What ‘Ondoy’ can teach us about urban planning
MANILA, Philippines – As Manila and the cities surrounding it slowly attempt to recover from the Ondoy catastrophe that struck last week, discussions and debates about accountability and blame have been (and still are) raging.
There are so many factors to consider: an extraordinary weather incident (we also consider the climate changes that have been happening); lack of civil-defense planning and vigilance; inadequate weather bulletins and alerts from Pagasa; poor waste management (if the creeks and rivers had not been clogged, would they have allowed a way for the released waters from the dams and the floodwaters to have somehow drain out faster?); environmental degradation (denuded watersheds); and wild and unregulated property development (why are communities allowed to grow near creeks, rivers and dams, anyway?).
Architect and urban planner Dan Lichauco, associate professor at the College of Architecture of University of Santo Tomas and managing partner of Archion Architects, points out that while urban planning is a factor in the disaster, the situation also needs to be evaluated against the fact that the weather incident that day was extreme.
“News reports said it was the worst storm in 40 years and that it was the equivalent of one month’s worth of rain falling within six hours,” he says. “The existing infrastructure that Manila has for water control and drainage just really could not deal with that much water.
“We should also remember that all of us are contributors to this disaster, from the plastic bags we throw into the sewers, to the trash in the streets, to the indiscriminate abuse of unsustainable resources and our reliance on a government that is not working, we all play a part in this disaster. The sewers and drain systems are like the veins in our body. If you feed it junk, it will give you a heart attack! There are only so many bypasses that can be performed.”
Public emotion
While Lichauco understands the current state of public emotion that is looking to pin the blame on something or someone, he hopes that, eventually, the process results in finding out how we can move forward.
“Let’s ask the right questions, get the answers, propose changes, and execute those changes,” he says.
“Parts of Manila were designed using American architect Daniel Burnham’s master plan that was created in the early 1900s,” Lichauco explains. “It was an aesthetic plan, but now we can see that engineering goes hand in hand with aesthetics. Also, Manila was razed by bombs after World War II and the reconstruction of the city did not follow any urban planning.
“Ultimately, the flooding problems and water-drainage problems of Manila is an engineering problem.”
Lichauco says urban planning standards are developed based on historical and existing data and are created to withstand destructive risks but within certain parameters.
“Forty years ago, the population and waste of Manila was vastly different from what it is now. The infrastructure that has been built since then and are in place now did not anticipate this kind of situation. The drain systems were designed based on a standard and average amount of rainfall. In recent years, all these averages were thrown out the window.
“Yes, better planning could have possibly mitigated the effects of this calamity, but then, it’s also possible you cannot completely stop a storm of this nature,” he says.
New thinking needed
He notes that urban planning standards will have to be changed in accordance with the new data provided by this situation. “In the same way that the great earthquake and fire of San Francisco in 1906 changed the standards of that city’s urban planning, Manila will have to reevaluate and revise its standards, too,” he says. “The risks have changed, in this case, we now experience super typhoons, so the solutions will now also have to be modified.
“New standards should take into consideration the advances in construction technology and new ideas introduced by the environmental movement.”
A leading proponent of green architecture in the country, Lichauco notes that possible solutions for water drainage could include nontraditional methods.
“Concrete does not allow water to pass through, so perhaps we can start using permeable materials to line the streets to allow water to leach through into the ground,” he says. “Also, flood-prone areas could incorporate the development of parks that will serve as draining fields. The parks can be used by the public whenever it is not needed as a retaining pond.
“Now we know for a fact that the city’s systems are unable to sustain something of this magnitude. The question now is, How and will we be able to upgrade these systems? We have to use this disaster as an opportunity to evaluate and change the necessary building and urban designs in the country.”
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Do-gooders’ do’s, don’t’s
MANILA, Philippines — Good Samaritans who initiate relief operations in disaster-stricken communities must keep in mind a few important things to ensure that their efforts will make the most impact on the people who need them, a disaster response executive said.
The Corporate Network for Disaster Response (CNDR), a nongovernment organization involved in large-scale disaster-risk reduction and emergency-relief work, recently shared some do’s and don’t’s it learned over the years.
“In extending emergency relief, there’s a lot of science to it, too,” said Alberto Lim, president of the CNDR and executive director of the Makati Business Club.
“There are many do-gooders who come into a community then end up being chased out. You don’t just dump goods on disaster-stricken areas. The last thing you want to happen is to cause riots or [a situation in which] the barangay captain opens a sari-sari store. These things happen all the time. Sometimes you end up with another disaster,” Lim said.
Through the years, the CNDR has developed a practical handbook for relief work, striving to make operations more effective, while ensuring accountability to donors.
The following are some of CNDR’s tips.
• Do the groundwork first. Get the number of individuals and families affected, as well as the number of fatalities, the injured or those ill, and of houses damaged or destroyed. Also gather data on crop damage, condition of critical facilities and estimated cost of damage.
• Identify the worst hit and least served communities.
• Coordinate with the Department of Social Work and Development and the National Disaster Coordinating Council.
• Identify targets and prepare assistance based on immediate needs, usually medicine and rescue. Consult with other NGOs so that efforts don’t overlap and “over-serve” certain communities.
