Deadly climate change

A strong typhoon can be deadly even to the best prepared, what more to those who least expect it? Tropical Storm Sendong, which has now killed more than 650 people in northern Mindanao, only proves this.

Sendong devastated a wide swath of Cagayan de Oro City and other areas in the mountainous regions of Mindanao, which are unaccustomed to major storms, especially this late in the Christmas season.

Most of the victims were asleep on Friday night when flash floods cascaded down mountain slopes with logs and uprooted trees, turning the worst-hit coastal cities of Cagayan de Oro and nearby Iligan into muddy wastelands.

In just 12 hours, Sendong dumped more than a month of average rain on Mindanao. Citing accounts from survivors, flood waters started ankle-deep but in just a matter of minutes rose immediately, giving the people no more time to evacuate.

National Disaster Coordinating Council executive officer Benito Ramos attributed the high casualties “partly to the complacency of people because they are not in the usual path of storms” despite four days of warnings by officials that one was approaching.

Scientists have been telling us for some time now that the stronger and deadlier storms and floods we are seeing not only here but around the world are consistent with trends caused by global warming.

David McCauley, the ADB’s lead climate change specialist, just recently warned that the devastating floods in Thailand and other parts of Asia should be a wake-up call to governments to do more to cope with the effects of climate change.

McCauley said Asia is dotted with large coastal cities from Shanghai to Calcutta that are vulnerable to flooding, and governments need to put in place long-term solutions to deal with the problem.

McCauley said a study last year carried out jointly by the Manila-based ADB, the World Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency looked at Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Manila and what can be expected over the next 40-50 years. It predicted the flooding that occurred in Bangkok.

Perhaps what happened in Mindanao was not in its purview but one has to be blind not to see more than a coincidence but a pattern in the flooding that occurred in the two Asian countries.

The devastation can, of course, be minimized if both local and national governments are prepared for any eventuality.

According to the World Risk Report 2011 of the United Nations, a study that measures social vulnerability, exposure to natural hazards and climate change, the Philippines is the third-most country at risk of disasters after Vanuatu and Tonga.

The potential impact of the risk in the Philippines is intensified by a lack of preparedness, coping and adaptive capacities at the national and local levels, the study said.

The Philippines experiences an average of 18 to 20 typhoons a year. Each impending typhoon poses significant risks to the unprepared.

Both the LGUs and the national government must try to overcome their inadequacies in disaster preparedness to better protect the lives and property of citizens.

Local governments, down to the barangays, must be provided with the facilities needed to cope with the initial impact of disasters and emergencies. Waiting for help to come from the national government could cost lives, even if such help is dispatched promptly. It is devastating if it is not.

PAGASA assured that with its new equipment it can predict typhoons with considerable accuracy, so the government can plan and prepare for them to minimize casualties and property damage.

Measures can be taken to reduce flooding, for example, by making sure drainage systems are not clogged. Shelter, water, food, could be readied for residents who would be displaced by floods.

Vehicles, including rubber boats, for evacuation must also be on hand. We certainly need more amphibious vehicles that can be used in emergencies and the government has the money for these if corruption would not come into play.

Barangays officials must also have checklists to serve as guides for actions to be taken as a storm approaches. This checklist must include not only the provision of basic resources but a coordinated list of responses and functions. Barangays are the ones closest to the action, the best informed, and the most likely and immediately able to help.

McCauley said the region should not just brace for floods but also droughts and heatwaves, which would be consistent with what’s been predicted as a result of climate change.

So it’s a case of having a deluge of water one time and having no water the next. The government should prepare for these news risks, for any eventuality, not just floods.

Asia has now become the largest source of new greenhouse gas emissions as a result of the rapid economic growth in China and India and continued deforestation in Indonesia, McCauley said.

If current patterns do not change, Asia will account for 40-45 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector alone by 2030, he said. This will rise to more than 50 percent if greenhouse gas emissions from land use and deforestation are added.

We have to prepare for the adverse impact of climate change and find solutions to the environmental and ecological problems that worsen it, like poor urban planning, mining and deforestation.

Let us not be caught unprepared again. –Ernesto F. Herrera, Manila Times

ernestboyherrera@yahoo.com