Lessons from past typhoon disasters

Like many residents of Marikina City and those adjacent to bodies of water in Luzon, the recent heavy rains that the country experienced from the southern monsoons caused by tropical storm Karding (Yagi) brought back too-familiar fears.

Nine years ago, on Sept. 26, 2009, very heavy rainfall resulting from tropical storm Ondoy (Ketsana) inundated low-lying areas of Metro Manila that left floods as high as 10 feet and traffic at a standstill, and temporarily disabled power, communication, and water connections.

To make matters worse, Typhoon Pepeng (Parma) made landfall north of Luzon on Oct. 3 and lingered long enough to cause widespread flooding in Pangasinan. It became one of the deadliest typhoons to hit the Philippines in a decade.

Economic drag

All told, the total damage wrought by the two typhoons was estimated at a hefty P206 billion, which brought the country’s annual GDP growth to mere 1.15 percent, the lowest since 1998’s negative 0.58 percent performance brought about by political uncertainties.

Without a doubt, super typhoons like Ondoy and Pepeng can pull back economic growth, not just because of the immediate destruction of property and loss of lives, but also due to the lost opportunities that would reduce economic productivity in damaged areas.

Ondoy, Pepeng, and a few more smaller typhoons that followed during the rest of year are estimated to have cost the country the equivalent of 2.7 percent in GDP growth, especially since the regions affected accounted for over 60 percent of the country’s economic productivity.

Two post-assessments

If there is one lesson that the country has learned well in 2009 and in 2013 when super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) pummeled Tacloban City and surrounding areas, it is the fact that disaster risk reduction and management is not just a concept in local and national governance.

Still, as our bureaucracy has time and again displayed, action is something that can take years to galvanize, even with the horrifying lessons of loss of lives and destruction of property.

After Ondoy and Pepeng, the World Bank did a post-disaster needs assessment (PDNA) in 2009 that contained a comprehensive damage and loss appraisal covering almost all sectors of Philippine society, including macroeconomic and social.

Five key areas were pointed out for the government to focus on to ensure the recovery and reconstruction of areas damaged by the two typhoons. The World Bank warned that disaster-related calamities would likely recur, if adequate measures are not taken to reduce risk.

The five priority issues covered (1) The restoration of agricultural, fisheries, and livestock production; (2) Flood management (3) Housing for low-income families (4) Governance of local government and (5) Disaster risk management.

A  PDNA was similarly conducted by the World Bank after Yolanda, although four years after, focusing on the efforts made to rehabilitate
Tacloban and other areas affected by the super typhoon.

Yolanda’s challenge

Yolanda was unlike Ondoy and Pepeng, even if both of them were combined. Yolanda caused over 6,300 reported deaths, and plunged an additional 2.3 million people below the poverty line. Total damage and loss was estimated at P571.1 billion, and it dragged economic growth by about 0.9 percent in 2013, and another 0.3 percent in 2014.

The scale of devastation led to the outpouring of international aid that was unprecedented in Philippine history. It also tested on a new level how our government responded to the disaster and eventual rehabilitation considering the extent of and in conjunction with help from non-government sectors.

The Yolanda PDNA highlighted the issues on the side of government and all other non-government actors: (1) Coordination at all levels (2) Aid transparency and accountability (3) Systems and protocols for donations and assistance (4) Conduct of post-disaster needs assessment and (5) Recovery planning, implementation, monitoring, and communications.

Not enough

Considering that the Philippines is highly prone to typhoons (averaging 20 a year) and even other natural disasters like earthquakes and landslides, the impact of climate change will only worsen the country’s exposure to future incidents.

Ondoy and Pepeng led to the establishment of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), which was previously known as the National Disaster Coordinating Council.

A review was conducted in 2015 after Yolanda had prompted lawmakers to look at ways to further improve and strengthen the law that governs the NDRRMC. The scale and impact of the super typhoon had shown that the NDRRM Council-structure was not able to quickly respond and lead in the rehabilitation and recovery efforts.

Direct command line

Of the recent initiatives, the current administration has supported the need to form a Department of Disaster Management. This is expected to make the national government more empowered to respond to calamities. It is also expected to establish a firmer command responsibility line that can wield far-reaching powers than that of the “ad-hoc” NDRRMC and the Office of Civil Relations.

The two tragedies of 2009 and 2013 are pushed our government to introduce better interventions to prepare vulnerable communities, in the event of future disasters, to mitigate destruction and loss of lives, and bring about recovery at a faster clip.

Unfortunately, not fast enough. We don’t know yet how much more severe future typhoons and other natural calamities would be, and the level of response that our national and local governments have shown during the last few years do not give us much confidence.

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