• In preparing food assistance, try to give families what can cover their basic caloric needs for one week. Avoid giving foodstuffs that are low in nutrients like noodles. A standard package that can sustain a family of five for a week includes eight kilos of rice, half a kilo of fish (or dried fish), half a kilo of mongo, three cans of sardines or corned beef (or any food containing protein), some salt and sugar, and water.
Cash donations
• The best way to help is to give cash donations. Old clothes may help but they are usually not the immediate requirements. Calamity victims have no use for high-heeled shoes or ball gowns.
• In extending relief to urban poor communities, don’t go into the middle of a community. Go to the community church and enlist the help of the parish priest for the orderly distribution of relief goods.
• Don’t destroy the local economy by flooding the disaster-stricken area with consumer goods that are readily available in the community.
• To avoid crowding out local businesses and save on transportation costs, bring only the goods that local entrepreneurs don’t sell.
• For large-scale purchases of relief goods, bid out the procurement to get the best deal.
• To ensure transparency and accountability to beneficiaries and to the donors, document the disaster response in all stages.
Documentation
Using a grant from the Coca-Cola Foundation in 2004, the CNDR has developed some forms for the documentation of its disaster response.
For instance, the Damage, Needs and Capacities Assessment (DNCA) form is used by field staff that validate requests for assistance and the criteria for selecting beneficiaries.
A receipt serves to monetize non-cash donations to establish how much goods were received
When the CNDR mobilizes assistance, it disseminates an emergency response appeal to guide groups that want to launch an appeal for assistance.
The appeal contains information that donors would like to know. During relief operations, each family receiving a pack will have to sign a form to help establish where the donations went.
A checklist is also needed to speed up the preparation of materials, and the identification of things to be done during distribution and what should be done after.
Disaster prevention
But disaster relief operation is just one part of the spectrum, according to Lim.
The more crucial advocacy of the CNDR is disaster prevention. “Preparedness is really the way to go—building up the capacity of communities. This is what we’ve been advocating since 1995,” he said.
The CNDR obtained a grant from the US Agency for International Development in the 1990s to promote disaster preparedness.
It continues its work using funding from the European Union. Through the years, it has been giving seminars on the subject.
“An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure,” Lim said.
For instance, he said drills must be conducted to prepare people for the real thing, like an earthquake, volcanic eruption or flash floods.
He added that regional planning across political boundaries was also needed.
“In the disaster management circle, prevention is very expensive because it needs infrastructure,” Lim said. “But we should invest in preparedness. That’s the best disaster response, instead of paying for it later when disaster strikes.”
Hazard mapping
Learning from the flooding caused by Tropical Storm “Ondoy” (international codename: Ketsana) in Metro Manila, Lim said hazard mapping must be included in land-use planning.
“We should do hazard mapping for all kinds of hazards, such as floods and earthquake,” he said. “What some building owners can do is to retrofit buildings to make them more disaster-proof.”
More preparations, he said, were badly needed in Metro Manila. If a strong earthquake hits a dense area, such as Makati City on a working day, open areas must be identified so that people would know where to go.
Subdivisions on fault line
Lim also noted that subdivisions were sitting on the Marikina Valley fault line. “It’s not a question of if. It’s a question of when [a disaster will happen],” he said.
The CNDR was founded initially to assist in emergency relief work after the series of disasters that hit the country, such as the 7.2-intensity earthquake in northern Luzon, the Mt. Pinatubo volcanic eruptions and a number of killer typhoons.
“At that time, though companies were already responding, we found out that they have a lot of assets they can lend like helicopters and digging equipment,” Lim said.
“Like in Baguio then, we were bringing medical teams to rescue people. In rescuing people trapped in buildings, we used [the staff of] mining companies,” he said.
In another relief operation, Manila Water Co. brought water treatment equipment to Iloilo.
The CNDR started with 20 members, including corporate founders San Miguel Corp., Sycip, Gorres and Velayo, and Petron Corp.
To date, it has some 40 institutional members, including the 400-member MBC and the 150-member American Chamber of Commerce. The ABS-CBN Foundation, Smart Communications and Globe Telecom are also part of the network.
Metro Manila mired in mud‘Ondoy’ death toll now 73;
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Survivors seethe with anger
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Ondoy dumped more rains than Katrina
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Delayed rescue angers Marikina residents
73 dead, more than 300,000 displaced by Ondoy News Most Read RSS
MANILA, Philippines—As many areas of Metro Manila remained without power Sunday, rescuers plucked bodies from muddy floodwaters and scrambled to save drenched survivors on rooftops after Storm “Ondoy” left 73 people dead in a strike across the region.
Nearly 300,000 people were affected by the storm, including some 47,000 who were brought to schools, churches and other evacuation shelters, officials said.
Education officials suspended classes at all levels on Monday and Tuesday in Metro Manila and Rizal province.
Manila Electric Co. said that as of noon, about one million Meralco customers—or about one-fifth of its total number of customers—were still without electricity.
Damage to agriculture as of Sunday was estimated at P510 million in regions Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and Calabarzon, with damage to rice crops initially placed at P490 million.
