I was in a taxi the other day and the driver was listening to an AM radio station. It was on this ride home that I heard the appalling news. The USS Guardian, a US warship, had entered Tubbataha Reef and crashed into the corals, doing irreparable damage to this protected marine sanctuary that has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.
This crash happened last January 17 and to date, the ship has still not been pulled out. It is currently estimates that 1,000 square meters of reef has already been damaged. This is truly sad. Tubbataha Reef is one of the most important natural wonders in the Philippines and is in fact noninated as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature.
I really hope the USS Guardian can be pulled out ASAP and that US Navy and the US government help address the damage caused. It can take 20 to over 100 years for a coral reef to grow and there are more than 1,000 species inhabiting Tubbataha Reef, many of which are considered endangered.
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