With their calamity-prone area, the Ivatans could've moved out to another island or place, but maybe they were also mesmerized at Batanes Group of Islands, or maybe Batanes is the only place they could call "home", that is why instead of finding another location, they just coped up with the acts of nature occurring on the location. These people observed and became self-aware of the usual route of the winds/ storms, they know what side are mostly hit by the winds so they made that part of their walls sturdier and disaster-proof. Ivatans don't exactly do trial-and-error, I don't think it's the right term to use; but when their built-structure collapses and they found the problem, they are going to improve their buildings.
They also make their buildings sustainable and last for decades even without advanced technology. They did not need any Math, Science--Chemistry and Physics to calculate the composition of the soil, the lime, stone if it is sturdy enough to last for years but they were able to make it last. Here in Metro Manila, we have the technology and millions of people residing but whenever little rain pours down, there are flood in the area, and then houses are also flooded. During the storm we panic and worry, it's because we know our roofs will be taken away by the wind, our floor will be flooded, or worse, for those who live by the riverside, the whole house will slide down with the land. That's illogical. Well, actually I said "Oo nga noh?" when my professor asked us why Filipinos aren't used to disasters, that if there are constant floods, why do we still keep our ground floor at the same level as before. We didn't think about changing lifestyles because there's nobody giving us such thought until now.
Here's a quote by Spencer Kimball: "Preparedness, when properly pursued, is a way of life, not a sudden, spectacular program." It is already a way of life of the Ivatans even before the country gained freedom over our invaders while we're still struggling every time a rain pours down. Yes, our drainage canals are busted, our flood control needs more budget to work properly, but as of now, we should at least level our floor areas to where flood cannot enter houses and establishments. Manila, Philippines is not just flood-prone, but also fire-prone because of the building materials used and the things placed inside; therefore we should already cope up and build disaster-resilient structures.
Kayvayvanaan is the Ivatans' bayanihan. I don't think they even need money to buy materials for building because in helping one another, they will contribute their own resources and build together. It's cheap, yet durable. Also, the knowledge of house-building is shared to everyone, including the young citizens of Batanes so they can continue the tradition up to the future. Their children are also aware that their houses are built durably so they know that they should just follow the footsteps of their elderly and not dare create buildings that are seen in Metro Manila. We all know that climate change is making the future calamities worse, therefore Ivatans should just continue reinventing and building their structures typhoon-proof that even the Super Typhoons will just be noise in their undisturbed houses, leaving pure paradise after the rain.
