We understand that the Philippines 1. is in the path of no less than 20 typhoons a year. 2. most of the typhoons carry more moisture (ie rainfall than the earlier ones) ----> hence we allocate more funds into flood control every appropriations year running into billions. P1.4 trillion in fact for the past 10 years.
Many vaunted mega projects on river basins with borrowings from multilateral institutions. We keep on saying that flood is not a matter of administrative supervision by a town or district but covers a large expanse as in the case of Bicol or Metro Manila.
But nothing seem to be happening in the flood control or mitigating structures. The photo and video we saw of Bicol ie a bridge connecting Iriga and a town seems to be substandard and devoid of sturdy reinforcement underneath. How can this happen to a structure that is visible So what happens to the structure underneath?
Let us make those 5500 flood control projects work. Let uus not allow our countrymen tobe in harms way due to flood and typhoon. There are many things that can be done:
1. Declare certain area inhabitable. Remove residents from waterways. Transfer them to flood free areas. Revise land use map. Move away residential areas from flood prone areas as lakes or rives. Building officials LGU must do their jobs
2. Use Drones, satellite pictures to study floods. Refer to big data to study history of flooding Refer to experts and geniuses in hydrology and flood controls (and there are plenty of them here in the Philippines)
3. Simulate flood flow using computer models and even scale models. Use maximum rainfall as we see now for the simulation
4. Use the best minds to create flood control mitigating measures.
5. Mitigating measures/structures could have been built:
1. Impounding lakes
2. Dredging of silted waterways
3. Impounding pons or lakes to slow down the flow
4 Fllod ways and floodgates as in Manggahan and Napindan channels (for Naga and Bico rivers
The Dutch Englishmen Japanese have solved their flooding problems by throwing in a lot of money. We have thrown in a lot of money too
I am sure these are being done. But if there is corruption....
