For the nth time, damn the killer dams

The 2009 water dump from “Ondoy” was a once-in-a-century dump, true. The  mass murder though  could have been tamed in favor of a moderate casualty count  had there been  no  reckless and unannounced  water releases from the major Luzon dams. The vast swaths of destruction,  too,  could have been contained  to the traditional low-lying areas had there been no thoughtless water releases from the major dams.  On both  Ondoy’s massive casualty count and sheer  scale of areas devastated, the dams were the major culprits.

A total of 464 people died. The damage to public and private property was P11 billion. A total of 37 people were reported missing, with no update on their status.