Typhoon Haiyan showed the entire world how vulnerable the Philippines as well as other developing countries are to natural disasters.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Nature did not gift us with a mighty Mekong like Thailand and Vietnam, with their vast and naturally fertile plains. Nature instead put our islands ahead of our neighbours in the path of typhoons from the Pacific.
Even before 9/11, the Philippines was already fighting terrorism in southwestern Philippines. That's why when 9/11 happened, we could understand the pain.
It is perfectly obvious that no one nor any single country can save the world from the horrors of tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes and winged influenza.
Very large scale disasters, especially those that have occurred in the developing world, have very long recovery periods.
Mr. Speaker, from hurricanes and floods in Latin America to earthquakes in Asia, natural disasters are increasingly becoming a regular feature of life for large numbers of people around the globe.
Fragile economies and weak infrastructures tend to worsen the results of climate disruptions, a problem exemplified by Bangladesh's vulnerability to monsoons, accelerating desertification in northern China, and, most visibly, Hurricane Katrina's devastation in New Orleans.
Every adverse development across the world affects the rest of the world in some way.
Environmental disaster is the gravest threat to China's continued development. That's according to me, but it is not some wacko view.
It's not natural disasters that are to blame for the deprivation of the North Korean people, but the failed policies of Kim Jong Il.
Events like Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy were unlike any weather disasters before. They showed the world who suffers the most from the impacts of extreme weather: low-income families and communities of color.
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