Name: Clark Bench Pareja

Project Given: Feature Writing (This is NOT ai generated. This is PURE WORK.)

What is something really unpredictable? Is it our emotions as human beings? The outcome of a situation
you created? Or is it Death? NO. It is Mother Nature. Although you can tell what’s going to happen, ypu
cant predict nor know what WILL happen and this applies to everything that us, human beings, has gone
through and all the questions I asked earlier all apply to Mother Nature being completely unpredictable.
Death is a force nature but nature itself but Death is NOT our topic but the damage, pain, grief, and
trauma Mother Nature has given us.

Im pretty sure every last one of all of you here know of Super Typhoon Yolanda, because if we were to
count the lives it claimed, it would be thousands but there are still bodies that have still not yet have
been found so its safe to say that it would at least exceed 5000 or so it is said but the question is, how
do THEY feel after being hit by devastating storm. I have collected interviews of people who
encountered, feared, and survived Yolanda:

Firstly, TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines — Inside a house originally built for pigs and chickens, Lerma
Maceda grabs three bags.

The first is packed with a set of neatly-rolled emergency clothes, the second has important documents
and papers for work, and the third has blister packs of medicine for first aid.

For her family, this is the best disaster preparation they can practice for typhoons.

Maceda is one of the over 4 million people displaced by Supertyphoon Yolanda in 2013. While
thousands have already been given relocation sites, she is one of the less fortunate residents still waiting
for a new home.

Originally a resident of the Downtown area, one of the busiest centers in Tacloban, Maceda moved to a
house in the Anibong district closer to the sea. Stilts keep the floor of her house above the water. "I
don't sleep at night when there are typhoons or during high tide. I have to watch if the water will reach
our floor," she said.

Eight years after 'Yolanda', one of the strongest cyclones recorded in history, survivors still face issues on
resettlement as well as lack of livelihood and access to basic social services such as running water and
electricity.

Second interview: This statement was from a very close friend of mine. He stated that experiencing
Yolanda was TERRIFYING. He and his family were victims of this Super Storm, he even stated that “I saw
a family on top of the roof of their house but the rescue team couldn’t do anything since the tides were
strong so in the end, we saw them drown”. That sent shivers down my spine knowing that you cant do
anything to save someone because it was basically impossible to get through the tides but watching
Name: Clark Bench Pareja
Project Given: Feature Writing (This is NOT ai generated. This is PURE WORK.)

them drown? That would be traumatic. Although I tried to gather more interviews, it was the same as
the first interview, they said “We were relocated but that doesn’t mean that ALL of us were, some are
still struggling to even afford daily necessities even though Yolanda was 12 Years Ago, there are still
difficulties left behind by the typhoon. We also want to be relocated but the government still hasn’t
finished the housings needed by the victims and till this day, we still grief after losing our loved ones, we
were not ready for what happened that time.” I have a question for all of us, who is to blame? The
people who were ignorant even though they were warned? PAGASA not knowing that there was going
to be a storm surge? Or the Government because they were to busy with the election that were taking
things way too lightly just because we always get hit by typhoons? NO, we were all to blame, not
because we lacked the knowledge but because WE all were too ignorant and even though we were
warned, we didn’t take it seriously and same applies to PAGASA, knowing that it was our first time
experiencing a storm surge, we could have prevented, no rather, we could’ve prepared for it better and
the government that did lightwork still can’t help the survivors of Yolanda till this day. We people are
ignorant because we face typhoons 20 times a year and that’s just the average number also that makes
us think that “This is gonna be like the other typhoons, it won’t be that bad since I faced many already”
and that includes us from Visayas and Mindanao. Just because typhoons always go up to the Northern
Hemisphere, doesn’t mean that the possibility of being hit by a typhoon and I always think to myself
why are we like this but if explained why, it’ll take a long time to properly explain it. So, how can we
really know that mother nature is gonna hit us with another Super Typhoon? We cant but that doesn’t
mean we cant avoid being caught up in it and please don’t take anything I said seriously just now, I don’t
want people hating on me for no good reason.

So, is it just common sense to just not know anything beforehand? NO, even though that Mother
Nature is the most unpredictable out there doesn’t mean we cant avoid anything that will be thrown at
our faces just cause. There are chances, instances, ways for us to avoid being this desperate, ways for us
to be better that we were once were when we faced something that was manually made by Nature and
just threw It at us with no warning but we can avoid things like this, we just need to more responsive to
things and be more observant, not only to ourselves but for other people as well.

I remind all of you that although we have faced a calamity greater than before doesn’t mean we cant
stand back up and fight back, WE, human beings are capable of anything, even if Mother Nature is
against us.