My question is: how could they have prepared with food and water when their homes are washed away? They had plenty of notice and are in an area where severe storms are commonplace. Would burying a stash of food/water work when so much soil is washed away?
Of course many were so poor, they wouldn’t have any extra money to stash food/water.
Why wouldn't they have preps when storms, according to a thread yesterday, hit the islands 3 times a year? Generation after generation after generation has known forever that another storm is always on the horizon yet it seems no one prepares for it. Fine, they're poor but they aren't so poor that they can't constantly repair their huts. It doesn't take much effort to salvage building materials from brick and cinder block building debris from buildings that are being remodeled normally or those damaged by a storm to build your family a more sturdy home. There have been reports of tvs and such being looted so it's not just food. It's Katrina all over again. If they can loot tvs, they can certainly cart home useful trash to make their families safe/safer.
Roads are still there so there wasn't that much soil washed away so there's no reason they can't bury a stash. Granted, the water level would probably mean a shallow hole but there are ways to protect it for a short period of time. They have plenty of warning of bad weather so a week out wouldn't cause buried canned goods to rust. There will be plastic sheeting and plastic buckets thrown away after all the repairs and construction post-typhoon, so that's free materials for longer term stashes.
Just like in America, just because you're poor doesn't mean you have to be stupid and sit on the couch all day like so many tend to do. Being poor doesn't mean you can't be boy scout prepared or grow a garden. Here, I had several days warning of the first freeze of the year last night so went out and picked the garden rather than leave it to rot. From what I understand, fruit trees grow wild in the Philippines so there's no reason mothers couldn't have sent the kids out to pick fruits and vegetables to wrap and bury before the storm hit.
Last I heard, there are fish in the ocean. Sure, the fish might not be biting the first couple days after a storm but by day three there should be fish and sea creatures. No, you don't need a boat to drop a line. I'm not Gilligan but I think I'd be able to patch a hole in one of those damaged boats if my kids were hungry. And, if I'm not mistaken, fish swim around in water. Surely, some neighbor or relative remembers how to desalinate ocean water. I'm not just talking about this storm of the century but every storm they've had generation after generation.
So, instead of 10,000 dead bodies on the streets in one town, there might only be a couple thousand but they'll take aid for the full 10,000. Prayers for the dead and injured. Yesterday, a woman was complaining when "you" are going to bury them. Well, la te da. How about she stop griping and help out. There have been reports of staged photo ops of the dead which there is no excuse for. Yes, it is devastating there but there are far too many exaggerations and too much bs.