Ompong descends

TYPHOON Ompong left much of Northern Luzon devastated. In Cagayan Province food crops have been badly damaged, if not totally destroyed. Thousands of houses were blown away. The Cagayan River must have over-

that swept through the North for hours. Factor in the wind of a would-be supertyphoon and you have victims all over.

In Baguio, Ompong created mayhem. Burnham Park, despite an ongoing drainage work, was turned into a large lake that extending up Harrison, Abanao and Session roads indicating eroded soil. Landslides were the norm that all roads to Baguio had to be closed — until Naguil eventually opened. The Balili River in La Trinidad breached its banks and submerged crops, even the ones in greenhouses. The damage to livelihood is incalculable.

including those that were sheltering in old bunkhouses near the hillsides or in houses built too close to collapsing mountainsides. Health was under attack with sickness probably

All restaurants in Baguio were closed by Saturday and Sunday as - participants who had gone ahead - still that the storm perpetrated. The

One may say that the government did its best with typhoon warnings, mass evacuations and pre-positioned - a large populated area with a dense population like Baguio. The government’s reach is compromised under those conditions.

Nature cannot be challenged and - tence, human beings have to take many more complicated precautions, take than usual. We can tweak Nature with it and win when it is on the warpath.

As predicted some years ago by climate experts, storms will be more go to extremes. We should operate with those givens and make more intelligent preparations to mitigate the consequences.

- enal which explains the numerous landslides. Even with all things being equal, which they are not — meaning on mountains and slopes, that no earthmoving to carve hillsides into and slide. There was just too much water. In Japan, houses next to untouched and green mountainsides still experienced the mountains sliding typhoon they experienced. Climate change brings intense storms with incredible wind velocity and deluges

It does not help that we are cementing every open space, and building on every available space. to the lowest point without allowing it to be absorbed by grass, trees and but gradually sinks to the earth. This must have happened in the Burnham streets. Building on slopes is risky the case in Baguio.

been overwhelming, with even the Cagayan Airport mangled by the storm’s winds and peoples’ houses simply blown open exposing the inhabitants to the elements.

one causing multiple deaths. This is the area where unregulated mining Abandoned large mines have been in entering dangerously unmaintained tunnels deep into the earth which, even without bad weather have collapsed and killed miners. Small-scale mining - something to do with the landslides - ing on weak slopes or just being near They are impassable and will require

I was in Baguio two weeks ago when it rained and rained without - ing up the Palispis Highway, one - ing down the slopes and hillsides. The drainage canals were splashing water - liminaries brought the Ompong storm

Nature, and more aware that climate -