TURNING POINT:Bracing for the Perennial Typhoons

Cebu has an insufficient water supply, but, ironically, it was ravaged by floods and was drowning a few days ago due to typhoon Tino.

Metro Cebu is second only to Metro Manila as the largest urban center in the Philippines. It is the oldest city in the country, established by the Spanish colonizers in 1565.

The government has spent more than P50 billion over the past decade for the flood control projects of Cebu. The structures failed as the province was inundated recently by floods.

A flood control project is designed to protect a community from the overflow of water channels. However, if the flood waters come from within the community, resulting from a heavily trash-clogged drainage system – trash that the residents just throw anywhere – the billion-peso flood control infrastructure, even if built to standard specifications, is of no use. In fact, it could worsen the condition as it traps the flood waters inside the community and holds their flow to the natural waterways. This, apparently, was the sad plight of Metro Cebu.

Metro Cebu, a highly urbanized area, is experiencing seawater intrusion into its aquifer, making its groundwater salty and unpotable. This is because the city and the province, for the purpose, no longer have enough forests to save rainwater to bar the sea from seeping inland. So when it rains, the rainwater from bald forests and empty hills all rush to rivers and plains down below, bringing with them soils, sediments, and debris in submerging communities and drowning plants and animals.

Urbanization destroys forests and grasslands. An increasing population and human wants gobble up living and non-living things, raising the amount of gases and water vapor in the atmosphere, thereby violating the natural process of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. This flagrantly disturbs nature, resulting in global warming and climate change. Thus, explains the extreme weather – forest fires, freezing winters, raging typhoons, and floods.

The Philippine archipelago, which faces the Pacific Ocean, ranks number 1 as the most disaster-prone country in the world. This vulnerability of the archipelago is worsened by the effects of global warming. The country will always be the first and often the worst victim of the onslaught of devastating typhoons originating from the great ocean. For instance, Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), one of the deadliest typhoons on record in the Philippines, killed at least 6,300 people by wrecking wind, floods, and storm surge, particularly in Tacloban City on November 7, 2013. Earlier, at midnight on December 16, 2011, until the early hours of the next day, Sendong (Washi) ravaged through the southern Philippines, hitting the major cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, and claimed 1500 – 2500 lives.

Since we cannot avoid typhoons, we need to develop capacities and measures to reduce their impact. After all, a typhoon is predictable as to its ferocity in wind strength and volume of rainwater it may dump along its path. The LGUs, especially in the typhoon path or places frequently visited by typhoons, must have strongly-built, wind-resilient evacuation centers with toilets, water storage, cooking area, and food supplies purchased a day or two before the typhoon’s arrival. Rescue land and water vehicles are imperative. The residents should also be ready themselves, must have secured their important personal items in waterproof containers, keep their clothes and sleeping paraphernalia dry, and be ready to leave their homes at the appropriate time.

“This expressed the conviction that every society is capable of taking direct or indirect precautions, such as the establishment and maintenance of effective disaster protection to counter the effects of natural hazards or climate change.”

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. William R. Adan, Ph.D., is retired professor and former chancellor of Mindanao State University at Naawan, Misamis Oriental.)