In a statement, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said: “Ondoy was a once in a lifetime typhoon, an extreme event whose record rainfall strained our response capabilities to the limit but ultimately did not break us.”
Ms Arroyo pledged to help people rebuild their homes and directed the trade department “to ensure a steady supply of foodstuffs and other essentials at reasonable prices to consumers.”
She ordered the Department of Energy to “secure the availability of gasoline, LPG, and similar products under normal terms.”
Army troops, police and civilian volunteers have rescued more than 5,100 people.
Ondoy (international name: Ketsana) roared across Luzon on Saturday, dumping more than a month’s worth of rain in just 12 hours.
Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Victor Ibrado, accompanied by journalists, flew over several towns onboard Air Force helicopters to witness the harrowing sight of drenched survivors still marooned on top of half-submerged buses and rooftops.
Some dangerously clung on high-voltage power lines, while others plodded through waist-high flood waters, TV footage showed.
In Marikina City, a rescuer gingerly lifted the mud-covered body of a child from a boat and carried away two other bodies found in a search of a flooded neighborhood.Many residents lost all their belongings in the storm, but were thankful they were alive.
“We’re back to zero,” said resident Ronald Manlangit. Mud covered everything—cars, the road and vegetables—in a public market near Manlangit’s house.
Bulacan Gov. Joselito Mendoza said it was tragic that “people drowned in their own houses” as the storm raged.
The sun shone briefly in Manila on Sunday, revealing the extent of devastation in many neighborhoods—destroyed houses, overturned vans and cars, and streets and highways covered in debris and mud.Ondoy, which packed winds of 85 kilometers per hour with gusts of up to 100 kph, hit land early Saturday then roared across the main Luzon island toward the South China Sea.
After presiding over an NDCC meeting, Ms Arroyo, wearing a shiny trench coat and pink knee-high boots, proceeded to badly hit Cainta, Rizal to inspect the situation.
In the aftermath of Ondoy, 73 people were reported dead, 23 missing, four injured, and 47,261 displaced, according to the NDCC.
The fatalities included two soldiers and four militiamen who were swept away by a strong current while rescuing residents in Fami and Mabitac towns in Laguna province.
The NDCC breakdown of the death toll was: three in Muntinlupa; two in Quezon City; one each in Marikina, San Juan City, and Cabugao town in Apayao; 21 in Central Luzon (nine in Bulacan; 12 in Arayat, Pampanga); one in Calaca, Batangas; one in Calauag, Quezon; 23 in Tanay, 10 in Angono, five in Baras, three in Rodriguez and one in Teresa, all in Rizal.
The nine-hour deluge submerged houses, washed away shanties and turned roads into raging rivers, forcing terrified residents to seek refuge on top of homes or cars where they waited for more than 24 hours.The US military contributed a helicopter and six boats to the relief operations.
The downpour left some areas of the metropolis under up to 20 feet of water, shocking a country that is already used to being battered by typhoons with its ferocity.
No classes
Adding to the chaos, telephone and power services were cut off in the worst-hit areas and patchy for other parts of Manila.
“All classes at all levels in the National Capital Region and Rizal are suspended (today and tomorrow),” Lapus said. “Homes and access roads are still flooded. Some schools which are not flooded or damaged are being used as evacuation centers.”
He said that, in other municipalities or areas, local government and school authorities may exercise judgment on suspending classes depending on their respective local conditions.
Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) Chair Emmanuel Angeles said the heads of colleges and universities in the provinces could suspend classes in their own schools if necessary.
“Damage this storm has caused is heartbreaking,” US Embassy spokesperson Rebecca Thompson said in a statement. She said Ambassador Kristie Kenney had offered $50,000 in immediate disaster relief assistance.
“Ensuring the safety of the public was the primary reason for cutting off power in the said circuits,” said Meralco external communications manager Joe Zaldarriaga.
“Unfortunately, the floods have been slow in subsiding and this impedes the progress of our restoration work in a number of our substations,” he said.
He said that should customers have any difficulty getting through the Meralco hotline 16211, they could also text 09175592824 and 0920-9292824.
At least 38 people were killed by flooding in Bulacan and a landslide in Pampanga.
Reports from the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC) said at least 26 people died from drowning or electrocution in the towns of Bocaue, Guiguinto, Bustos, Marilao and Norzagaray, and Meycauayan City.
Water releases from the Angat and Ipo dams in Norzagaray town were stopped at 12 a.m. Sunday, reports from the PDCC and dam officials said. The dams breached their critical levels on Saturday.
“Whoever opened the dams that flooded Metro Manila without warning should be prosecuted for the loss of lives and property,” Pimentel said in a text message.
Bulacan officials said excess water released by the dams should not be blamed for the massive flooding that hit Metro Manila and parts of Central Luzon.
Pearly Mendoza, provincial administrator, said many areas outside Bulacan, which are not along the path of waterways where the excess water from Angat and Ipo would pass through, also experienced heavy flooding.
German said the dam’s rate of water release on Saturday was an average of 500 cubic meters per second (cms), which he described as “within the tolerable limit.”
