It is October – just the second “ber month” so-called, before December – and already they are talking of a wet Christmas with predictions millions of people could be celebrating the holiday season with their houses submerged in mud and floodwaters.

That is unfortunate because we look up to the days around Christmas as a season of joys and jubilations when we join the Christian world in welcoming the most sublime moments of the year.

The prediction that the coming Christmas could be stormy is certainly an unwelcome news and should have been thoroughly verified at least to cushion public frustrations.

The mere anticipation of a stormy Christmas is enough to dishearten people, especially those who had nightmarish experience with Ondoy’s onslaught.

But Malacañang announced Wednesday it would lift the declaration of a state of emergency and expressed hope for a swift return to normalcy as soon as possible.

Amid all these possibilities, however, another warning of graver consequences was aired the other day by Senator Francis Escudero who urged the authorities to revisit plans of government on the threat of possible earthquakes, particularly in Metro Manila.

The warning was made following  last week’s successive earthquakes that hit South Sumatra in Indonesia where some 1,100 reportedly perished.

The Bicolano senator cited a 2002 study undertaken by the Japanese government, saying that if a seven to nine earthquake triggered by the West Valley fault line hits Manila today, “it could be unlike any tragedy seen or imagined in Metro Manila.”

As one who has experienced frequent earthquakes, my daughter KC who stayed with me during my few years diplomatic posting in Mexico sometime ago, literally trembles at the thought of earthquakes taking its tolls in our cities, particularly Metro Manila.

Earthquakes in Mexico are known to have toppled buildings and killed thousands of people, but Mexicans have learned to accept and live with them as part of life.

And that is precisely what some officials of government are suggesting: That we resign to the reality of floods that we experience year in and year out without let-up – and bear it.

The government is, of course, resisting the idea, suggesting instead the review of urban planning and development programs had incorporating in them disaster risk reduction measures for the protection of the communities.

The Japanese International Cooperation Agency in a report, blamed the rapid urban expansion program and the inadequate river capacities and inefficient equipment for the maintenance of existing drainage facilities for the worsening flooding problems in Metro Manila.

The report particularly pointed to the mass squatting by what the government calls informal settlers and the customary dumping of excessive garbage as the main causes of the continuous clogging of esteros and riverbeds that contribute to the flooding of the cities.

This is consistent with the proposal to review land use and zoning laws to once and for all stop informal settlers from clogging and rendering ineffective flood mitigation projects.

Many agree to such proposal and if needed, to construct more dams, mega dikes, spillways and floodways as defensive devices against the disastrous and emasculating effects of floods to people and to society.

And it must be done at once, if it is still possible, to save our Christmases from the ruinous effects of storms and floods that they spawn.

(zhern_218@yahoo.com)