On Metro Manila Area Floods

ON MMA FLOODS

A Layman’s View/ Summary Appreciation of

What has Happened to the MMA Built Environment and

Suggested Flood-related Policy for Its Future Transformation

(Armando N. Alli using material processed from various sources, August 2012)

A.   Flood. A flood refers to the overflow of the huge amount of water onto land that has a higher elevation as compared to the normal level of water at a waterway, reservoir or body of water (natural or artificial), often bringing death and widespread devastation.  Floods are possibly one of the most common natural disasters and is generally classifiable under three (3) types i.e. natural, man-made and catastrophic.

PD 296 Prohibition on River Easement Encroachment

MALACAÑANG M a n i l a
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE No. 296 September 18, 1973

DIRECTING ALL PERSONS, NATURAL OR JURIDICAL, TO RENOUNCE POSSESSION AND MOVE OUT OF PORTIONS OF RIVERS, CREEKS, ESTEROS, DRAINAGE CHANNELS AND OTHER SIMILAR WATERWAYS ENCROACHED UPON BY THEM AND PRESCRIBING PENALTY FOR VIOLATION HEREOF

WHEREAS, floods are among the most destructive of natural calamities, in the wake of chain reactions invariably lead to misery, pestilence, privation, hunger and want; WHEREAS, the ever-worsening floods in the country today are to a great extent caused by unabated illegal encroachments on rivers, creeks, esteros and other drainage channels, resulting in the constriction and partial or complete closure thereof and the corresponding reduction of drainage capacity;

Disasters by Design

"Disasters by Design" by Dennis Mileti

In 1994 the NSF commissioned a disaster study to explore how to go beyond mitigation toward a more resilient way of life, one that rolls with nature's punches and returns to normalcy quickly. Under the name "sustainable hazard mitigation," that vision is the central concept of "Disasters By Design."

The first two chapters flesh out what sustainable hazard mitigation means. Chapter 1 puts it in familiar terms, if "sustainability" is in your vocabulary. It means living politically the way we live personally, in ways our descendants won't end up paying for.