Warnings in the Philippines are often left unheeded by government officials.
Conservation International identified the Philippines as 4th in the 10 most threatened forest in the world. It further said that 100 years ago, the forest cover of the Philippine was 97% of the country's total land area.
When the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos assumed office in 1965, it was still almost 80%. When he was toppled down after 20 years, the forest cover was estimated to be only 27%.
Through the administrations of Cory Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, or, a total of 24 year later, the forest cover is now down to only 7%. The World Wildlife Fund puts it at a pitiful 3%.
Conservation International identified the Philippines as 4th in the 10 most threatened forest in the world. It further said that 100 years ago, the forest cover of the Philippine was 97% of the country's total land area.
When the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos assumed office in 1965, it was still almost 80%. When he was toppled down after 20 years, the forest cover was estimated to be only 27%.
Through the administrations of Cory Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, or, a total of 24 year later, the forest cover is now down to only 7%. The World Wildlife Fund puts it at a pitiful 3%.
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| In 2009, a baby is led to safety by her father in a plastic basin in Cagayan de Oro. (Source: Digital Photographer Philippines) |
Way back on January 3, 2009, Cagayan de Oro and Iligan already experienced one of their worst flash floods.
Mark Anthony Ermac had a few details of the 2009 Iligan flash flood in his blog.
The disaster was well analyzed by another blogger named BenCyrus G. Ellorin. He is a member of Task Force Macajalar, an anti-illegal logging group based in Cagayan de Oro.
The huge volumes of water from the Kalatungan Mountain Range in Lanao del Sur and Mt. Kitanglad Mountain Range in Bukidnon were the main sources of the swell in the Cagayan de Oro and Iligan Rivers.
That was only three (3) years ago.
Last Saturday, Typhoon Sendong literally came like a thief in the night. Flash floods claimed more lives and more damage to properties in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and Dumaguete. The devastation in outlying municipalities were just as harsh.
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| (Source: Tony Alejo thru www.facebook/ksweather) |
In the aftermath of the typhoon, tons and tons of logs are seen floating at Iligan Bay.
Now, we know why the waters came rushing in.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that the Philippines was the first Asian country to wipe out its forest cover after World War II.
PCIJ wrote a story on why illegal logging is fight we just might lose.
We never learn.
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| (Source: Zeitel Apple Albia thru www.facebook/ksweather) |
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| (Source: Valencia Fire Station) |
Volunteers try to pull-out the body of a woman who was half-buried in a pile of debris stucked to a post.
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| (Source: Melissa Alexandra B. Pal on Facebook) |
Dumaguete rescuers hold on to a rope as they form a human chain to rescue 32 passengers and crew, including an infant, of the ill-fated M/V Ever Transport III in Barangay Calindagan, Dumaguete City at 4 o'clock am, Saturday after it was battered by big waves.
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| (Source: Aimeelyn Fuentes thru GMA You Scoop) |
Vehicles pile up in Iligan City.
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| (Source: FU Broadcom) |
Rampaging flood waters cut a mean path through houses.
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| (Source: Hersley-Ven Casero on Facebook) |
City residents can only watch the fury of nature along the Banica River in Dumaguete City.
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| (Source: Lemuel Colina Real on Facebook) |
Residents hitch a ride on a payloader in Tanjay City in Negros Oriental.
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| (Source: Jerry Go Calimpong on Facebook) |
Unidentified bodies pile-up in Cagayan de Oro City.
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| (Source: Lemuel Colina Real on Facebook) |
The calamity did not dampen the festive spirit of Filipinos. Here, a pig is carried on a pole ready to be roasted as Lechon (roasted suckling pig) in Tanjay City.
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| (Source: Lemuel Colina Real on Facebook) |
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| (Source: Lemuel Colina Real on Facebook) |
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| (Source: Ron Balderas Claro on Facebook) |
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| (Source: Sirdonz Fotography on Facebook) |
The Freedom Park infront of the Negros Oriental Capitol Buildling looks like one big fishpond.
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| (Source: New Philippine Revolution) |
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| (Source: New Philippine Revolution) |
Another father in Cagayan de Oro City was not as fortunate. He was found dead in the debris with his arms clasp around his lifeless children.
Based on a December 19, 2011 Philippine Daily Inquirer item entitled "A minute's delay could have been tragic," Rex Godinez Ortega narrated:
In Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, Ondoy's fury was unleashed in the dead of the night. However, in Dumaguete City, it occurred when there was already daylight. The following video taken by Mark Anthony Besario (and the subject of a rappler.com article) demonstrates the energy of the flash flood. We presume the flash floods in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan were more powerful.
The key question is, where did all the water come from?
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The map on the left traces the tributaries of the Cagayan de Oro River which goes deep into the Mt. Kitanglad Mountain Range in Bukidnon.
The one on the right shows the tributaries of the Agus River from the Kalatungan Mountain Range in Lanao del Sur draining into Lake Lanao and subsequently into Agus River of the famed Maria Cristina Falls.
(Source: Wikipedia.org)
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The headwaters of the Cagayan de Oro river originate some 90 kilometers deep in the Mt. Kitanglad Mountain Range and empty into the Macajalar Bay.
Mt. Kintanglad Mountain Range has an area of 30,642 hectares. The amount of rainfall in the area during Sendong was 118 mm. The entire Mt. Kitanglad Mouintain Range therefore received some 36.16 million cubic meters of water from early evening on December 16, 2011 onwards.
