Some Theological Thoughts on the Flood

1. Read The Flood Narrative (Genesis 6-9
Consider the explanation of the literary problems raised by scholars (Ska) and discussed in class. Note in particular how this story grew: first as a simple story of a just person who experiences trials (the core); then the flood-motif is added later as the focus of the trial (Mesopotamian experience); violence (to humans and nature) is added as the cause of the natural disaster (priestly writer in view of the violent history of Israel); and finally wickedness as the reason of divine punishment through a natural disaster (to explain the Babylonian Exile).

In short, the literary problem reveals a theological problem which Judaism and later on Christianity would have to wrestle with: How do we explain natural disasters, we who believe in a God who is one and good? Or why do bad things happen to good people [innocent suffering] – see Harold S. Kushner’s book with a similar title. “If God is God he is not good. If God is good, he is not God” – from an oft-quoted passage from the play JB based on the Book of Job by Archibald Mcleish.

It is clear that ancient Israel was never satisfied with one answer (that natural disasters and innocent suffering are a divine punishment). Such an answer is radically questioned in the Book of Job and in Qohelet. For Christianity, the such question is asked of the violent fate of an innocent and a just person -- Jesus of Nazareth.

In Ancient Near East, natural disasters are due to the capriciousness of the gods and goddesses and also the result of the conflicts and bickering among the gods and goddesses. Although the reason seems so trivial, the ancient people give us the theological insight of the mysterious ways of the divine. For this you can read: R. C. Flores, “Assembly of Gods and Goddesses and the Fate of Humanity,” in Bible and Ecology (QC: CBAP, 2007), pp. 68-85; also published in Diwa 31 (2006), pp. 57-80; R. C. Flores, “Story of Aqhat: Ugaritic Background of the Narrative Framework of the Book of Job,” in Diwa 33 (2008), pp. 189-210; R. C. Flores, “My God, My God, Why Have You Abandoned Me?” Diwa 31 (2006), pp. 24-41.

2. Read the following articles/reflections on the recent Flood
Government study foresaw flood–Palafox
Written by Dennis D. Estopace / Reporter
Monday, 28 September 2009 21:39
Note: Jun Palafox is a former SVD seminarian

THE government was warned 32 years ago that ceding control of urban development may have adverse consequences, such as the devastation experienced by the metropolis on Saturday.

“Some are saying it’s [the flooding of key Metropolitan Manila areas] an act of God. It’s not. It’s neglect on the part of the government,” architect Felino Palafox Jr. told the BusinessMirror on Monday as casualties of Typhoon Ondoy grew to more than a hundred dead and thousands of people displaced.

In the document sent by Palafox, the Metro Manila Transport, Land Use and Development Planning Project (Mmetroplan) already cited the Marikina Valley as among the areas deemed “unsuitable for development.”

The area that includes the city of Marikina were among those that sustained the most damage, according to news reports. In one hard-hit site alone, Provident Village, TV reports said 58 bodies had already been recovered, presumably people who never had time to leave their homes as floodwaters rose too quickly.

“Development should be restricted by the application of controls in three major areas—in the Marikina Valley, the western shores of Laguna de Bay, and the Manila Bay coastal area to the north of Manila,” said the report submitted in July 1977 to then-Public Works and Highways chief Alfredo Juinio.

“We’ve told government all along [that] this would happen because of the flooding [in] the same month in 1970,” Palafox said.

He said he was working for the government then when he and a group of researchers undertook this World Bank-funded study on a land-use plan that was finalized by Hong Kong-based consulting firm Freeman Fox and Associates.

Palafox cited a recommendation from the study that the government should monitor the Marikina Riverbank so that the water would not reach 90 meters. Likewise, no structure should have been allowed within nine meters from the riverbank, he added.

“Dahil hindi sinunod ’yun, parang massacre ang nangyari [Because the recommendation was not heeded, what occurred was virtually a massacre],” he said.

The three-volume report also noted that “urban development is spreading into [these] areas which are, in their present state, unsuitable for development—either because they are low-lying and liable to flooding, or because development is without adequate facilities for the treatment and disposal of sewage [the norm in Manila] and so will continue to contribute to the severe pollution of areas, such as Laguna de Bay.”

The study added: “The unsuitable areas for development, where pressures are nevertheless considerable, are primarily the flat coastal areas to the north where extensive areas are liable to flooding and where increased pressures for reclamation are likely to further exacerbate this problem.”

