Learning from Ondoy
One of our fundamental planning problems is that most of what we now use as residential areas in Metro Manila were parts of floodplains and riverbeds. Subdivision were built on former wetlands, rivers & creeks "forced" to become straight, or cemented over to become roads, or to create more saleable space. People cement over open spaces and natural vegetation, destroying the earth's capacity to drain storm water naturally.Simply put, we are just mostly in the way of the natural landscape processes in our very fragile and geologically young archipelago. Flooding is a natural landscape process. Floods bring nutrients to ecosystems along waterways and make it possible for various forms of life to thrive. Problems start when settlements sprout on floodplains, or when people insist on tampering with the natural shapes of rivers and tributaries. Builders insist on making water travel in a straight line instead of slowing it down by following the river's natural curves. When we cover up the earth with cement, it loses its ability to absorb the water that naturally comes from the sky. It is not only trees that will help us prevent floods; water run-off is also absorbed by the various types of indigenous vegetation, like grass and shrubs that naturally occur along riverbanks. Typhoon Ondoy is a reminder that we've forgotten that rivers have been here before us. It reminds us that we've been remiss with trying to find long-lasting solutions to the problems of our urban settlements. We've simply allowed developers to cover up too many wetlands and cut up too much land. We've also allowed ourselves to buy into their concept of development and be seduced by the idea of the "house & lot" dream home. This dream only made our cities sprawl out, and obliterated natural waterways with the roads that had to lead to them. These very roads made us buy cars so that we could get to our homes out there. This increased pollution, carbon emissions and caused more roads to be built. Subdivisions near the hinterland, and in former agricultural lands or wetlands, displaced rural people, and increased land prices. The images from the aftermath of Ondoy were very telling: roads turned into rivers, houses submerged by mud, and cars being carried away by currents. On the other hand, images of people helping one another in this time of crisis were very inspiring and telling of a resilient people. Perhaps we can harness that community spirit in preventing all this from happening again. We could start by rethinking where we live, and how we live. We could compel the authorities to ensure that those who will tend to settle in marginal land because they want to be near where the jobs are given a chance to live in safer areas. It may mean the end of the practice of gated communities that tend to be homogenous and therefore keep the poor out. It could mean the start of new forms of communities, where rich and poor, middle class and middle poor will live right next to each other so that ALL are out of harm's way. It's not yet too late. There will be more generations that will inherit the earth. If we start now, we will be doing our grandchildren a favor.