After Typhoon “Odette” (international name: “Rai”) rampaged through Philippine regions before Christmas 2021, 405 people were reported dead, over a thousand were injured, and over 800,000 were evacuated.
A total of 493 towns and cities declared a state of calamity and damage to agriculture and infrastructure hit P17.7 billion and P29.3 billion, respectively. Two million houses were partially or totally destroyed. Nearly 200,000 fishermen were grounded for days and couldn’t earn their living.
These stories were a repeat of the aftermath of Tropical Storm “Ondoy” (“Ketsana”), which submerged parts of the National Capital Region and neighboring areas in 2009; Typhoon “Pablo” (“Bopha”) which hit Mindanao in 2012, and Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (“Haiyan”) which ravaged central Visayas in 2013.
Warming seas due to climate change have fueled higher-intensity cyclones, and caused increased rainfall and larger storm surges. The Philippines, like neighboring countries in Southeast Asia, has been disproportionately affected.
The next president should prepare for the next big typhoon.
When disasters hit, local government units are the automatic front liners. But because typhoons often cover large swaths of areas, national leadership is always necessary to manage response, said urban planner Ica Fernandez.
The national government is needed to coordinate relief efforts, whether it’s assessing the impact, restoring communication and power lines, clearing operations, or distributing relief goods, she said.
But even before the next destructive typhoon strikes the country, the next president can adopt measures to mitigate the impact of strong typhoons.
Flooding can be mitigated, for example, by reinvesting and strengthening dams, dredging rivers, and managing trash.
It’s also important to relocate people from danger zones, although Fernandez said this has been a struggle for decades because of failure to understand why people refuse to move.
“A lot of the populations that are in waterways and esteros are willing to move as long as [they are given] in-city relocation, which provides all of the basic services which you require to live.”
There are instances when you can’t or don’t need to move people, she added. “We also have a lot of fishing populations who, since time immemorial, have been living on coastlines. You can’t just remove fishermen from the shoreline.”
“There are technologies that can help,” she added, citing sink areas that can absorb and break water flows.
Island towns such as Jolo in Sulu and Bongao in Tawi-Tawi have traditional and customary practices to address climate effects. “There is a reason why we have stilt houses to deal with the flows of water, even before we had the Philippine states… Even prior to modern engineering Filipinos have had traditional ways of dealing with water,” Fernandez said.
What is needed is a people-centered adaptation to climate change, which takes into consideration people’s needs, she said.
Climate change isn’t only about typhoons. There are other problems that will occur, if they’re not already occurring.
Sea level rise is happening in Southeast Asia at a faster rate than other parts of the country. Adaptation measures include building bridges that are taller, building sea walls that are higher, and dealing with mass transportation systems that can withstand sea level rise.
Even one or two degrees of change in the water temperature will affect food security as it can kill some fish species. If drought hits, farmers will have problems getting water to irrigate their land. The National Capital Region is also not new to water woes.
The next president will need to address these problems holistically and comprehensively, said Fernandez. There is a need to review existing national policies on adaptation and mitigation as there are many good laws such as the National Climate Action Plan that are not being implemented, she said.