Under the weather

Anyone living in the Philippines these days must be aware that we are enduring one of the hottest hot weather seasons ever—as records will show.

Sure, the rich are surviving somehow by living in an air-conditioned cocoon at home, in the car and at work. But even if their exposure to the searing heat is confined to the walk from their front door to their car, I’m sure they’re well aware of the hot, windless mornings and the blinding sunlight filtering through their tinted windows. And when the Meralco bill arrives, they will know just how much relief from the heat costs them.

The rest of the hoi polloi know of the heat all too well. They know how futile even electric fans can be against the suffocating, windless days and the humid nights. And folks in Mindanao know very well the worst of the summer penance imposed on them at this time of year. “Rotating brownouts” may sound benign, but not when that means eight to 12 hours of no electricity each day, living with heat and darkness, no TV, no refrigeration, no relief in sight.

And the afflictions aren’t confined to the heat. “Bungang araw” or prickly heat, translated, in ironic Filipino fashion, as “fruit of the sun” because of the red, raised rashes, has become so prevalent among children that the Department of Health has been forced to issue guidelines on what to do in case one’s child suffers a breakout. There have also been health bulletins issued against heat stroke, dehydration, dengue and a new viral disease that has been afflicting people in a seemingly random, reckless manner.

Can you imagine what this terrible heat means to helpless infants and the elderly?

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Rich or poor, young or old, comfortable in cool surroundings or suffering the slings and arrows of stultifying heat, everyone is enduring the seasonal torture. And it gives us little comfort to know that the seasonal affliction has consequences that go well beyond the immediate future.

We are, reminds Sen. Loren Legarda who chairs the Senate environment committee, on the brink of “El Niño.” Named, ironically again, after the Child Jesus, this weather phenomenon is expected to hit the country in June. And as the Department of Science and Technology warns, El Niño may trigger drought and stronger storms.

El Niño is created by a “band of anomalously warm ocean water temperatures” in the Pacific coast of South America that affects climate across the Pacific Rim. Even as it leads to drought and scarce rainfall, the other face of El Niño (sometimes called La Niña) can also usher in torrential rains and floods.

Even before we begin to feel the worse effects of El Niño (as if the summer heat is not already a harbinger), Legarda calls on all Filipinos to start conserving water, either by cutting down on consumption, or preparing to store their water in cisterns, drums and other containers.

But another concern, says Legarda, is food security. “Prolonged drought would drastically cut down the production of local crops like rice, corn, sugar cane, vegetable and other agricultural products,” she says, while it could also cause a decrease in fisheries yield.

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Response to El Niño should not be confined to the individual or family level. Legarda says “communities should also start water conservation programs.” Community leaders should start going around their neighborhoods encouraging households to avoid excessive water use “and practice reusing water.”

On a bigger scale, the senator urges local governments to put up rainwater harvesting facilities in all barangays “to help address the country’s water shortage problem, while making use of the excess water from rainfall.”

Legarda reminds the public that the creation of rainwater catchment basins is already required by law. Republic Act No. 6716 requires the construction of water wells, rainwater collectors, development of springs and rehabilitation of existing water wells in all barangays.

“These catchment systems can be built using low-cost local materials. But while the system is not yet in place, the people can use drums to store rainwater especially in areas being frequented by rains. We just have to make sure that water is stored properly so it would not become a breeding place for mosquitoes,” Legarda said.

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The senator also cited the proposal of environment lawyer Antonio Oposa Jr. to create rainwater catchment ponds, which can be

created on “vacant land in low-lying areas that can be excavated and turned into a pond or lake so that excess water from heavy rains or storms have a place to go.”

Communities can also take the further step of growing fish on these makeshift ponds “to prevent the pond from becoming a breeding ground of mosquitoes,” while using the area around the pond to plant vegetables like  kangkong  (swamp cabbage) and fruit-bearing plants like banana.

Said Legarda: “We have to implement programs such as these water catchment basins that bring multiple benefits of water conservation, flood prevention and food production. Moreover, as we expect stronger storms due to El Niño, we have to strengthen disaster prevention programs and ensure that our early warning systems are in place and effective.”

Indeed, we are fast running out of time.

Today, while we are still anticipating the disastrous effects of El Niño, is the time to act and to move, and to resolve not to let the weather get the better of us.