Help! Screamed the survivor underneath a pile of rubble as the hurricane rips through Visaya. The article “Philippines storm kills estimated 10,000 destruction hampers rescued effort” by Manuel Mogato and Rob Ng, from Philippines Suns, the storm Haiyan shred through the province of southern Philippines called Visaya, and destroying countless communities and engulfing survivors on mountains of concrete. Rescuers in Visaya are obstructed by the lack of infrastructure and equipment supply due to the destruction of the typhoon. In “Aid slow to reach Colombian town” by Bradley Graham, Washington Post, Graham discusses the obstacles provide aid to victim to Armero tragedy. The Red Cross had a tough time moving through the muddy terrain and rescuing survivors trapped alive under quicksand-like mud. In both situation, the rescuers were ill-equipped and had a tough time navigating the terrain, but Colombian victims experience a much more difficult tragedy as some have to accept death, and being abandoned by the rescuers.
Whoever was still alive after that devastating emergency was trapped under the massive layers of mud. The cries and screams of the living echo through the ruins of Armero. There was a lack of plan and organization to help victims of Armero, the Colombian government failed to react in time.. Unlike the Philippines, rescue missions are hit and miss due to the lack of organization and structure. Rescuers who were able to find survivors were ill equipped and often, the rescuing require machinery assistance. Unfortunate some survivors were abandoned due to the ill equipped rescuers, soften they are trapped under massive amounts of rubble. Efrain Gomez had a similar experience as described, he was trapped under his own house until a civil defense worker came for help, but had to abandon him for the next rescue group since he did not have the necessary equipment to save Efrain. The betrayal of trust of...
