Natural Disasters, Ecological Knowledge, and COVID-19 in the Philippines

Sir, According to the Global Climate Index, Honduras is classified as one of the nations most vulnerable to natural disasters in the world. It was the scene of the hurricanes in 1974 (Fifi) and 1988 (Mitch), 1 which have been the most catastrophic weather events that have affected the country, causing human losses, material, economic, and health damages. It took many years and great resources for the reconstruction, which is still incomplete. In November 2020, Honduras became the scene again: two major weather events had occurred in less than two weeks, causing incalculable damage that is still being accounted for (Table 1). The hurricanes Eta and Iota devastated the country (Figure 1), already affected during the last nine months by the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in Honduras. By November 29, 2020, the national system of health (SINAGER) reported 107,513 confirmed cases and 2,905 deaths. 2 Besides, the country’s economy has been plunged into a severe crisis by this pandemic and will undoubtedly be aggravated by recent natural disasters. When a decline in the curve of reported COVID-19 cases was finally expected, the new events place the already vulnerable country in an almost impossible situation. At the end of October 2020, the formation of hurricane Eta was announced, a Category 5 hurricane, which would affect the lands of Nicaragua and Honduras. This event caused flood damage in some areas that have the highest reported COVID-19 cases. Some of the victims were refugees in roughly 1,000 shelters with little or no biosecurity measures. Others continue on the streets, along rivers, under bridges, and other public places where the health crisis will worsen. The resurgence of dengue complicates the situation and is endemic in Honduras. Currently, the Health Information Platform for the Americas reported a total of 23,444 cases with a mortality rate of 0.1 per 100,000 population by dengue. 3,4 Table 1. Comparison of Damages During Four Major Hurricanes in Honduras Hurricane Consequences Fifi * (1974) Mitch** (1998) Eta *** (2020) Iota **** (2020) Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale Category 2 Category 5 Category 4 Category 5 Hurricane Scale when Entering Honduras Tropical Depression Category 1 Tropical Depression Tropical Depression Deceased Between 5000-8,000 5,657 74 14 Affected People 500,000 1,500,000 3,011,760 664,590 Missing People ND 8,058 8 1 Evacuated People 130,000 285,000 179,136 184,626 Hostels ND 1375 1000 ND Sheltered People 130,000 285,000 86,228 86,570 Recued People ND 112,272 89,665 ND Affected or Damaged Homes 12,500 50,000 26,828 19,372 Destroyed Homes 3,000 66,188 60 29 Affected Roads ND 107 173 87 Damaged Schools 162 2,800 rooms of schools in primary education 8 2 Damaged Bridges 120 More than 200 43 19 Destroyed Bridges 18 189 32 13 Emergency Aid to Honduras USD 2,271,980 USD 38,000,000 USD 9,000,000 ND Post-Climate Event Diseases DysenteryTyphoidMalaria Gastrointestinal infections:Cholera (3 cases)Leptospirosis (172 cases) ND ND Data Sources: * https://repositorio.cepal.org/bitstream/handle/11362/15031/S7400458_es.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y (Access December 1, 2020); http://cidbimena.desastres.hn/ri-hn2/pdf/doch0014/doch0014.htm (Accessed December 1, 2020). ** http://cidbimena.desastres.hn/ri-hn/pdf/spa/doc12140/doc12140-contenido.pdf (Accessed November 30, 2020); http://cidbimena.desastres.hn/ri-hn/pdf/spa/doc12921/doc12921-a.pdf (Accessed November 20, 2020). *** https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Honduras%20-%20Huracanes%20Eta%20e%20Iota%2020Reporte%20de%20situaci%C3%B3n%20No.%2020%20%2822-11-2020%29%201700%20h.pdf (Accessed November 30, 2020); https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/SitRep%204%20Tormentas%20ETA%20IOTA%20Honduras%202020.pdf (Accessed November 30, 2020). **** http://sigmof.icf.gob.hn/?page_id=7546 (Accessed November 20, 2020); https://www.oncenoticias.hn/galerias-el-paso-arrasador-de-los-huracanes-mitch-y-fifi-en-honduras/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=dc82a5fd7b0cb0ee6cd1527ccfb00a71041da1db-1606673591-0 XyaHF9vxi_rPHR1BXLT1EAV8EMhs_Aix0W6i59TjJPPaLeALhzrBaOt4w09gzIgiC1HjyeriPMYxY2GAs_G92SCZ1gM6tq3yqthwarHMo2hzXRasg0D1EF3rVAfa0c1mGB41Nl8dh3aC3UmQA5xamnn6V5HdIWiS-QsIjAwYimMTJY8pVUZWj9ANGPd05yxhQmCg7q45AOkzodP2JsUqmuC_uuEtUhbNal8XGKVtG4r4nro39OVYYgkBvMEC8EFW9jQ7AgDGr0mXxbIqA44YD_-7u2VYNnv8xKM8m0M-pM1SkhEHyirwiPqEFMlYYwwjL9qZUhZcANLPKoDRnnJBDO33n1nJo6AEg_Lxjssv67XJ5gdlpQnvaBSW51v5b2_EwrbAk46B4bJ2qyT9TA_3xM (Accessed November 20, 2020); Mitch: http://cidbimena.desastres.hn/ri-hn/pdf/spa/doc11026/doc11026-1.pdf (Accessed December 1, 2020); https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-54965248 (Accessed December 1, 2020). ND: No Data Available. Figure 1. Hurricane Iota Arriving to the Coasts of Central America on November 16, 2020. Source: Open Meteorological Platform Windy (https://www.windy.com/?13.646,-83.046,8). It is expected that the emerging diseases that usually appear after these climatic phenomena will appear (arboviruses, leptospirosis, malaria, cholera, a considerable increase in dermatological diseases, and an increase in psychological disorders). Not to mention all the acute and chronic pathology that usually occur in the country, which is managed inefficiently. 5 Although the floods caused by the overflowing of the rivers have caused most of the damages, the supersaturation of the soils with possible landslides will increase material losses. 6 The reports of the Secretary of Agriculture about losses or affectations in around 374,000 acres in essential grain crops, such as banana, sugar cane, citrus, cocoa, rambutan, among others, are concerning. 7 Also, human losses and deterioration in living conditions in the affected population are reaching threatening levels. To this day, it is difficult to measure the current and future consequences on the socio-economic development of the country, in this uncertain scenario the increase in health demand in an already collapsed health system in the face of the summation panorama: COVID-19, emerging infections, endemic diseases, common diseases, plus two major natural disasters, turn this situation into a humanitarian crisis without precedent in the history of Honduras. The aftermath of the floods and the probable rebound in COVID-19 cases should alert us not to give up and increase biosecurity measures as much as possible and provide social assistance to more than one million people affected and thousands more at risk in Honduras and other countries of Central America. 8,9 The challenges for the future are innumerable and of great magnitude, the leadership of the different experts in each area is required to be able to solve in a logical, harmonious, fair, and efficient way the situation on all fronts, probably being: health, education, economy, infrastructure, and the severe problem of insecurity being the main ones. It is not an easy task that must be accomplished quickly; otherwise, the consequences for the country are unpredictable.

