Disasters in the Philippines

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mysticrose's picture
Disasters in the Philippines

Philippines is known as one of the most religious countries in this world. Despite of that fact, just recently, the country struggled too much from natural calamities and terrorism. The latest is the storm Haiyan which took away more than 10,000 lives. What can you say about these events?

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Rosemary Lei's picture
As a Filipino, I feel

As a Filipino, I feel terribly sad that my fellow Filipinos living in Visayas suffered like this. :( What makes me feel even sadder is the fact that I often hear other people say stuff like, "I don't think I can donate anything. I don't have enough money. I'll just pray for them because I know that God will take care of them." even the smallest of donations will be accepted and will be able to help! If, for example, every individual working/studying in my university will make an effort to donate something (any of the ff: Canned goods, instant noodles, medicine, purified water or a small amount of cash) and if we were to put together all these donations, then it would be such good help to those who are suffering right now.

But no. They think that prayers are enough. And that makes me really sad. I may be an atheist but I don't have any problem with seeing the people around me pray earnestly for the victims of the typhoon. I start having a problem with them when they refuse to do anything and leave it all to the hands of a god who, if ever he were actually real, is the one who caused this calamity. I start having a problem with them when they start being proud for the 'help' they've given our fellow Filipinos without even exerting an effort. :/ Fuck.

I just hope that the cash donations given by different countries will be used properly by our government officials and that we, the Filipino people, will wake up and help those who are in need.

Zaphod's picture
I hope for what you hope as

I hope for what you hope as well, I too get annoyed when people use praying to god as a cop out for doing anything more meaningful. Some of these people actually think it might help others are just coping out the only thing I think they have in common is that they are not helping the situation. this saddens me as well. a lot of people feel they simply can't help even though they would like to in such cases I think prayer is a coping mechanism.

Rosemary Lei's picture
Exactly! Although, I have to

Exactly! Although, I have to admit, I really can't blame these people who do this. The Filipino people have been raised to be religious, and it is already a part of our culture (praying). If only people from my country (and of course, all the other countries as well) would wake up and realize that religion won't be able to do anything, that would be great. :)

AnimalLeader's picture
Obviously being religions

Obviously being religions will not help you at all and it's the exact same for entire nations. Most extremnely religions countries and not doing very well.

Schibaka's picture
Maybe if like the goverment

Maybe if like the goverment would stop spreading horseshit (christianity) around, we would have a smarter world and less religion crap! ^,^

Zaphod's picture
What government are you

What government are you referring to, the Filipino government?

efpierce's picture
Are you talking about the

Are you talking about the government in the Philippines or in the many other countries who are sending aid to the people who need it most?

Zaphod's picture
That is some food for thought

That is some food for thought I would like to see some research done on this, I will probably get around to doing it myself when I get this ever changing mountain of things to do done.

SammyShazaam's picture
I think the Atheist Republic

I think the Atheist Republic has already compiled a lot of statistical demographics in the "tables" section. It's pretty interesting, and a fast read. The numbers speak for themselves.

Schibaka's picture
And ofc my condolences to the

And ofc my condolences to the Philippines

mysticrose's picture
I also hear sayings such as

I also hear sayings such as "God have a purpose for allowing such tragedy to happen". What can you say about it? Personally, even if god is real, I don't think he will purposely allowed such disaster. The world is designed to experience such calamities in the first place.

ginamoon's picture
Feel sorry for all the losses

Feel sorry for all the losses. The death toll is not over 10k yet but still lots of lives lost (5k+).
Natural calamities are part of living on earth and human might be a major contributor of abusing the nature and make these calamities worst.

efpierce's picture
It's true, there are always

It's true, there are always going to be natural disasters that we will have to contend with and all we can do is become better prepared for them.

mysticrose's picture
Some people prepare too much

Some people prepare too much by attending to their churches and disregarding practical advises from the expert. They totally trust that their god will attend to them in the middle of storm, earthquake and tsunami. It's so ironic to know that these people wasted their time to their religion and didn't listen to the the practical knowledge that they should know about natural disasters.

firebolt's picture
How does one's God let

How does one's God let something like this happen to a deeply religious country? We are talking total devastation to many parts of the Philippines and I would like to know what purpose that serves.

SammyShazaam's picture
I'm very sorry this happened

I'm very sorry this happened :( Stay safe, everyone in the Philippines!

I don't believe in God, but even if I did, I would know that he's done this to people over and over again throughout history. If he ever had a reason for any of the past atrocities, he probably has a reason for this one.

Still, I wish you the best of luck seeing beyond this, and seeing yourself through this.

ginamoon's picture
Also the location of the

Also the location of the Philippines in the Pacific ring of fire contributes to the number of storms it have experienced and will be experiencing. So true that what people can do is to be prepared and know where are the safe or safer zones during calamities.

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