It was distressing to hear of Typhoon Ondoy\u2019s strike on the Philippines. I was particularly upset because, only days before it hit, I had arrived from a holiday there with my partner, daughter and mother-in-law. I felt relieved and grateful, but also somewhat guilty. We got home safe and sound, while the people we left (behind) had no escape.<\/p>\n
On an internet blog, I found this picture of a rescuer who was carrying a dead child covered in mud. I couldn\u2019t help but cry. She didn\u2019t look much older than my own.<\/p>\n
I watched on youtube and the Filipino news of the floodwaters and people trying to escape and kept thinking to myself \u201cthat could\u2019ve been us\u201d.<\/p>\n
There were questions that ran around in my mind, \u201cAre they getting enough help?\u201d \u201cHow can they re-build everything?\u201d \u201cWill they be okay?\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t enough to look to government officials and the media for answers. I wanted to hear alternative answers.<\/p>\n
Michael Reynolds is a \u2018biotect\u2019 (earth-friendly architect) who has designed sustainable infrastructure since the 1970\u2019s. His company has constructed safe buildings from recycled materials and materials found natural to the land, all around the world.<\/p>\n
There have been teams to help aid in disaster relief such as the tsunami that struck in South East Asia in 2004.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>It has been documented that these bio-structures are strong enough to withhold stronger forces than conventional infrastructure.<\/p>\n They are able to collect and recycle water, as well as generate electricity from wind and solar power. This could be an effective start to rebuilding the Philippines.<\/p>\n However, funding is needed to send relief effort, so please contact us if you can help. For more information on these sustainable structures, send an email to kbase@earthship.net<\/a> or visit the website at www.earthship.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n ? Maria M., Plumpton, NSW.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It was distressing to hear of Typhoon Ondoy\u2019s strike on the Philippines. I was particularly upset because, only days before it hit, I had arrived from a holiday there with my partner, daughter and mother-in-law. I felt relieved and grateful, but also somewhat guilty. We got home safe and sound, while the people we left […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}