Philippines has been recently devastated by natural disasters such as typhoons, floods, and many more. According to Aljazeera's "Dozens dead in Philippines floods" news article, "heavy rains triggered landslides and flash floods" which affected "more than 36,000 people". Currently, cleanup operations have been conducted in Zambales Province "with major roads being cleared of mud and debris". However, this is not the only disastrous incident that Philippines had to encounter and endure. In August 2013, Typhoon Maring (Trami) hit the Philippines, resulting in the government to call off classes in both public and private schools. The most overblown news and incident that swept away people into shock was the Tropcial Storm "Ketsana", locally known as the "Typhoon Ondoy" on September 26, 2009. According to the ReliefWeb's "Situation report Philippines - Typhoon Ondoy" news article, "at least 140 died? and more than 450,000 people have been displaced" due to this natural disaster. The aftermath of all these disasters has proven to be very serious and crucial for the government and even people to pay attention to. But, the real matter is: What attributed to the occurrence of natural disasters? Who are these disasters to be blamed for? Can these disasters or effects be mitigated, if so, how?

Candy Dizon, the businesswoman, claimed that the "combination of bad urban planning and uncollected trash" were the main factors that led to flooding in the Philippines.

According to BBC - GCSE Bitesize: River management, many steps can be taken to control flooding and these techniques include hard- and soft-engineering options. Hard-engineering options are more expensive and "have a great impact" on the environment. Soft-options are more "ecologically sensitive". Hard-engineering options include dam construction, which can "control the amount of discharge" and thus can control flooding. Soft-options include "planning", in which government implements policies and plans to "control urban development", which can thus reduce the "chance of flooding and the risk of damage to property".  Soft-option also includes afforestation, in which trees are planted nearby water sources, such as river, which "means greater interception of rainwater and lower river discharge". 

Joop Stoutjesdijk, Lead Irrigation Enginer of the World Bank, stated that government interventions, such as building pumping system to drain water, have been conducted. However, he noted that drainage is "affected by the issue of solid waste found in waterways" and further added that "one bottle thrown into" water sources can affect the drainage of pumping stations. This further adds to the point- even small actions committed by individuals can lead to huge issues and deter the environmental problem and aftermath from being mitigated. We should thus never overlook our small actions- we should always be aware of our actions and the effects followed by these actions. And I would like to share some small actions that we can do to protect our environment and even further prevent people from getting affected even more.

1. Do not litter your bottles, plastic trash anywhere. Throw it in the recycling bin. It only takes few seconds. 

2. Carpooling, riding a bicycle, and even walking are effective ways to prevent our world to become warmer and thus prevent the possible occurrence of natural disasters.

3. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle your trash!

4. Share these steps on social media and thus increase awareness among people!

These are four simple steps that we are capable of doing and should act upon. There are of course many ways to protect our Earth, prevent natural disasters from frequently happening, and even help the people who are vulnerable to getting hugely affected by the disasters. What are your ways to prevent natural disasters from keep happening? Think of more innovative, convincing, and eco-friendly ideas and share them with us!