Recently I had a dialog with blogger Elizz about the ability to take precautionary measures in different nations. Actually we have a flood disaster in Germany again, so let me reblog our dialog …:
title=”Men up to their waists in water creating a boardwalk by gordon.b.anderson, kindly sent to my group BLOG IT!, click on the picture to enter his galleries on Flickr.com
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so here is our dialog:
1 elizz
it’s almost the start of rainy season here in my country, and when it rains streets get flooded so easily.. maybe you’ve read in the news the tragedies that struck the Philippines when super typhoon visits us.. so many lives lost and houses destroyed…
2 frizz
2011 I wrote about flood in Thailand – it seems to be a never-ending problem every year again in Asia? Thailand flooding
3 elizz
thank you for the link.. that’s how the streets of Manila looks like during rainy season.. yes so true, it’s a never-ending problem.. the government is blaming the people being so irresponsible for just throwing garbage everywhere.. they say it’s because plastic is clogging the waterways that’s why a lot of cities in the metro has a ban of using plastic bags at the grocery, dept stores, malls, etc.. well, that’s just one of the solutions.. so many things should still have to be done.
4 frizz
maybe there are some more reasons … P.S.: I followed speechless the statements of the officials in Japan after the Fukushima disaster – we have the same politicians in Germany – but not a strong nature fighting vs. us via tornadoes, hurricanes and tsunamis – but: most expensive damage is made by over-flooding rivers … (no one talked about plastic bags here…)
5 elizz
yes there are some more reasons but every time the waterways are cleaned up there they are.. plastic in the sewers.. in other areas, the govt says that overflooding of rivers is mainly because of denuding of forests..
No one talked about plastic bags in your country? probably because you reuse and recycle and maybe you have a very systematic way of addressing the garbage problem..
6 frizz
we try to avoid conflicts by making plans and changes. So we quit nuclear energy in Germany after disputing the Fukushima disaster – a consequence not discussed in Japan – we changed to off-shore wind parks – but on the other hand we now have to pay for electricity much more than before!
7 elizz
how i wish drastic changes be made to prevent disasters here in my country.. and i applaud your country for doing that.. electricity coming from natural resources, how cool is that!! you know our nuclear power plant was mothballed in 1986 due to safety concerns, even before it could begin operations. It’s now dilapidated and outdated and eaten by rust.
8 frizz
eaten by rust – we have to change something, if we want to make it better – [photo =] old factory with bad conditions for workers, now eaten by rust …
9 elizz
I think that’s how our nuclear power plant looks like now.. but you know, when i went to zambales last year, i passed by Bataan (where it’s located), it still looks good from the outside with well-kept high fence.. anyway, here’s something interesting to read about the plant
a monument to pinoy stupidity the bataan nuclear power plant
P.S., Frizz:
I’ll never will forget my friend Wolfgang, who posed for a photo after a flood had ruined his house:
selfportrait 30 – after the big rain photo by wolfgangfoto –
the photographer Wolfgang Hermann, Austria, wrote as a comment to his self-portrait:
a big rain destroyed my home, at first i saw this as a bad luck, because i lost a lot, now i know, it was a good luck, because i got the chance to have a new begin with less things
related:
1 – my article
https://flickrcomments.wordpress.com/2013/05/31/type-of-resistance/
2 – blogger Elizz:
http://starlight427.wordpress.com/
3 – actually flood in Germany:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/continuous-rain-leads-to-flooding-and-deaths-in-germany-a-903145.html
Flickr Comments 
I like Wolfgang’s mentality and positivity haha. And yes… Philippine infrastructure can be that lacking… dare I say stupid
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I don’t think I have the strength, at my age… but sometimes a new beginning is very good…
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I like your friend Wolfgang’s philosophy. With an attitude like this you can look forward instead of in the past.
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Years later i see the flood accident in the same manner, but i built a wall against the possible next flood and so I escaped indeed another flood last year. With the extreme weather now i made the wall higher to protect my home. It is a scurill situation because my house stands on a hill far away from a river. The great flood came allways from the sky.
Sometimes i joke that a new flood should come to reduce all the things around us on the minimal necessary level. The maximal minimal level is the life.
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I’m sure it takes extraordinary to endure the disaster and to face the new beginning. Thank you for sharing the story. Have a nice weekend, Frizz!
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Again, so many important points to think about. My town along with several others in the area have banned plastic bags because of their damage to the environment.
Lisa
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Interesting conversation…in the US many grocery stores charge people $.05 per plastic bag to encourage people to use cloth. Unfortunately many people see this charge as very small so they continue to use them. Plastic bags are also a concern for wildlife too…animals get them caught on their necks…
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i hope you’re not anywhere near the flooding frizz.. oh well.. it’s a common sight here in my country during the rainy season..
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I’m on a hill…
50 death toll in Manila?
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that’s great! 🙂
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Wolfgang echoes the feelings of many who have lost everything in Oklahoma. Things can be replaced … loved ones cannot. There is a tremendous strength in people who can be strong like this.
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Flooding of homes and towns is such an important issue, Frizz, so thanks for raising it. Whether it’s caused by rising oceans as in the Maldives or cutting down forests (everywhere) or building on flood plains, or in places with antiquated drainage, you can be fairly sure that the prime movers behind many of problems will not be the ones being flooded. Even our little ancient town of Much Wenlock (http://www.muchwenlockguide.info/) is affected. Our drainage system was designed for a medieval settlement, but the local landowner wants to build and build – and not houses that local people can afford, but large exec. homes with multiple bathrooms to add to the drainage problem. In 2007 over 50 homes, including some of the new ones, were flooded from a bad rainstorm and the flash-flooding that the drains could not cope with, nor the ground absorb because of all the increased tarmac where once there was farmland.
Now we have had terrible floods in Europe, and this could well be the pattern for years to come as the climate becomes more erratic. When will authorities learn to work with the environment rather than serving only corporations and share-holder expectations? This is probably a ‘big ask’ as they say.
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“… Our drainage system was designed for a medieval settlement, but the local landowner wants to build and build – and … homes with multiple bathrooms to add to the drainage problem…”
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