We can’t avoid floods but we can minimize them

We will always have floods during the rainy season. We can’t stop them for the simple reason that we cannot stop the rains. As a matter of fact, we need the rains.

What we can do is take steps to alleviate the floods. At the moment, the people are doing many things to aggravate the problem. We have many squatters who reside in known flood-prone areas. Worst is that in many places the floods have worsened because the people there don’t know how to dispose of their garbage properly. They dump them in estuaries where they clog the flow of water.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo now has a program to decongest Metro Manila by relocating families dwelling in flashflood areas to safer ground. She will also make sure that the drainage system is adequate. Another problem associated with the rains are the landslides that sometimes bury entire communities. The thing to remember is that the best time to take anti-flood measures is before the rains come. We only have two seasons – the rainy and the dry. You can’t rely on the drainage system once they are clogged. You can only take measures to ensure that they will not clog when the rains start.

The solution to the garbage problem starts with every home. First, garbage must be classified. Bottles should be separated from cans, plastic materials should not be mixed with thrash that rots. They should be placed where garbage disposal units can pick them up. The worst thing one can do is to dump them in waterways. You don’t solve your garbage problem. You aggravate it by causing a bigger problem – floods caused by the improper disposal of garbage.

We are used to seeing signs that say, Don’t throw your garbage. Four years ago, the Payatas dumpsite and the San Mateo landfill were closed. We need new landfills situated in one of the eight provinces around Metro Manila. Two years ago, President Macapagal-Arroyo refused to sign the controversial $350-million with the Jancom Environmental Corporation. We cannot solve our flood problems without solving our garbage problem. More important, Metro Manila has to be decongested.

At the moment, we have no less than 16,000 people in different evacuation centers. At least twelve persons have either died or still missing. Expect the floods to last at least this weekend and expect more floods for the rest of the rainy season.

So far Metro Manila has still been lucky. It has been spared of my direct hit by a typhoon for sometime now. But as we all know, a typhoon is part of Philippine life. And farmers always welcome the rains. Our deep concern at the moment are the families that had to evacuate from their home to escape the rising waters. Are there enough evacuation centers for all of them? Are they properly housed and fed in these centers? We must take care of all our flood victims.

The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund has issued a warning on "moonson ailments" which affect people, especially children during the rainy season. These ailments come with the gases and air-borne germs brought by the rains. The floods that follow aggravate this problem. So we must all take care.