TYPHOON ONDOY

From September 25 – 26, 2009, Typhoon Ondoy struck the southwest part of Luzon in the Philippines, causing torrential rainfall all over the region. The hydrometeorological hazard took many by surprise, where signal No. 2 was hoisted. Ondoy dumped 455 millimeters of rain over a 24-hour period. The typhoon affected the area of Metro Manila which had a population of 11,620,000 in 2009. In today’s time, Metro Manila has a population of 13,484,462 individuals where the highly congested area is home to more than 200,000 business establishments (Dti.gov.ph. 2020.) Moreover the area had a lot of assets exposed such as businesses and infrastructures since the place is home to more than 100,000 buildings (Sato, T., & Nakasu, T. 2011, February). The place is also home to the Pasig-Marikina-Laguna Lake Complex which consists of two rivers and one lake in the Metro Manila area. For these reasons, the area is highly exposed to possible damages with a rating of 4/4 as a lot of assets are at stake during a strong typhoon. Despite the region becoming urbanized, the area was also vulnerable to the effects of the typhoon because cities such as Pasig, Makati and many more were prone to flooding due to their proximity to the Marikina River and Pasig River. Another factor is the people who can be classified below the poverty line as 34.2 percent of the total household population in the region are more vulnerable to a disaster (Ragragio, J. M. n.d.). The region is also not able to cope and provide the best medical services in the midst of a disaster as there were only about 9,421 in hospital beds located in the region (Department of Health website). Another factor behind the increased damage potential is the growth of illegal settlements in the area as The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) estimates that there were 2.8 million informal settlers living in Metro Manila. This makes it more difficult in finding adaptive solutions such as fixing the drainage problem and making bodies of water more secure from overflow as intervention of properties can happen. For these reasons, the area is vulnerable to effects of the typhoon with a rating of 3 / 4 as different subfactors can harshen the effects of the hazard. The infrastructure damages (not including agricultural losses) amounted to 570,187,587 Philippine pesos which greatly affected the economy of the country during the time (NDCC, 2009a; NDCC, 2009b).

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