Filipinos have an amazing work ethic. Last year during typhoon Frank I saw dock workers near Intramuros with their shoes in their hands walking through the flooded streets to work as soon as the winds went below 100 Kph.

2 days earlier in Cebu I asked the hotel manager what the disaster plan was for the typhoon. She said "We don't go outside". That was it. The typhoon hit and everything went on just as before, except on emergency power.

You also noticed there was no looting and the people getting aid were smiling. That wasn't because the cameras were there. There are good and bad parts about having a monoculture (or a lack of diversity depending on your politics). The good side is t...

Filipinos have an amazing work ethic. Last year during typhoon Frank I saw dock workers near Intramuros with their shoes in their hands walking through the flooded streets to work as soon as the winds went below 100 Kph.

2 days earlier in Cebu I asked the hotel manager what the disaster plan was for the typhoon. She said "We don't go outside". That was it. The typhoon hit and everything went on just as before, except on emergency power.

You also noticed there was no looting and the people getting aid were smiling. That wasn't because the cameras were there. There are good and bad parts about having a monoculture (or a lack of diversity depending on your politics). The good side is that nobody is a hyphenated Filipino. There is a strong national identity and shared experience. Wind and rain aren't enough to cause a breakdown in the culture.

They take a lot of the weather related disasters in stride but the average person has so little and the safety net is provided by the extended family and not the government, so the responsibility falls on someone who's not in a lot better shape than the victim. Entitlement is a foreign concept, but gratitude isn't.