ENDEAVOR
A global summit – the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – is ongoing in Glasgow, Scotland to address global concerns on the continuing threats posed by unabated global warming.
The Philippines will likely play anew a pivotal role in this summit, as one of the leaders of the influential Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), a global partnership of countries that are disproportionately affected by the consequences of global warming, in terms of natural disasters. This group led the framing of the COP 21 Paris agreement that compels all signatories to commit to limiting global warming to not more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
We recall three disastrous super typhoons, including one that hit the country eight years ago this week, as these serve as timely reminders of the high stakes in the COP26 summit.
Yolanda (Haiyan); Nov. 7, 2013
Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) struck Samar and Leyte and cut a wide swath of destruction that reached Cebu and Iloilo. The deadliest typhoon to ever hit the Philippines, it was one the most powerful typhoons of all time.
Its grim tale of devastation: 6,340 persons dead and 1,771 missing; 1.1 million homes damaged; 33 million coconut trees destroyed, a major source of livelihood; 5.9 million workers displaced; 3,375 schools ravaged, affecting 152,000 children.
An eyewitness, Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, head of a United Nations disaster assessment coordination team, recalled: “There are cars thrown like tumbleweeds and the streets are strewn with debris. The last time I saw something of this scale was in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.” A unique phenomenon accompanying Yolanda’s landfall was a storm surge, defined as “a coastal flood of rising water above the normal tidal level. In Tacloban City, Leyte, the airport terminal building was destroyed by a 5.2-meter (17 feet) storm surge up to the height of its second story.
I recall that as early as two days before Yolanda made landfall, President Aquino made a primetime television address to warn about the possible strength of Yolanda and especially about the possibility of a storm surge. Apparently, the warning was left largely unheeded by those living along the coastlines.
Pope Francis made a pastoral visit to the country in early 2015 in order to provide solace to the victims of this major catastrophe. As he said mass near the Tacloban airport terminal building attended by thousands of faithful, strong winds from tropical storm Amang (Mekkhala) buffeted the specially constructed stage made up of sawali or woven bamboo mats.
Pablo (Bopha); Dec. 5, 2012
A year before Yolanda struck, Super Typhoon Pablo (Bopha) made landfall as the strongest tropical cyclone to ever hit the island of Mindanao as a Category 5 super-typhoon with winds of 280 kilometers per hour. It also had the distinction of being the second-most southerly super typhoon that originated closest to the equator.
It was an unprecedented occurrence. After all, the last typhoon came by almost a century earlier. Pablo made landfall in Baganga, and the nearby towns of Cateel and Boston in Davao Oriental. Then it crossed over to Compostela Valley that eventually sustained the worst damage from its fury. According to then Governor Arthur Uy, many people were taken aback, as they did not have any previous experience of typhoons.
New Bataan town was among those heavily damaged by mudslides that caused big rocks and boulders to roll down from the mountainsides. This municipality had been carved out of the former capital town of Compostela that witnessed the influx of more than 23,000 new inhabitants from 1983 to 1988 when gold deposits were discovered. A total of 1,901 fatalities were recorded in the aftermath of super typhoon Pablo, nearly 400 of whom from this erstwhile gold rush area.
Sendong (Washi); Dec. 16, 2011
A year before Pablo struck, Tropical Storm Sendong (international name: Washi) made landfall on the eastern coast of Mindanao, dumping heavy rains that meteorologists later described as a one-in-very-20-years phenomenon. According to the NASA and JAXA (Japanese Space Exploration Agency) Tropical Storm Monitoring Station, rainfall accumulations of up to 400 millimeters (16 inches) were recorded within a 24-hour period.
Two cities, Cagayan de Oro and Iligan – 90.5 kilometers apart – bore the brunt of the disaster. A total of 1,147 people lost their lives while 1,993 were injured. In Cagayan de Oro, residents of what was a dried-up portion of the river that became an informal dwellers’ settlement was among those hardest hit. An account of what happened in Iligan says: “Survivors said huge logs thundering down mountainsides crushed residents. Television footage showed many recovered bodies with arms or hands raised as if reaching out for help or clinging on to something.”
I had the opportunity to visit both cities a few weeks later. The military team that was undertaking relief operations gave a briefing. What struck me was an aerial photo of the beachfront of Iligan Bay that, on closer look, was clogged by logs – apparently confirming the survivors’ stories.