The Philippines, being situated close to the equator, belongs to the Pacific Ocean's typhoon belt. This explains why the country faces no less than 20 typhoons a year some of which cause severe damage most especially among the vulnerable areas such as the farmlands, the coastal areas, and the urban areas where flooding mostly happens.
Recently, studies show that climate change can influence these typhoon occurrences. As we all know, climate change’s biggest contributors are the first world countries due to their fast-paced lifestyle and their high carbon dioxide emissions. But unfortunately, it is not them who experience the effects of climate change first but the poor nations and developing countries such as the Philippines in the form of calamities like the tropical storms. The greenhouse gas they mostly emit make the atmosphere warmer which then increase the sea surface temperature and if the oceans maintain this condition for some time, a low pressure area would begin to form. This LPA could potentially grow into a typhoon if it traverses the world’s warming oceans and there is not enough wind shear in the atmosphere that could break it. In worse cases, if the formed typhoon continues to feed on the ocean's temperature, it would grow stronger and could transform into a powerful tropical cyclone or the 'super typhoons.' Therefore, the warming climate does help increase the frequency and the intensity of the typhoons the Philippines face every year and it also makes El Niño (dry season) and La Niña (rainy season) more extreme and incalculable through time.
Given the circumstances above, shouldn’t the Philippine government have atleast prepared for the worst since we expect this to happen every year? There is the Climate Change Commission who should have been ensuring that the Philippines became “climate-resilient” and “climate-smart,” had they not anticipated that climate change could go worse and cause super typhoons such as Yolanda? The Philippines also have the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council who is responsible for the protection and welfare of the people during disasters or emergencies, what have they done to prepare us for the disasters that came our way this year? The answer lies ahead.
If one were to ask "what are the projects done this 2020?" easy: airports, railway developments, the infamous Manila Bay rehabilitation, and endless construction of bridges and expressways. All of which are included in the Duterte Administration's 'Build, Build, Build' program. These infrastructures are deemed essential in boosting the country's "nfrastructure expenditure, assuring the nation's growth, to create more jobs, and improve the lives of Filipinos."
But should the question: "what are the steps the Philippines take to prepare for disasters or to prevent and reduce the damage the calamities could bring?" be asked, the only answers we could come up are the flood control projects and the disaster response seminars.
Say that these architectures the administration takes pride in are "important," one still cannot deny the fact that these infrastructures do the least job if not, nothing at all to prepare the nation for severe calamities. As long as the government prioritizes finishing this idealistic plan of theirs, they would most likely fail as well to recognize the Philippines' vulnerability to natural disasters, therefore, lacking preparedness and disregarding everyone's safety. As the saying goes, “one cannot serve two masters at the same time.”
Disaster preparedness includes allocation of budget for disaster management programs such as the Project NOAH which was suspended permanently in 2017 because they said there is no budget to sustain it. The scientists and its employees were left unpaid until their last day. Project NOAH could have monitored and evaluated how strong and destructive typhoons as strong as Ulysses could have been. It could have released an early warning to areas like Marikina and Cagayan who experienced extreme flooding up until now. Moreover, one of the causes of flooding is pollution and so disaster preparedness also includes strong implementation of policies which aim to alleviate the pollution in the urban areas. Also, establishment of more health facilities and spacious evacuation centers across the country, investing on emergency response team kits, ensuring a stable food supply especially in times of catastrophe.
In addition, providing safety nets for our farmers and fisher folks since they are also one of the most vulnerable communities during these calamities. For instance, granting the farming community subsidy to improve their techniques so they could produce a variety of higher-yielding rice. That will make them more globally competitive. This is contrary to giving them loans every time a typhoon strikes our country which is, basically, our government's default response.
Moreover, preserving our natural resources through prohibiting harmful activities such as mining, deforestation, and land-use conversion is just one of the many preventive measures the administration could do. However, the government remains blindsided, still neglecting to intervene despite all the natural disasters we have experienced this year. They even have given go-signal for the construction of Kaliwa Dam which poses grave threat to Sierra Madre. The longest mountain range is home to different endemic plant species and mammals and to various indigenous groups (Dumagat-Remontados and Agtas.) Most importantly, the watershed acts as the country's protective wall from typhoons coming from the Pacific Ocean. Permitting the construction of the Kaliwa Dam will deface the entire sierra madre, not only destroying its diversity but would make the entire country even more susceptible to damage as if we're not yet already.
All because of what? the government's negligence. The PH may not be the biggest contributor to global warming but it definitely tolerates it by not serving as a voice for the environment and even promotes it's complete destruction.
And then who remains absent, when the disaster, which they basically orchestrated, eventually strikes? But "hey, don’t fret," they would say, "help would come your way." And surely, here comes the relief operations. You’ll even hear them glorify Filipino resilience in a press interview saying, "malakas tayo, makakabangon tayo" or yet get absurd responses such as "gustuhin ko man lumangoy dahil hindi pa ako nakakaligo, hindi nila ako pinapayagan dahil iisa lang ang presidente." It's an endless toxic cycle which most of the Filipinos allow mainly because they are all used to it but no, the Philippines deserve better.
Which of the following disaster preparedness have the government accomplished already? - we'll leave this for you to answer.
Even in finance management, it is a rule that "anticipating for the worst will secure your future" and maybe that is the reason why the Philippines always had to go through the same struggles and losses because it is the government who fails to pay attention to what makes our country vulnerable; who fails to prepare efficiently and rather mask it with development projects only for us to maintain our title as the "Asia's rising tiger."
The College of Human Ecology Student Council believes that the concept of development goes beyond how many infrastructures an administration could build. It is through the quality of life the people have and the overall environmental state where development should be measured. Is proper sanitation observed, does everyone have easy access to food, are they free from any harm or danger? Is nature being properly taken care of? Are we all being a steward to it or are we abusing it? We believe that it is through government intervention that future Yolandas, Rolly, or Ulysses be prevented from ravaging our country and leaving us empty-handed again.
The CHE SC, together with everyone who are constantly affected in times of adversity, calls on the government to declare a climate emergency now, to properly allocate budget for disaster management and preparedness, to act NOW! Two more years before the Duterte administration ends, it is high time that you serve what your people really need.
REFERENCES:
[HOW GLOBAL WARMING AFFECTS THE WEATHER]
[SCIENCE BEHIND SUPER TYPHOON YOLANDA ]
[IMPORTANCE OF SIERRA MADRE]
[WHY PHILIPPINES ARE DISASTER PRONE]
[BUILD BUILD BUILD PROGRAM AND THE PROJECTS ACCOMPLISHED BY THE DUTERTE ADMINISTRATION ]
[DUTERTE'S SPEECH ON ULYSSES PH]
Коментарі