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| The two mountain ranges also contribute water to the Rio Grande river in Cotabato City but it seemed Sendong only left water on the north side of these ranges based on the results of the flash floods. |
In Cagayan de Oro, my brother-in-law said that when they awakened a few minutes after midnight, or, at 12:30 am on December 17, 2011, water inside their one-storey bungalow was already up to their knees. After only 2 hours, or around 2:30 am, water was already up to their necks. The strong current and mud erosion made the doors impossible to open.
In pitch darkness, he toppled their refrigerator and stood on it so he could pry open the ceiling and eventually the roof. He and his family, including a 7-year old boy and 2 younger girls where hauled to the roof through this opening and they stayed on the roof, under the rain, shivering until daybreak. At the height of the flood, he could only watch in utter helplessness at the silhouette of his SUV bobbing up and down in the garage.
If half of the water from Bukidnon drained into the Cagayan de Oro River, the water would fill 7,231 olympic-size swimming pools.
We don't have data on how much our government earns from logging activities and how much illegal loggers earn from illegal logging but we have data on the estimate on how much we lose in flash floods.
The Ormoc Tragedy from Tropical Storm Uring (International Name: Thelma), which claimed between 5,000 to 8,000 lives was one of the worst typhoon disasters in the Phlippines. Logs also came down with the flash flood just like in Iligan City last weekend. Cost in 1991: P1.044 billon.
Floodwaters from Ondoy came from run-off water from the Sierra Mountain Range emptying into the Marikina River, then Pasig River. 246 dead and 300,000 persons displaced. Cost: P23 billion.
These should have already been sufficient wake-up calls.
Lessons should have been learned but our politicians chose to ignore them.
We are the top Christian country in Asia, the fifth in the world and our political and business leaders were trained in the best schools here in the country and some even in Ivy League schools abroad, so you would that think this country will excel? Wrong. The basic common sense has been lost through the years.
Schools come after parents in the learning ladder. The schools do not make the student but since more often than not, these schools produce our leaders, the least they could do is adapt their curriculum to address this basic weak point in leadership. The parents and the church should also do their part to mold responsible citizens.
We always claim to be the best but why do we usually find ourselves lower at the bottom every year?
The pillage of the natural resources in the Philippines is all over the internet and one assessment from the World Wildlife Fund is very clear:
From Gaia Discovery:
Problems have to be simply addressed. Come June 2012, we will again hear of classroom, books and teacher shortages. It's a never-ending litany.
Has the Philippines become a masochists society?
Meanwhile, the poor filipino patiently waits for the next disaster to strike...
In pitch darkness, he toppled their refrigerator and stood on it so he could pry open the ceiling and eventually the roof. He and his family, including a 7-year old boy and 2 younger girls where hauled to the roof through this opening and they stayed on the roof, under the rain, shivering until daybreak. At the height of the flood, he could only watch in utter helplessness at the silhouette of his SUV bobbing up and down in the garage.
If half of the water from Bukidnon drained into the Cagayan de Oro River, the water would fill 7,231 olympic-size swimming pools.
For all that water to travel some 90 km in a span of about 6 hours mean that there were less barriers found along the way.
We don't have data on how much our government earns from logging activities and how much illegal loggers earn from illegal logging but we have data on the estimate on how much we lose in flash floods.
The Ormoc Tragedy from Tropical Storm Uring (International Name: Thelma), which claimed between 5,000 to 8,000 lives was one of the worst typhoon disasters in the Phlippines. Logs also came down with the flash flood just like in Iligan City last weekend. Cost in 1991: P1.044 billon.
Floodwaters from Ondoy came from run-off water from the Sierra Mountain Range emptying into the Marikina River, then Pasig River. 246 dead and 300,000 persons displaced. Cost: P23 billion.
These should have already been sufficient wake-up calls.
Lessons should have been learned but our politicians chose to ignore them.
We are the top Christian country in Asia, the fifth in the world and our political and business leaders were trained in the best schools here in the country and some even in Ivy League schools abroad, so you would that think this country will excel? Wrong. The basic common sense has been lost through the years.
Schools come after parents in the learning ladder. The schools do not make the student but since more often than not, these schools produce our leaders, the least they could do is adapt their curriculum to address this basic weak point in leadership. The parents and the church should also do their part to mold responsible citizens.
We always claim to be the best but why do we usually find ourselves lower at the bottom every year?
The pillage of the natural resources in the Philippines is all over the internet and one assessment from the World Wildlife Fund is very clear:
From Gaia Discovery:
Problems have to be simply addressed. Come June 2012, we will again hear of classroom, books and teacher shortages. It's a never-ending litany.
Has the Philippines become a masochists society?
Meanwhile, the poor filipino patiently waits for the next disaster to strike...
this is a very interesting take and very graphic pictures could we use some of these to increase awareness for Basilan Sulu and Tawi-tawi
ReplyDelete:How sad. I pray for those in Manila for in the last two days it has flooded and a red alert is issued. SO many suffering.
ReplyDeleteAnd this won't stop because forests cannot grow fast enough. Just like Boracay that is nearly dead with over growth from foreign investors and coral reefs destroyed, white sands turning yellow. Sewage allowed to run into the beaches as the new sewage treatment plant treats a small percentage of the islands' sewage.
Does it always have to be about ignorant greed? The nation is losing value and respect by many. Thank you for sharing this important reading.