Expect more frequent, severe floods – UN analyst

EXTREME climatic events such as typhoons and floods will be more frequent and severe in the future and no country, including the Philippines, is immune from worsening and recurrent disasters, a United Nations official said.

In an interview, UN International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) Regional Communications Director Brigitte Leoni said that climate change has opened the doors for a new era of stronger storms and severe floodings.

“We are now facing a new normal in terms of climate variability. Climate change impacts are making floods and typhoons more severe and frequent,” Leoni told The Manila Times.

“Flooding is now a recurrent phenomena in many countries and cities and local governments should integrate these disaster risks when they are planning the construction of new buildings and infrastructure such as roads, bridges, schools, hospitals as extreme climatic events will be more frequent and severe in the future,” she added.

By integrating disaster risk reduction in urban planning, she explained, the government can make communities and people less vulnerable to disasters and floods.

“Almost every country in the world is now vulnerable to disasters as rapid urbanization, environmental degradation, and climate change is increasing the impacts of natural hazards. We all need to work together as no country is immune against disasters,” Leoni pointed out.

Inevitable

Natural hazards such as typhoon and heavy rains such as what the country experienced for the past 12 days are not preventable but people can reduce the negative impacts of disasters, the UN official clarified.

“We know what to do to reduce the negative impacts of disasters, it is documented and this knowledge is available but what is missing most of the time is a lack of political will and lack of enforcement at local level,” Leoni said.

According to her, the Philippines has already a good legislation and DRR (Disaster Risk Reduction) laws to implement disaster risk reduction measures and policies at national level.

Cities and local communities, Leoni said, are now faced with recurrent extreme events and they need to be aware of this new situation and to be able to increase their capacities to build their resilience against these events.

The UN official also stressed that it is very important for the government to invest more on disaster risk reduction, noting that Asia is by far the most affected continent in the world by disasters and many countries, including the Philippines.

“We know that when governments invest $1 in prevention they can save up to $7 in response and reconstruction. Investing in DRR is not a cost but a benefit, and countries which are already investing a lot in disaster risk reduction such as Bangladesh, Japan, Indonesia and China know that investing in prevention and mitigation measures save lives and protect assets when disasters happen,” Leoni said.

She explained that it is very important for the government to integrate disaster risk reduction in the urban planning to ensure efficient drainage systems to evacuate the surplus of water, to have good early warning systems in place so populations can be alerted on time and can find shelter before it is too late.

“The government should also educate populations about their risks so they can avoid building their houses in flood plains and unsafe places or building their capacities to deal with natural hazards,” she added.

Political will

For her part, Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on climate change, reiterated her call on the government to make the nation’s laws work to avert disasters.

The senator said that while laws and policies are in place, officials failed to strictly implement them.

Legarda noted that despite experiences of the past and the existence of disaster prevention programs, severe flooding still persists.

“ Now we ask, was there declogging of esteros? Was garbage in open dumps collected? Were roads that needed repair done? Is flood control implemented? Are there updated flood warning protocols for dam water releases? With flooding comes sickness, loss of livelihood and chaos,” she added.

Legarda particularly cited enacted laws such as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act (Republic Act 9003), Clean Water Act (RA 9275), Climate Change Act of 2009 (RA 9729), and Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010 (RA 10121) which, if fully implemented, are enough to avert the disasters that have been plaguing many parts of the country.

RA 9003 bans all existing open dumps for solid wastes by 2006 and require all operators of such dumps three years to convert it to a controlled disposal facility or a sanitary landfill.

The DENR also ban the use of incinerators in garbage treatment as stated in RA 8749 or the Clean Air Act and calls for the segregation of garbage at the barangay level.

RA 9003 has been enacted more than a decade ago, only few local government units manage to comply with the law. Big cities like Quezon City and Manila until now have failed to enforce the trash segregation.

Clean-up

Legarda said that with the present condition of communities in Metro Manila, the government should urgently undertake a massive clean up of drainage, waterways and riverbanks; engage in more tree-growing activities; craft and implement comprehensive flood prevention and mitigation program in NCR; and create a program to address the problem of ground subsidence.

“We must clean esteros and canals, segregate garbage, plant trees on vacant lots and roadsides, relocate urban settlers living in vulnerable areas, do rainwater catchments basins so that water is stored during rains and used during dry season,” Legarda said.

She further stressed that that government must make the National Climate Change Action Plan and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan, which were adopted more than a year ago, work.

“They should serve as blueprints in mainstreaming climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in the government’s plans and programs, from the national down to the local level, not just in paper but in practice,” Legarda stressed. -NEIL A. ALCOBER CORRESPONDENT AND JEFFERSON ANTIPORDA REPORTER, Manila Times