A study conducted by the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration shows the Earth’s sea surface temperatures. Notice the dark red portion on the right side of the map? There lies the hottest sea surface temperature. Notice which country lies right in the middle of it? Isn’t that our precious chain of 7,100 islands known as the Philippines? So what does this map mean?
Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: “Haiyan”) made landfall in southern Guiuan, Eastern Samar, at about 6 a.m. on Nov. 8, packing near-center maximum winds of 230 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 270 kph. It moved west-northwest at 35 kph and at about 8 a.m., it was some 100 km south of Tacloban City and Basey.
Last year I wrote about the destructive impact of Typhoon “Pablo” and the lessons we learned from that disaster (Inquirer, Dec. 22, 2012).
The Malacañang Museum tour is an immersion into Philippine history not accorded by books or Internet search. Collections of artifacts from the presidency of Emilio Aguinaldo to the present were curated for public viewing in the Presidential Museum and Library, currently housed in Kalayaan Hall.
In most parts of Barangay Sta. Cruz in Makati City, residents have been accustomed to pockets of flooding during heavy rains. “Whenever it rains really hard, the floodwater rises up to the gutter,” said Elisa Lopez, a 60-year-old resident of Montojo Street. Lopez noted that Barangay Sta. Cruz had sprawling rice fields half a century ago.
The magnitude 7.2 quake that hit Bohol on Oct. 15 frightened officials of a Makati City public school, which stands a few meters from the West Marikina Valley Fault.
Just over one-and-a-half years ago, I wrote a piece in this section about the magnitude 6.9 Eastern Negros Earthquake of Feb. 6, 2012. I ended that article by posing a question: “Where are the other blind faults?”
Centuries-old churches damaged or destroyed in Bohol and Cebu are among the casualties in recent earthquake. Conservation groups from here and abroad, the clergy, state historical, cultural agencies and local communities are joining hands to restore and rebuild them. Video by Ryan Leagogo/INQUIRER.net
As a 16-YEAR-OLD high school senior, I am aghast at some of our politicians who have been “stealing” money from the state coffers and, therefore, the Filipino people who pay their taxes.
The recent conflict in Zamboanga City shows that despite the final peace agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), hundreds of MNLF rebels have not been disarmed. Although thousands of MNLF ex-combatants have been integrated into the Army and police, a significant number have not been demobilized and continue to pose a threat to security and peace.
