El Niño to affect 60 M people this year – WHO

MANILA, Philippines - El Niño will affect some 60 million people worldwide this year and many of them will suffer health problems, according to the World Health Organization.

It warned that severe drought, flooding, heavy rains and rising temperature can lead to  food insecurity and malnutrition, disease outbreaks, acute water shortages and disruption of health services.

Health implications are usually more intense in developing countries with fewer capacities to reduce the health consequences, Richard Brennan, WHO  Emergency Risk Management and Humanitarian Response Department director, said.

“From Ethiopia to Haiti to Papua New Guinea, we are seeing the damage from El Niño,” he said. “We believe the impact on public health is likely to continue throughout 2016, even after El Niño winds down.”       

Brennan said governments must invest now in strengthening their preparedness and response efforts to prevent unnecessary deaths and illnesses. 

El Niño is a warming of the central to eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, which affects rainfall patterns and temperatures in many parts of the world but most intensely in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America, which are particularly vulnerable to natural hazards.

Typically, some places receive much more rain than normal while others receive much less. 

El Niño from 2015 to 2016 is predicted to be the worst in recent years, and comparable to El Niño in 1997-1998, which had major health consequences worldwide.

In Eastern Africa, as a result of El Niño in 1997-1998, WHO found that rainfall patterns were unusually heavy and led to serious flooding and major outbreaks of malaria, cholera and Rift Valley Fever.

The health costs of El Niño have reached $76 million.

This is based on the reported requests for financial support from seven high-risk countries: Ethiopia, Lesotho, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda.

WHO expects more countries will seek financial support to respond to El Niño effectively.

Meanwhile, Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez urged yesterday the government to conduct a nationwide inventory of emergency structures and stocks of food and medical supplies in preparation for El Niño.

“Disaster preparedness is largely a matter of infrastructure readiness,” he said.

“When disasters and natural calamities strike, our facilities should be both pre-positioned and multi-use, always ready for relief, medical and evacuation operations.

“The first quarter of the year isn’t normally typhoon season but that’s not an excuse to be lax. The heavy rains we experienced last December should give us fair warning about how unpredictable the weather has become.” 

El Niño actually triggers more destructive typhoons like Ondoy in 2009 and Lando and Nona last year, he added.

Romuladez said the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council  needs to make public what systems are in place when disasters strike,  because sooner or later, these disasters are sure to happen.

“The NDRRMC should be active all year round,” he said.

“During those times it doesn’t manage and coordinate actual disaster relief, it should always engage the public in disaster education and coordinate with the government and private sectors on disaster readiness.” 

Romualdez said an estimated 6,300 people died and half a million were left homeless in his home province in November 2013 when Super Typhoon Yolanda struck.

“Food and medicine were inexistent during the most critical first few days after Yolanda struck because these weren’t prepositioned in strategic areas at or near the province,” he said.

Ideally, separate and dedicated multi-use evacuation centers must be constructed in disaster-prone areas, he added.

Romualdez  is running for a Senate seat in May. – Sheila Crisostomo, Paolo Romero