The heavy rain-induced landslides in Mindanao in January had become "devastating" due to some factors like deforestation, lack of early warnings, presence of settlements in high-risk areas, and lack of government adaptation plans among others, according to a study.

In research released on Thursday, Feb. 29, by the World Weather Attribution, the rainfall on Mindanao Island is highly varying because of its geographic location in a mountainous area and also due to various weather systems affecting it.

"As a small, mountainous island affected by a wide range of weather systems, Mindanao experiences incredibly variable rainfall," Mariam Zachariah, researcher at the Grantham Institute - Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London, said.

Also, the analysis showed that heavy rainfall currently causes the region to get about 50% more rain.

"Our study found that observed heavy rainfall is increasing on Mindanao Island, like many regions of the world," Sjoukje Philip, Researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, said.

"With increasing greenhouse gas emissions, the atmosphere is becoming warmer and able to accumulate more water. This leads to heavier and more frequent downpours which can have terrible consequences, as we just experienced in the Philippines," he added.

For the brief timeline of events, the data showed that on Jan. 16, the island felt rainfall for two days, followed by heavier rainfall on Jan. 28 which kept going for five days.

It also said the floods and landslides had devastated houses and roads, as it also left more than 350,000 people displaced and at least 110 casualties of which 98 individuals lost their lives in a landslide in Masara.

Points to note

The research said the affected region is "vulnerable," as it is among the "poorest" areas in the Philippines.

"Many people work in farming and also many people work in mining. These farmers and miners often work outside along flood plains, waterways, and hillside, leaving that them at a really high, very high risk for flood," Friederike Otto, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science at the Grantham Institute - Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London, said.

She also noted that 95 percent of the wetlands in the country have been lost causing flood water to flow anywhere even up into people's homes and infrastructures.

Moreover, a high rate of deforestation was observed, which made land susceptible to flood damage.

"There are quite a lot of adaptation plans in place in the region and also very good adaptation plans, participatory to include the populations and the different parts of society, but it's like the government has not always able to implement them at the scale that is needed," she said.

In addition, she said that the warnings were "late," as the early rainfall, flooding, and landslide warnings were made on Jan. 28, the same day when the heavy rainfall and flooding occurred.

"There is really room for improvement to have slightly earlier warnings and so can people can go to safety," she said.