Floods

The Munggo Speech
Mrs. De la Cruz. Friends. Classmates. Ladies and Gentlemen Good Morning!

Nature holds the future. What we do with it envisions an immutable
consequence immediately and unilaterally directed to us. In the words of George
Otwell, Who Controls the Present Controls the Past, Who controls the Past Controls
the Future Mankind as its caretaker holds the key to its prosperity. However, at our
current track, we consciously and continuously divert from our steads, that is, to
take care, vitalize, maintain and nurture the Earth. Otherwise we have doomed
ourselves to destruction and Im not being allegorical. Lets put things in to
perspective. We are making our planet sick. Think of the Earth as a host and us
humans the virus. When a host gets infected it heats up, likewise activates its
immune system to eliminate the virus. Otherwise, the virus intensifies and
overwhelms the host till it dies. Point here is, if we dont do something about the
state of nature as of now. There are only two things how this can go, either the
virus kills the host or the host kills the virus. Either way, the result is the same, the
virus dies. In simple terms, if we continue to devastate nature, man will suffer. If
nature gets back on us for the things done to it, man will suffer. Either way are
similar. Man suffer still.
In view of, and with great emphasis of the facts presented hereto, while
there exist an awful lot of environmental problems that need radical solutions to be
dealt with, lets try to focus and discuss something specific, that in our Philippine
setting, one we can truly relate to, that is, Flooding: its effects and causes.
My friends, mans ability to conquer almost all available resources sustained
by nature resulted to damaging consequence documented. For instance, exploiting
natures resources at a drastic rate caused radical and deadly climate changes. A
key component of flooding, for it feeds the same through massive rains, hurricanes,
etc. that brings extreme rate of water. The rate of water beyond the usual
ultimately result to flooding that affects the community per se, vegetation,
livestock, and health etc.
What then is the nature of floods?, if I may ask. Floods are the most
common hazard to cause disasters and have led to extensive morbidity and
mortality. The problem here is, its unavoidable. It is a natural occurrence, wherein
a piece of land that is usually dry, suddenly gets submerged under water. Some
occurs suddenly and recede quickly, others take days if not weeks before fully
receding. When floods happen it carries with it debris and health hazards that can
affect the people living in that area. As an added note, Floods can occur at irregular
intervals and may vary in size, and duration thereby heightening or reducing its
impact on the community concerned.
To get clear of, here are some common instances that can cause floods.
Topping the list is massive rains. Each time there are more rains than the drainage
system can take, for example, there can be floods. Sometimes, there is heavy rain
for a very short period that result in floods. In other times, there may be light rain
for many days and weeks and can also result in floods. Another is, over flowing
rivers. Rivers can overflow their banks to cause flooding. The most common reason
is, when there is more water upstream than the usual, causing water to flow heavily
to adjacent low-lying areas thereby causing floods. Last, are strong winds in coastal
areas. For instance, when typhoon Haiyan devastated the island of Leyte, Strong
winds pushed massive amount of water up shore flooding almost half of the entire
city of Tacloban.
Flooding too, can also cause health hazards in the community including:
death and injury, contaminated drinking water, hazardous material spills, increased
populations of disease-carrying insects and rodents, moldy houses, and community
disruption and displacement. As rains become heavier, streams, rivers, and lakes
can overflow, increasing the risk of water-borne pathogens flowing into drinking
water sources that can cause diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting,
headache, and fever.
The immediate impacts are damage to property, destruction of crops, loss of
livestock, and deterioration of health conditions owing to waterborne diseases as
mentioned earlier. As communication links and infrastructure such as power plants,
roads and bridges are damaged and disrupted, some economic activities may come
to a standstill, people are forced to leave their homes and normal life is disrupted.
Similarly, disruption to industry can lead to loss of livelihoods. Damage to
infrastructure also causes long-term impacts, such as disruptions to supplies of
clean water, wastewater treatment, electricity, transport, communication, education
and health care. Loss of livelihoods, reduction in purchasing power and loss of land
value in the floodplains can leave communities economically vulnerable.
With respect of, it should be that initiatives to combat these be available in
every societies in order that hazards caused by the subject be lessen if not
prevented. Humans cannot stop the rains from falling or stop flowing surface water
from bursting its banks because these are natural events, but we can do something
to prevent it from having great impact. Like improving drainage systems, coastal
defense walls etc. but the most important however, is discipline. In what sense? We
should try to control the way we exploit natures resources and try to be more
conservative. Take note, that a simple act of kindness and consideration can make a
difference. With that I rest my case.
Thank you!

Floods

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The Munggo Speech

Mrs. De la Cruz. Friends. Classmates. Ladies and Gentlemen Good Morning!

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