Despite the devastation wrought by Irene, rehabilitation of the affected areas will be effected in due time by the US government considering its eminent status as the sole world superpower and leading economy notwithstanding its de facto recession. Having done that in the aftermath of KATRINA, the effects of Irene will be fully and properly attended to by the American authorities. With regards to the havoc of Mina inflicted to the Philippines, the Philippine government is finding extreme difficulties in the necessary rehabilitation efforts due to its usual financial limitations. The only saving grace is that the Aquino administration was able to improve the state of preparedness of the national and local government in coping with natural disasters especially typhoons which was woefully nonexistent during the time of Typhoon Ondoy.
PAGASA, the Philippine Weather Bureau, had predicted that ten typhoons might hit the country for the year end. Such dire prediction certainly brings specter of enormous disaster to the typhoon-prone areas of the Philippines such as Northern Luzon and Eastern Visayas. Perhaps, due to climate change, Bicol has been added to the favorite haunting grounds of typhoons in the recent years. Thus, it is highly imperative that the government must institute preventive measures to mitigate the inevitable destructive effects of typhoons.
For instance, Mina caused widespread flooding in Northern Luzon and Bicol as well as landslide in Olongapo City and the Irisan dump site in Baguio City. The most difficult to prevent is flooding since it could be established that several decades of rampant illegal logging and widespread slash and burn activities of "kaingineros" deprived the mountainous areas of Northern Luzon, Bicol and Eastern Visayas of the vital forest cover. Such forest cover serves as catch basin for rains absent of which allows rains to cascade down the plains flooding vast expanse of areas along the path of typhoons.
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