Typhoon HaiyanPhilippines prepares for worse disasters to come
On average, the Philippines experiences about twenty typhoons a year, including three super-typhoons and many incidents of flooding, drought, earthquakes, tremors, and occasional volcanic eruptions, making the country one of the most naturally disaster-prone areas in the world. Filipino government agencies, with the help of international disaster and relief agencies, have created new strategies for disaster preparedness, response, and mitigation which may well have potential applications in other parts of the world. As the impact of climate change grows more pronounced, the Philippines is becoming a hothouse for developing new methods and systems in the growing business of disaster relief.
The Philippines has had a long and difficult experience with natural disasters, and, as a result, Filipino government agencies, with the help of international disaster and relief bodies, have fashioned new strategies for disaster preparedness, response, and mitigation which may have potential applications in other parts of the world.
The Guardian reports that as the impact of climate change grows more pronounced, the Philippines is becoming a hothouse for developing new methods and systems in the growing business of disaster relief.
On average, the Philippines experiences about twenty typhoons a year, including three super-typhoons and many incidents of flooding, drought, earthquakes and tremors, and occasional volcanic eruptions, making the country one of the most naturally disaster-prone areas in the world.
According to the UN Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Philippines has recorded 182 disasters since 2002, in which almost 11,000 people have died, a figure which does not include super-typhoon Bopha, known locally as Pablo, which hit the southern Philippines last December, killing more than 1,000 people, nor last Friday’s super-typhoon Haiyan.
Bopha produced wind speeds of 160mph, gusting to 195mph, and was the world’s deadliest typhoon in 2012. More than 6.2 million people were affected. The cost of the damage was estimated at more than $1 billion. The Guardian notes that Haiyan topped those wind speeds and has reportedly claimed ten times the number of victims. Early estimates suggest 4.5 million people have been affected. The financial cost is so far incalculable.
These storms are getting bigger, more intense, and more damaging, reflecting deteriorating climatic trends. The five most devastating typhoons ever recorded in the Philippines have occurred since 1990, affecting twenty-three million people. According to Oxfam, four of the costliest typhoons anywhere occurred in the same period.
The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change reported that mean temperatures in the Philippines are rising by 0.14C a decade. Scientists have also been registering steadily rising sea levels around the Philippines, and a falling water table. Analysts say that these three trends appear to increase the likelihood and incidence of extreme weather events.
Mary Ann Lucille Sering, head of the Philippine government’s climate change commission, told the Guardian in Manila earlier this year that her country faced a deepening crisis which it could ill afford financially and in human terms. Typhoon-related costs in 2009, the year the commission was created, amounted to 2.9 percent of GDP, she said, and have been rising each year since.
“Extreme weather is becoming more frequent, you could even call it the new normal,” Sering said.
To deal with these mounting challenges, the Philippines government has created the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), which works with international agencies to try to help the population cope with extreme weather events and other disasters.
The response to a storm such as Haiyan, in theory, comprises three phases:
- immediate help, including the provision of shelter and clean water, sanitation and hygiene facilities
- rebuilding and relocation
- mitigation and prevention measures
Supplying emergency toilets and water bladders is crucial for preventing diseases such as cholera and dehydration.
Shelter – typically tents — is also a first priority, and are often pre-positioned in disaster-prone areas.
The Guardian notes that the NDRRMC has produced a national disaster risk reduction and management plan for the period 2011 to 2028 which takes a holistic and long-term approach to disaster relief. The agency’s strategy takes into consideration pre- and post-disaster sustainable development, poverty alleviation, environmental protection, and physical security, with the idea being to “build back better” once the clear-up begins.
The plan also focuses on training networks of first responders — local people who would know what to do in the event of disaster without waiting for the emergency services sent by the central government to arrive.
Since the Philippines expects more, and more intense, natural disasters, the NDRRMC’s planning emphasizes longer-term projects following on from disasters, include the building of waste management plants, setting up markets at relocation sites, and working on disaster risk reduction programs, so that when the next typhoon hits, local people may be better prepared.
Benito Ramos, the former executive director of the NDRRMC, told the Guardian in February that the bigger challenge of climate change was becoming more dangerous. Climate change, he said, posed an existential threat to the Philippines. “We are mainstreaming climate change in all government departments and policies. If we don’t adapt and adjust, we all agree we are heading for disaster.”
