By Ruffy Magbanua
Tropical Storm Dante coming to unleash its fury of heavy rains, and was last spotted 880 kilometers east of Extreme Northern Luzon.
It maintains its strength, with maximum sustained winds of 55 kilometers per hour (kph) and gusts of up to 70 kph, while moving northwestward at 25 kph. And another is coming after TS Dante.
Its now a season of floods. The weather bureau reported that TS Dante is expected to intensify into a tropical storm within the next 12 hours and further enhance the habagat.
Manila now is inundated and the rest of Luzon gets wet and floods all over, creating havoc and displacements of thousands, now sheltered in temporary evac centers as flights cancelled and land transportation halted.
Every year, 20 typhoons pass through our beloved country— nine of them striking land.
Our country lies in the Pacific’s “typhoon belt,” a hotspot for storm formation.
Its position makes it one of the most storm-hit nations on Earth.
As I write this piece, severe flooding has inundated Manila, killing at least six people and forcing tens of thousands to flee, as a fresh storm brews off the coast.
According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council
neighbourhoods in Manila woke to find calf-deep pools of floodwater after an overnight downpour swelled the Marikina River.
More than 23,000 people living along the riverbank were evacuated from their homes overnight and moved to schools, village halls and covered courtyards.
About 47,000 more were evacuated from across the capital’s Quezon, Pasig and Caloocan areas, as well as from the main government district.
And why is Metro Manila flooding getting worse?
Metro Manila’s floods are compounded by many factors, including encroachment of concrete surfaces, densification of buildings and residential areas, silting of riverbeds and canals, obstruction of waterways by informal settlers, clogging of floodways by garbage, narrowing of rivers due to development on floodplains, draining and filling in of small rivers forcing more water into fewer channels, forest degradation, and reclamation of coastal land.
There is now a plan to create a department focused on disaster response and the creation of a food bank system to revolutionize the country’s disaster preparedness and response system.
Senator Jinggoy Estrada filed a bill creating the Department of Disaster Resilience (DDR) to strengthen and streamline disaster preparedness, response and recovery efforts.
The proposed DDR will be the primary government agency that will be responsible for disaster risk reduction and management, climate adaptation, emergency response, and long-term recovery.
Estrada has also refiled the proposed measure establishing a food and supply hub in every province and highly urbanized city to ensure quick and effective delivery of aid during crises.
Relief efforts are often delayed because of access issues. These food banks will bring help closer to those who need it most, especially in hard-to-reach and island communities.
Meantime, here are some measures to control floodings in urban areas:
Conversion of moderate vegetation areas into dense forests and rationalize built-up development.
Rivers must be restored and cleared of obstructions within their natural floodplains.