Another is “the Marikina Valley, to the east, where the land is liable to flooding and where development with inadequate provision for the treatment and disposal of sewage is contributing to the severe pollution of Laguna de Bay and where flooding is a problem in the adjacent areas.”

Finally, the study said the pressure for development, but requiring control, includes “the western shores of Laguna de Bay where development without adequate facilities for the treatment and disposal of sewage is contributing to the severe pollution of Laguna de Bay and where flooding is a problem in the adjacent areas.”

“In order to avoid development contributing to longer-term flooding and water pollution, it is necessary that the short-term development is restricted in these areas. Only when remedial measures to deal with the problems have been implemented, should the development of these areas proceed on a significant scale,” the study said.

“Lessons are to be learned, for sure, but these have been taught three decades ago,” Palafox said

"We are always reacting to crisis. It bothered me when I saw these reports and pictures and people are saying it's an act of God. It's not. It's us not following the plans and proposals. If you are an urban planner, an environmental planner, these have been planned as early as 1905," he said.

A Personal Reflection from Mr. RJ Samson
I lived in Provident Village my entire life, until I moved out two years ago to a condo in Ortigas Center. Provident Villages is not new to flooding. In fact, ever since 1968, the village has experienced mass flooding every 10 years. I was there when I woke up to raging floods in 1988. In 1998, the flood reached up to 6 feet only, which was not bad. My parents had experienced it since 1978. They told me that year was the worst. They weren’t prepared for this to happen.

Though a year late, 2009 brought in the worst and most devastating flood to Provident. In the previous floods, we managed to recover our things, and got back up our feet the day after. Less than 5 people died, if not none at all. So when the waters rose last Saturday, everybody in Provident knew that it was time again. They didn’t know it was going to be very different.

The Marikina government managed to fix the drainage and flood system of the city when the Fernandos governed. We were happy about it. Floods were prevented. As an effect, Provident Villages prospered. New and big houses grew like mushrooms. Real estate shot up. Everything was going well. Until now.

I was in my condo when everything happened, when my dad and two sisters hanged on for their lives in a 2nd floro balcony of a neighbor’s house. My dad and sisters swam and braved the floods, to save those trapped in their houses. Two, however, still died.

My family and 13 other people held it out on top of a roof under the rain, without food, water or light. They were rescued at 5AM Sunday. They were fortunate enough, since our house was still near the gate of the village. I realized the others were rescued in the morning. I have been hearing stories of terror and survival from my relatives who also live in Provident. If I were there, I would be writing this differently.

In the end, I am happy that my entire family is safe and sound. We lost everything that my parents worked for. I still can’t believe this happened. It all caught us by surprise.

From the first paragraphs of my on-going dissertation on the Book of Job

It was in 2005, at the height of this research on the Book of Job, that another natural disaster struck the country: 1,000 people feared dead, including 250 school children and teachers, buried under 300 meters of mud, rocks, and logs caused by a mountain landslide in a farming barangay in the province of Southern Leyte, Philippines [the landslide was in Guinsaugon, St. Bernard town, province of Leyte, central Philippines, February 17, 2006]. Seeing heartrending images on television of destruction and death, this writer remembered Job’s lament:

“They are wet with the rain of the mountains,
and cling to the rock for want
of shelter…
They go about naked, without clothing…
From the city the
dying groan,
and the throat of the wounded cries for help;
yet God pays
no attention to their prayer (Job 24:8,10a,12)

This country knows no respite from natural disasters – the 1990 killer earthquake (around 1,000 people perished in Baguio City); the 1991 flash flood (around 5,000 died in Ormoc City); Mount Pinatubo’s eruption in the same year (around 800 dead and 100,000 homeless in Pampanga and Tarlac towns); the 2003 flash flood (around 1,000 dead in Liloan and in two more towns, again in Leyte); the 2004 flash flood (more than 1,000 perished in Real, Quezon); typhoon Milenyo that ravaged Metro Manila in Sept. 28, 2006; and, just a month later, the super typhoon Reming that brought widespread flooding and mudslides in the provinces of the Bicol region compounded by the earlier eruptions of Mayon Volcano. All these happened in the last ten years. We can still hear the echoes of Job’s lament more than 2,500 years ago. What does hope mean in all these?