Nine years after the Typhoon Yolanda brought Tacloban down to its knees, Borongan Bishop Crispin Varquez called for an end to ‘environmental abuse,’ CBCP news reported.
“We must move away from the sins of environmental abuse and neglect to show that we are truly returning to the Lord and we truly care for one another,” Varquez said.
At least 6,300 died when Typhoon Yolanda hit the country on November 8, 2013, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. Carrying a maximum sustained wind of 315 kilometers per hour, “Yolanda” is one of the most powerful typhoon ever recorded.
Varquez believed that strong typhoons and calamities happened because of the effect of climate change.
“We must hear the poor cry of our planet for common action to save our common home,” he added.
For this to happen, according to him, people must heed the call of Pope Francis for “ecological conversion”.
The bishop described the devastation brought by Yolanda as “a story of grief and sorrow for those who have lost their loved ones, of acceptance, of humility and redemption.”
“[W]hat we have are the lessons of the past, something we have learned, and by all means we have to sustain – continue educating ourselves, our young ones especially for they will be the ones who will bear the consequences of our decisions and actions of today,” he said.
Photo credit: Peace Winds America
