as far as I remember being here in Davao.  It would be not that easy to say, don’t panic or have a presence of mind... though definitely, your instincts will come in to work... but you just can only do so much.

It’s been days since the tragedy happened.  As I passed again by the bridge, I see people slowly returning to their usual activities and rebuilding their houses.  A great thing about a disaster is after it, you’ll see people helping the affected ones.  Institutions and groups facilitate fund raising activities and accumulate donations for those who suffered losses and in need.

The Pangi River runs calmly now but the ruins it created is evident around the place.

There was also this incident where a local public official was reported punching a sheriff a couple of times in the face for not granting her request to delay a court order.  We can understand that there are government officials who are in a lot of stress especially with the problem faced by the city due to the flooding and they might had every right to be angry with their employees or colleagues for not following them (considering their authority or jurisdiction) or not doing good or did something wrong in the performance of their job, but with due respect, it does not give them the right to hurt and humiliate anyone.  If the person made a mistake, then he must be reprimanded of what was due to him.

It’s a tough time, and the least we need is being carried away by our emotions.  Let’s stretch our patience and understanding.  Easy for me to say, yes, it’s not easy, but it’s the proper thing to do.  People must concentrate in rebuilding their homes and accepting what was lost... Even more, we need to focus in helping those greatly affected.  Christian as we are, we should follow the ways of our Savior as humanly possible, not just in the time of crisis but in our daily lives.  May Yahweh always bless us with the strength to do so.