Almost always, when there’s rain, there’s flood. At least in some parts of Davao City, the country’s biggest in terms of land area.
But then, flooding is only part of the problem. You better ask Secretary Jesus G. Dureza, the presidential adviser on the process.
When he was still writing a column, “Advocacy Mindanao,” he believes the constant flooding in the city is due to sea level rise. “My calculation is that (the sea level) has risen by one foot over a period of 20 years,” he wrote. “Hence, rain waters and floods no longer easily flow or empty out into the sea. They are clogged in the waterways and spill out into the riverbanks.”
According to Dureza, when flood waters rush down during high tide, they get stuck, at times and worse, a “backflow” of seawater during high tide. When seawaters rise high, it flows back inland through rivers. Hence, low-lying areas or subdivisions or residential areas around or near riverbanks are in trouble.
“I know this because I personally witnessed how the sea level had gone up over the years,” he pointed out. “Our family lived for four years in our resort house by the sea in the 1990’s while we were slowly renovating our house in the GSIS area inland. Our beach house was in fact built over the water, jutting out into the sea, with stilt cement posts and under our floor was sea water rising and ebbing.”
Dureza said the highest water level during high tides left water traces on the cement posts. “I would notice because every time I woke up in the morning, I could see the water markings,” he pointed out.
Some years back, a weather specialist said in a weekly forum that the waters around the archipelago rose by 1.8 millimeter every year from 1961 to 2003. The speaker presented a study which showed that coastal areas in the cities of Davao, Navotas, Malabon, Cavite, and Legazpi sank by 15 centimeters from 1970 to 1999.
The Philippines is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, said Dr. Rodel D. Lasco, a member of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). For one, the country “has a long coastline where millions of people live including in urban centers such as Metro Manila, Cebu, and Davao.”
Sea level rise within this century will affect a larger percentage of the Philippine coastline compared with that of other developing countries of Asia and the Pacific region, a World Bank report said.
“By the end of this century, sea levels in the region are expected to rise by about 125 centimeters, exceeding the global average by 10-15%,” noted the bank report, Getting a Grip on Climate Change in the Philippines. “Even assuming the sea level in the region rises at the global average rate of about 100 centimeters, about 14% of the Philippines’ total population and 42% of its total coastal population will be affected by intensifying storm surges resulting from more intense typhoons.”
The Philippines, with 7,107 islands, has coastline stretching 18,000 kilometers. As such, the country is very much vulnerable to sea level rise. In fact, it ranks fourth in the Global Climate Risk Index. A recent study showed fifteen of the 16 regions of the Philippines are vulnerable to sea level rise.
Let’s take Davao City as a case in point. The Business Risk Assessment and the Management of Climate Change Impacts, published by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), said that sea-level rise may create problems for Davao City’s ports.
“Located along the relatively shallow channel between the city and Samal Island, these port facilities are a nerve center for Davao City’s economy, and serve a variety of ships handling both cargo and passengers,” the risk assessment said.
Sea level rise is also expected to make groundwater becomes salty in taste. “Salinity intrusion into groundwater resources occur naturally to some extent in most coastal regions via the hydraulic connection between groundwater and seawater including through canals and drainage channels,” explained the World Bank report.
A United States Agency for International Development study in 2013 projects changes in salinity intrusion under a 30-centimeter sea-level during the 2045-2069 period, “are expected to be moderate during the wet season but significantly more severe during the dry season.”
Salt intrusion is indeed bad news for the people of Davao City. “Davao has traditionally tapped surface water from its rivers as its main water source,” the WWF/BPI report said. “It prides itself in the relatively high quality of its drinking water. However, salt intrusion has already been reported in city districts to shore, especially in portions of the city where groundwater extraction continues. Sea level rise may aggravate this situation.”
Sea level rise is one of the certain outcomes of climate change. Respected scientists claim the change is caused by an increase in the amount of greenhouse gases spewed into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases refer to carbon dioxide and other industrial gases.
In their studies, scientists found out that for every meter the sea level rises, some three kilometers of inland would be inundated. The sea will literally rise to flood the plains. The question is: are we ready for such scenario?
To answer that question, allow me to mention the story of American bestselling novelist Tom Anthony. He came to the Philippines when he married his Filipina wife, whom he met in Singapore. Since his wife is from Mindanao, he decided to settle in Davao City.
Three years ago, Anthony built a house near a beach front. The place was so beautiful as it reminded him of another home in California. Trees were trimming all over; there was also a cemented pathway along the shoreline.
Then, something happened. After a vacation in the United States, he returned to his home in Davao only to find out cracks in the cemented pathway a few blocks away from home. Some portions are no longer passable as it was dangerous to walk above it. In fact, the dead end of the long road from the entrance is now placed with orange signage with the word: DANGER. The cemented fence of a house built near the seashore may soon give way as the waves of the sea kept on encroaching the backyard.
“This is a proof that sea level rise is for real,” says Anthony, the man who wrote the best-selling Rebels of Mindanao. “I think people should stop thinking that climate change is a state of mind. We need to do something about it now before it’s too late.”
I concur!
