The following is a guest post from Mark Levin of the University of Hawaii Law School:
The world is of course watching the Philippines struggling in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda in the Philippines). Our colleague here at the University of Hawai'i, Dr. Diane Desierto, is watching even more intently as Tacloban is the home of much of her extended family.
Diane has quickly written and published an important op-ed that powerfully expresses how, despite the fact that the damage was caused in the first instance by forces of nature, human actions and inactions, and public policy choices, have made worse the nature and scale of the harms that resulted.
Diane's op-ed was published in the national news service in the Philippines and can be found online here.
Some Faculty Lounge readers may be fortunate enough to know Diane -- she is a strong writer who does not mince words. While immediately responding to the immediate circumstances, this piece sadly resonates for too many communities that have happened to be be in harm's way of natural forces.
Of course, everyone moves with their own manners, but just as many of us opened up our hearts and our pocketbooks with disasters at home and elsewhere in recent years, there will certainly be great need for help here as well.
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