The current pandemic crisis covers piling problems ranging from global to local economic, sociological, and health concerns. The total number of cases worldwide are already nearing 5 million as of the 19th of May 2020. 1 To confront this, Amartya Sen 2 says that statistics ‘may have to be very seriously supplemented by more involved scrutiny of how people comprehend and appreciate what is happening to them and to their near ones, and also the social influences that affect these realisations. Rightly, the editors of the journal describe the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as a ‘disaster’ that must take into account ‘other vulnerable groups’ that ‘are at greatest risk.’ 3 It is crucial to draw from this and reflect on the fact that past problems of vulnerability in specific situations are still there. Although local policies are constantly planned and crafted to these ends at the moment, ethical paradigms concerning public health and social development should attend to these vulnerabilities more specifically. One of the reasons for this is that all-too-often, ‘ethics can be […] irrelevant to local moral worlds,’ so that ‘public health and social development elides the local and in its place creates inauthenticity, mediocentrism, and otiose public health practices.’ 4 There is, of course, ‘no complete taxonomy of vulnerabilities’ but natural – increased risk from biology – and socially situated – contingent social and economic – vulnerabilities can inform an emergency ethics where, in an attempt to localization, will not discount the possibility of ‘increased vulnerabilities’ – a result of both ‘natural factors and contingent social arrangements such as economic disadvantage.’ 5 Moreover, economic disadvantage is considered as the ‘largest source of vulnerability,’ which can substantiate the other in ‘other vulnerable groups’ as it may potentially give rise to ‘a new group marked by heightened vulnerability as a result of some unanticipated event.’ 6 In the middle of May, Typhoon Ambo (International Name: Vongfong) hit Samar, Philippines, where Eastern Samar (2nd), Northern Samar (9th), and Western Samar (10th) form part of the top 10 poorest provinces in the country. 7 As Vongfong brings heavy to extreme rains and damaging winds, Eastern Samar as the ground zero for the landfall – the town of Arteche being the hardest hit – suffers all the more from its economic disadvantage. With approximately 140,000 displaced under what is described as a ‘Yolanda Jr.,’ the typhoon materialized a situation that was described as a ‘double whammy’ because, in the words of the provincial governor: ‘we are also facing this COVID-19 crisis.’ 8 Needless to say, the overlapping of the pandemic crisis to natural disasters creates a special case of vulnerability. With this kind of arrangement, casualties still seem to be inevitable amid local disaster risk policies. As of the 18th of May, 5 have been reportedly dead and 50 were injured. 9 Cramped evacuation sites make the protocol of social distancing difficult. In 2011, Marcel Verweij lists some historic examples of infectious disease control, including the relatively new term ‘social distancing.’ Virus control can create drastic measures that ‘may sound like ending the social life of a person’ but only because ‘actually it was meant to be so.’ 10 However, because ‘many spaces normally used as storm shelters have been converted into quarantine sites for people suspected of being infected with coronavirus,’ 11 this opens up more concerns of viral containment and external interventions from natural disasters. Vulnerability in Eastern Samar coalescing public health and emergency ethics serves a lesson to other ethical paradigms that concern both areas of study. As such, ‘environment justice activists and development ethicists’ might do well to forward the thought that with ‘the changes in our environment brought about by human material development […] the entire human development trajectory needs to be reviewed.’ 12 Seeing that the pandemic is not a natural disaster, its pairing with a real one complicates existing protocols. Indeed, the ‘coronavirus is not just a public health crisis. It is an ecological one.’ 13 There is the assurance of community bonds – an instance of local resilience – but asymptomatic carriers of the virus and threats of inappropriate distancing from space allocations question the very safety of the shelters. 14 As the uncertainty of the unfolding events in various fronts allow for the unmasking of pretenses in public affairs, the concern for health and emergency needs a special kind of stress in ethical discussions. After all, such a concern centers on the value of human life beset by the vulnerability of our precarious condition.