'Philippines is the Vatican of disasters'

David Dizon in ABS-CBN News.com: The Philippines must brace for more devastating typhoons and hotter dry seasons due to the effects of the climate change, Science and Technology Undersecretary Graciano Yumul said Monday. Speaking on ANC's "Headstart," Yumul said a PAGASA-Department of Science and Technology (DOST) 20- to 30-year climate model showed that by the year 2020, the wet season in the Philippines will be wetter and the dry season will be drier.

...The Philippines was racked by two typhoons last week, killing at least 58 people and causing P8.8 billion worth of damage to infrastructure. Yumul said he expects another two to five typhoons to hit the country until December. Most of the typhoons will make landfall, he added.

The science undersecretary also lamented the enormous economic effect of the yearly typhoons. "Everybody was saying after Ondoy, we learned something. ...What is really bad is we always start from scratch. Pedring is P6.6 billion [damage], which should have been used for schools, medicine and infrastructure. Now we have to use it for rehabilitation, reconstruction and repair...There is no sustainable development," he said. He added: "The Philippines is the Vatican of disasters."

Yumul said the national government has already crafted a national climate change adaptation plan. However, he said the tasks of disaster risk management and climate change should be devolved to the communities....

Typhoon Nalgae approaching the Philippines on September 30, 2011. From NASA