Philippines makes climate change resolutions

25 January 2011 [MediaGlobal] In the Philippines, floods and landslides marked a traumatic entry into 2011. Affecting more than 1.3 million people and causing approximately $28 million worth of property damage, the calamity of these disasters attests to the devastating consequences of poor urban planning, especially with the emerging hazards of climate change.
Set along the Pacific typhoon belt, the 7,107 islands that comprise the Philippines are persistently besieged by natural disasters. Last year’s 11 tempests caused massive destruction, especially October’s category-five “super” Typhoon Megi assault on Manila and the nearby provinces of Isabela and Cagayan. Within a month, floods submerged these regions before they had a chance to recover.
Just after the December holiday season, another heavy downpour incited flashfloods and landslides, turning New Year preparations into rescue operations. The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported a human toll of 53, which included deaths from drowning, electrocution, and from the collapse of a chromite mine tunnel outside of Butuan City.
“This brought to the fore the institutional weaknesses of the country’s urban management systems,” pointed out UN Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) spokesperson Sharad Shankardass. “These problems were compounded by climate change, requiring a completely new dimension to urban planning and management.”
The recent calamities are the worst that the country has seen in decades. A tragic 2006 landslide wiped out the village of Guinsaugon in Southern Leyte, killing more than 1,000 people. In September 2009, flashfloods devastated Manila in the aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy, which poured down an alarming 455-millimeter rainfall in 24 hours, surpassing the 250-millimeter record of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.
The persistent vulnerability of urban areas is due mostly to the lack of useful data for reliable planning, implementing faculty for mandated strategies and programs, and a central institution for urban planning and management, explained Shankardass to MediaGlobal.
Urban centers in the country evince poor structural planning, with deficient drainage systems and waterways, inadequately-constructed infrastructures, and unregulated settlements. In terms of atmospheric facilities, most of these cities lack early warning devices and compatible equipment to project impending risks.

“These problems were compounded by climate change, requiring a completely new dimension to urban planning and management,” Shankardass stated.
The downpours are especially ominous, considering the La Niña phenomenon, an unusual increase of heavy rainfall, which the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) forecasts to peak in the first quarter of 2011.