Metro Manila leaders told to beef up defenses vs calamities

Metro Manila leaders told to beef up defenses vs calamities

SENATOR Loren Legarda on Friday called on local government units in the Greater Metro Manila Area (GMMA) to beef up defenses against the impact of disasters and climate change.

Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on climate change, made this call at the Regional Forum on Effective Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation in GMMA held in Quezon City.

The senator said that with the National Capital Region counted as the seventh most vulnerable in the region and the most vulnerable in the country, efforts to mitigate disaster risks must be doubled.

“For cities like Metro Manila, where the main threats of extreme rainfall, sea level rise, and more powerful typhoons are present, a major flood could cause damage totaling almost a quarter of the metropolitan area’s gross domestic product (GDP) or 560 billion pesos,” the senator said.

Among the signs of GMMA’s vulnerability to extreme weather are typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, which caused unprecedented flooding in Metro Manila, Rizal, Bulacan, Laguna, and Cavite. Close to a thousand people were killed in the floods and two million families were affected. The damage from the two typhoons cost the country around $4.4 billion, she said.

This was followed by typhoons Pedring and Quel in 2011, which hit Bulacan and other provinces in Luzon. Those typhoons caused P13.9 billion in damage to agriculture and infrastructure, the senator said.

Legarda convened the regional forum “to increase local understanding of disaster and climate science, impacts, and policy responses; encourage disaster and climate-proofing of development plans and learn from successful experiences from the field.”

The forum gathered representatives of local government units, national government agencies, non-government organizations, academe, and other sectors to facilitate the integration of disaster mitigation in local development plans.

The senator has been advocating having LGUs put in place disaster-risk reduction and management programs like early warning systems to prevent loss of life from natural calamities like floods.

Meanwhile, typhoons Pedring and Quiel in 2011 battered several provinces in Luzon, including Bulacan, and caused P13.9-billion worth of damages in agriculture and public infrastructure.

“Ultimately, the objective of this forum is to help local leaders make the right choices for our people,” she said. (Jonathan de Santos/Sunnex)