Study: Parts of Cebu City may submerge by 2050

CEBU, Philippines — Portions of Cebu City are projected to be submerged underwater by 2050 or 30 years from now amid the continued rise in sea levels, a study produced by New Jersey-based science organization Climate Central showed.

The organization identified Cebu City and six other areas in the Philippines to suffer such fate, including Roxas City, northwestern Metro Manila and parts of Bulacan, City of Manila, southwestern Metro Manila, Zamboanga City, and Iloilo City.

Cebu City, a center for trade, commerce, and education in the Visayas, is home to more than a million people.

The research, published in the journal Nature Communications, found that 250 million people across the globe currently live on land below current annual flood levels and 110 million live below the high tide line at present.

Using a more accurate way of calculating land elevation called CoastalDEM, the study of authors Scott Kulp and Benjamin Strauss suggests there are 5.4 million Filipinos already occupying land below annual flood levels.

Annual flood level is used to denote the water level at the shoreline that local coastal floods exceed on average once per year.

The new projections for the Philippines—an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean—are based on a relatively conservative scenario of expected changes. This assumes humans will moderately reduce warming emissions roughly in line with the 2015 Paris climate agreement’s two-degree Celsius target and there will be a fairly stable Antarctica.

The numbers also used by the authors were based on a 2010 population data—100 million.

But assuming the high greenhouse gas-emissions continue unabated along with Antarctic instability, seven million Filipinos live on land that could be threatened by inundation by mid-century. By 2100, the number will rise to 13 million.

Meanwhile, the Cebu City Council has urged Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CCDRRMO) to prepare risk reduction projects in the city.

This after Mayor Edgardo Labella mentioned that Cebu City is already considered as a calamity-prone community.

“We have adopted a program for disaster preparedness and we will continue to make our officials in the city, the barangays and the constituents to be always prepare,” said Labella.

Councilor Joel Garganera, in pushing the measure at the council, said there is a need to prepare for any calamity and this can be done by instituting projects.

Among the important areas that need urgent attention are the flood mitigation, sanitation and solid waste management, he said.

"Flooding as one of the recurring problems of the city due to the lack of drainage and the reckless dumping of trash and now with the entry of rainy season and the upcoming Sinulog festival which  is expected to generate tons of garbage will be a challenge for the government." said Garganera.

Under his resolution, CCDRMO is asked to come up with measures and strategies to be implemented to strengthen further the city’s disaster preparedness operations.

Such measures will be in addition to the enacted ordinances on proper solid waste management, just like Ordinance No. 2031 that mandates the segregation of trash at source which was approved in 2004.

Under the ordinance, residents are expected to segregate their trash into biodegradable or compostable waste, non-biodegradable waste, reusable or recyclable waste, and hazardous or special waste. — Philippine Star News Service