Bayanihan in action: Now is the time to step up, not step back

In the wake of last week's calamitous earthquakes — first a magnitude-7.4 quake off Davao Oriental then a magnitude 6.8 in the same area Oct. 10, following closely after the magnitude 6.9 quake in Cebu island on Sept. 30 — the Philippines is once again confronted with the raw power of nature and the fragility of our built environment.

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In Cebu alone, more than 70 lives were lost, hundreds were injured, and thousands of homes and public infrastructure were severely damaged or destroyed. In Davao and surrounding provinces, the quake triggered landslides, damaged roads and schools, and left communities reeling.

These earthquakes come on top of a long season of calamities — protracted flooding in recent months, coming from monsoon surges and tropical storms, has already battered provinces and displaced many families. Barangay, local government units', and government agencies' volunteers and community groups have already been stretched thin managing evacuation centers, distributing food, and doing frontline relief work.

The Philippine Red Cross, too, has proven how indispensable volunteer networks are in such times. Even when their own homes were threatened, their volunteers persisted in search-and-rescue missions, medical outreach, health education, and managing relief distribution. In the Davao earthquakes, Red Cross volunteers responded swiftly to affected municipalities, joining the front lines of relief and damage assessment.