Typhoon news (no we are okay)

It's Christmas, so the country shuts down for a fortnight (through the feast of the three kings, our city's big fiesta).

But in the south, there has been both a bombing that killed a lot of people in a mall's top floor call center (probably due to problems in getting out, fire sprinkliers etc.), and a typhoon.

Global voices has a summary of netcitizen reports.

Note that a lot of the flooding and landslides are blamed on legal and illegal mining and illegal logging.

sigh.

Why protect the environment when a small "gift" will let you do it cheaper? Of course, when it comes to mining, if you get rid of the mining companies, you end up with illegal mom and pop mining by people who don't have jobs and need money, which is even more dangerous. Ditto for logging.

so the answer is not "Stop mining/stop logging": The answer is get rid of corruption, and do these things responsibly.

But it's easier to shout "Mother Gaia" and feel self righteous and shut down the companies, and let locals starve.