The Philippines is not new to strong typhoons and earthquakes that happen to visit its archipelago yearly. Being situated in the typhoon belt and pacific ring of fire, Filipinos have been used to recovering after a destructive natural calamity since the early times. This precariousness caused by “what nature has to offer” led many Filipinos, both the “traditional” and the “scientific”, to create explanations about calamities’ origin and nature, varying from local myths and legends and biblical “explanations” to technical discourses about changing climate patterns and earth composition. With the advancement of technology, global capitalism, weakening state and rise of different platforms of mass and social media, discourses about their origins as well as global future proliferate and “problems” and “issues” multiply, magnified or marginalized. This condition bombards multiple audiences across the globe with different sorts of information that contribute to the formation of “informed” opinion to some while causing extensive malaise to many.
This seminar aims to contribute to the widespread effort of “informing” the public about disaster risk and preparedness, but unlike most of it coming from the vantage points of the natural and engineering sciences, this seminar will showcase what the social sciences and philosophy could offer in debates and analyses. The theme of the seminar is about religion in disasters and climate entropy. We believe that this is timely given the recent events that happened in the country. The damages incurred after Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) struck the Visayas and the recent magnitude 7.2 earthquake that hit Bohol and Cebu raised legitimate concerns about how prepared Metro Manila is if ever these natural calamities hit the region. Speakers in the seminar will try to assess not only the “natural” component of the phenomenon but also the “social.” They will be trying to explore and explain the role of human activities and social institutions in predicting, preparing, responding and/or preventing severe fatalities and casualties in times of disaster and climate entropy.
Manuel M. Muhi, D. Tech.
By PASR2014 in Uncategorized on November 25, 2013 .