How ready is Mindanao for climate change?

“THERE is an urgent need to empower local institutions that would lead the way in building back a better Mindanao. This will include the building of the capacity of the Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils, not just in preparedness but also in disaster mitigation activities,” Senator Loren Legarda in a speech delivered during the Mindanao Summit on Disaster Risk Reduction and Geo-Hazard Awareness in Cagayan de Oro City on February 18, 2012

*****

Every year, an average of 20 out of 36 tropical cyclones that develop over the Northwest Pacific basin cross the Philippines area of responsibility. “There is no month in the country which is free from typhoons,” the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said in a statement.

In a symposium on Status of Research and Development Program and Mitigation Strategies for Typhoon- and Flood-Prone Areas held at Los Baños, Laguna some few years back, experts have observed that typhoon development in the country has been erratic in recent years and almost unpredictable with strongly varying movement and structure.

In the past, Mindanao was considered as typhoon-free but now cyclones no longer spare the island. This was particularly true in Davao Region, whose inhabitants never experience typhoons in their lives. Not until Typhoon Pablo (international name: Washi) made landfall late on December 3, 2012. The storm caused widespread destruction in the region.

Pablo packed winds of up to 175 miles per hour when it struck the region, bringing torrential rains that flattened entire villages, leaving thousands homeless, as well as washing out roads and bridges needed by rescue personnel trying to reach stricken regions.

“Electrical poles snapped like matchsticks as Pablo’s devastating winds howled across the island of Mindanao, leaving large swaths of territory without power. It was the strongest weather disturbance to hit the south in two decades,” said a government official.

Governor Arthur Uy of the worst-hit province, Compostela Valley, reported that raging water and mud from the mountains had swept through school buildings, covered courts, town halls, and health centers where residents had taken shelter. “The waters came so suddenly and unexpectedly, and the winds were so fierce; that compounded the loss of lives and livelihood,” Uy told Reuters in a telephone interview.

A year earlier, in 2011, Mindanao was also hit by another strong typhoon named Sendong (international name: Washi). On December 16, severe tropical storm Sendong brought 10 hours of torrential rains that triggered disastrous flash flooding over Mindanao, an area that rarely experiences tropical cyclones.

More than 200 millimeters of rain was reported in places where rivers were already swollen. During the overnight hours, hundreds of people were killed as flood waters and landslides destroyed homes along mountain sides. In some locations, flood waters rose by 3.3 meters in less than an hour. Residents impacted by these flood waters were forced to seek refuge on their roofs amidst gust winds of 90 kilometers per hour.

“It’s the worst flood in the history of our city,” Lawrence Cruz, mayor of Iligan, was quoted as saying. “It happened so fast, at a time when people were asleep.”

The country’s cyclone paths cover Mindoro, Marinduque, Bicol, Panay, Samar, and Leyte. Typhoons used to be moderate in Northern Luzon and Batanes, but it has completely changed as typhoons now frequent these areas.

Global warming caused by climate change is cited as the most likely culprit of these changes. “Weather patterns could become unpredictable, as would extreme weather events, hurricanes could become much stronger and more frequent,” wrote Lulu Bucay in a climate change brochure produced by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

In 2007, the Nobel prize-winning International Panel on Climate Change estimated that sea levels might rise -- as a result of climate change -- by between 18 centimeters and 59 centimeters in the coming century. The Philippines ranks fourth in the Global Climate Risk Index. Fifteen of the 16 regions of the country are vulnerable to sea level rise.

In Mindanao, a six-meter sea level rise in the Davao Gulf could submerge the coastal area of Davao City. In a forum some years back, Councilor Leonardo Avila III said that Agdao district, Panacan, Sta. Ana wharf, part of the Lanang, Bajada and Matina areas, the whole downtown area, including the City Hall, will be completely under water. “These areas will virtually be part of the Davao Gulf,” he said.

As a result, 40 percent of the city’s total population will be forced to evacuate to higher areas like the Buhangin district, Catalunan Grande, Calinan, Mintal, and Paquibato. Since the downtown area is already inundated, businesses have also to be relocated to higher areas.

“Climate change is occurring now and will intensify in the next few decades, threatening in particular developing nations, with Philippines being one of the most vulnerable countries in the world,” said the World Bank report, “Getting a Grip on Climate Change in the Philippines.”

According to the bank report, the country is “already experiencing temperature increases; sea level rise; stronger storms, floods, and droughts; and ocean acidification, all of which will intensify and affect subsistence livelihoods as well as urban and coastal areas.”

In 2009, the government passed the Climate Change Act, which enacted a set of climate-specific laws complemented by the creation of climate-specific institutions. These institutions aim to integrate and coordinate climate change at all levels of government -- national, regional, and local -- to improve financing, prioritization, and planning.

Since Mindanao is one of the most vulnerable areas in the country, a LGU (local government unit) Summit Conference called “Integrated Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Proofing” will be held in Davao City on October 24-16.

“(The summit) provides an opportunity for launching a transformative framework of resiliency in local communities through a capacity development program that will empower them to mitigate, prepare, respond, recover, and adopt to climate change and related disasters,” explained Manuel “Nong” Rangasa, the conference director and chairman and director of Local Climate Change Adaptation for Development.

On why the summit is to be held in Davao City, Rangasa replied: “As of this time, our local executives are still not ready and prepared to address climate change such as flash floods and landslides.”

He cited the devastation wrought by Typhoons Sendong and Pablo, which should serve as warnings of more disasters to come. “Localized impacts of climate change must be addressed at the local level for successful adaptation through actions that target and reduce the vulnerabilities of poor communities and stakeholders of our cities and communities.”

Although climate change affects everyone, “the poor, however, are usually more severely affected,” said Secretary Mary Ann Lucille Sering of the Climate Change Commission, adding that the greatest challenge poorer countries like the Philippines face these days “is that hard-earned development progress they have achieved in the last several decades could be reversed in a short time because of climate change.”

The World Bank report urges the Philippines “to improve its climate resilience and develop its adaptive capacity to alleviate the risk of catastrophic economic and humanitarian impacts.”

Bureau of Agricutural Research director Nicomedes P. Eleazar hit the right nail when he said, “Science teaches us that if we act decisively and collectively, soon we can manage climate change. The sooner we act on this, the cheaper it will be for the country.”

Trending

No stories found.

Just in

No stories found.

Branded Content

No stories found.
SunStar Publishing Inc.
www.sunstar.com.ph