Criss-crossed
by active faults and located in the "bulls-eye" of storms, the
Philippines is the world’s third "riskiest" country and is more
vulnerable to rising sea-levels, subsiding land and warming temperatures than
Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Ma. Antonia J. Yulo Loyzaga, executive
director of the Manila Observatory, painted this grim scenario during her talk on the Philippines’
increasing vulnerability to disasters and climate change in Makati City in
Metro Manila Wednesday.
Loyzaga said 50 million schoolchildren are
exposed to earthquake hazards while 15 million residents in coastal towns are
vulnerable to rising sea-levels.
Prime
laboratory
"All of these natural hazards are making
us the prime laboratory for the study of disasters all over the world,"
Loyzaga said in her lecture "2012: A Practical Guide to Disaster Risk and
Preparedness" at the Ateneo de Manila University Professorial Schools at the
Rockwell Center.
Her talk was part of the 10th Jaime V. Ongpin
Annual Memorial Lecture on Public Service in Business and Government.
The United Nations University released a study
this year showing the Philippines as the world’s third riskiest country
"because of lack of coping capacity," behind Tonga and Vanuatu, said
Loyzaga, who was recently appointed to the Science and Technology Committee for
the Unesco’s National Commission.
"We’re even riskier than Solomon
Islands," she told the audience that included climate experts,
academicians, business leaders, and students.
Other foreign studies were more telling and
more precise on the number of vulnerable Filipinos, Loyzaga said in her
PowerPoint presentation.
In a 2007 study, the Columbia University
estimated that at least 15 million Filipinos live in low lying coastal areas or
10 meters below sea-level, she said.
"So this has implications for sea-level
rise, but also for tsunami, which of course we are at risk to all over the
country, both internally and externally generated," she said. She added
that the country was also subsiding in "major coasts."
Exposed
to hazards
In another study after the powerful May 2008
earthquake in Sichuan, China, the Columbia University also estimated that some
50 million Filipino schoolchildren were exposed to earthquake hazards, even
topping India and China, according to Loyzaga.
"If you look at the chart, the largest
figure is 10 million. The Philippines exceeds that," she said. “What we’re
trying to do is explain to the DepEd (Department of Education)…It’s fairly
simple to pick up the fault map of the Philippines from the Phivolcs
(Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology) and superimpose the
coordinates of all public and private schools. This will give us an indication
of where we must be most careful as far as protecting our school-age
children," she said.
If an earthquake were to happen during classes
at daytime, "we will have a massive problem as far as rescuing children,
much like the Sichuan earthquake," she added.
Citing researches by the Manila Observatory,
Loyzaga showed slides of warming temperature in the archipelago in the coming
years that would impact on the country’s food security.
TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
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