FOR years, fatalities in our storms and typhoons were mostly drowning victims, people crushed to death by falling trees, and fishermen and boat passengers carried out to sea. In 2003, super-typhoon Yolanda brought a new threat to life in storm-hit areas – the storm surge, a wall of seawater six to eight feet high surging inland destroying everything in its path, then sweeping back to sea with the bodies of thousands of drowning victims.
A new major cause of death has become increasingly common in more recent storms – landslides. Entire sides of hills and mountains – trees, rocks, and all – have come sliding down to bury whole communities. Last Wednesday, Executive Director Ricardo Jalad of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported a death toll of 85 and still rising from tropical depression Usman, mostly killed when their homes collapsed under landslides after several days of heavy rains. The Bicol region suffered the most fatalities – 68 – in the rains and landslides.
Twenty persons were reported missing. They were believed to have been buried in the landslides. It was heartbreaking, said Vice President Leni Robredo when she visited Sagnay, Camarines Sur. “There were whole families who disappeared, with only one or two members left behind.”
The surviving victims are in dire need of assistance, she said, but she cited the need for a long-term approach to the problem posed by landslides. The victims should no longer return to their communities hit by landslides, she said.
Just as there are dangerous sites near rivers, lakes, seas, and other bodies of water, there are today many other areas that have become dangerous because of denudation of forests, mining, and other construction activities. We continue to have about the same number of storms carrying about the same amount of rainwater – powerful Yolanda was a rarity. But certain parts of our many islands may have become endangered by human activity where there was none before, weakening the earth and thus making it prone to landslides.
The long-term approach suggested by Vice President Robredo should be undertaken nationwide. Otherwise we will come to have an increasing number of deaths during storms and typhoons due to landslides.
