A little province in the Philippines called Pangasinan suffers through yearly floods that leave them in distraught. Thousands of people get injured or sadly, even die. Ever since my mom was little, she and her family have had to deal with these floods every year. Due to the harsh natural disasters, she has lost many loved ones and any photographs to keep their memories alive. When I asked her which flood year was the most memorable for her, she said it was her last flood before she came here to America. She says that to her, it was the most haunting. The last flood she faced destroyed all of her photographs and till this day, she only has one photograph of her mom. This leaves my mom with no photographs of her dad. She says that she barely remembers his face, solely just the memories.

Ever since the San Roque Dam was built, many Pangasinense believe that the structure has worsened the flood's impact on their province. That makes you think, how would a dam, a regular architectural structure, affect the impact of a flood? According to thinkhazard.org, an insightful geographical and architectural article, if an area is prone to floods, it is best to relocate the project elsewhere as it might negatively affect the impact of a natural disaster.

          Relocating is the best option when it comes to building in an area prone to flooding. When making alterations to an area, the landscape also gets affected and can solely be the reason as to why a natural disaster impact worsens. It is important to talk to professionals in the area and to choose the safest and most stable location when building a structure.

          Even though it might be hard for constructors to search for a safe location to build at or to urgently build something with little time, it is important to keep the Pangasinense safe from unnatural impacts and to respect the natural landscape that was there before. 

   In 2004, a flood injured 58,908 families and killed 6 people. This flood left 80% of the province flooded for at least a week. This was one of the worst recorded injury and damage counts a flood made which is believed to have had help from the San Roque Dam.

          In 2018, a flood injured 179 people and put them all into hospitals. In 2023, a flood injured 116,000 people and affected 30,000 families which is a higher record than previous years making the floods harsher as each year goes by. With this many people injured, only 7,000 food packs were distributed out to those in need leaving thousands of other injured people without proper food.