Government prepared for strong El Niño

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang gave assurance that all government agencies are prepared to address the El Niño and that President Aquino is closely monitoring the onslaught of the phenomenon in the country, particularly its effects on the agriculture sector as it may affect food production.

“Even before the recent news about the coming El Niño in September, the President has already been aware and he’s already been briefed on the progress of El Niño,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said yesterday over radio dzRB.

As part of government preparations, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has already made projections.

Valte noted that DOST’s projections would guide other government agencies properly on the preparations that they would have to implement, such as cloud seeding and water preparation for irrigation.

Other agencies should also be planning for their next steps with regard to the effects of El Niño although they already carried out similar measures last summer, when some areas in the country had less or zero rainfall, Valte added.

El Niño can cause unusually heavy rains in some parts of the world and drought elsewhere. It began in March and is seen to last for a year.

Scientists of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center predicted that the El Niño weather phenomenon that began this year could be “among the strongest El Niños in the historical record dating back to 1950.”

Deputy director Mike Halpert said the average sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific could reach or exceed two degrees Celsius above normal, a phenomenon recorded only thrice in the last 65 years.

For this reason, the government has widened and intensified its preparations.

“The situation is different from the time that we experienced that more than 15 years ago. Now, what is on our side...is that we have more lessons from then and there is more technology that can help aid in the solution,” Valte said.