By Michelle Domocol
The severe storms in early November hit Healing Present buildings and forests with little damage. Thanks to the dense forests and gardens that surround the buildings, we had light property damage and staff remained safe. All the buildings and water systems were well-protected. Our fencing was partially damaged because bordering neighbors remove their trees or they don’t plant trees. When neighbors remove thick vegetation and mature 100+ year-old trees, they lose effective protection from lethal typhoon winds. They also lose massive roots and healthy soil that easily absorb floodwaters.
In Healing Present, we take additional measures for disaster prevention and disaster recovery. Here are some major safety moves we make in Healing Present:
1. Fortified forests. We take care of hectares of dense, continuous forest with giant bamboos and mature trees. These surround each building and naturally protect us from storms. We cultivate and plant young trees in bare areas around the gardens and forest fragments. We only have a minimal amount of cement paths and steps that cover the soil. We also strengthen our soil with groundcovers, shrubs, and amendments to improve its structure. The soil dependably absorbs heavy rains so floods are not common. Our dense, diverse forest slows down storm winds. A tropical storm can possess wind as fast as 80+ kilometers per hour. A typhoon destroys with winds up to 180+ kilometers per hour. With that colossal force, we want our multi-hectare forest of massive branches and trunks to block and break up that wind.
The night of November 4, I watched silhouettes of trees shake, resist, and slow the rapid gusts of typhoon winds blow through Healing Present. Our oldest trees like mga Dakit, Nangka, Talisay, Siar, Narra, and Tipo were our best defenders. Yes, the next morning, we found hundreds of thin tips of branches broken on the ground. But the trees–leaves, trunks, and main branches–remained whole. After seeing the damaged property fences, we hope to fortify our fencing and make it resistant to damage. But that can be quite difficult when our neighbors do not plant any wind breakers like trees. Still, we plan mature fast growing bamboos near the fences. If you are interested in preserving typhoon-fighting species or growing them in your community, here are some heavy hitters:
- Acacia (Acacia mangium)
- Agoho (Casuarina equisetifolia)
- Baguilumbang (Reutealis trisperma)
- Bani (Pongamia pinnata)
- Bagtikan (Parashorea malaanonan)
- Bignay (Antidesma bunius)
- Bitaog (Calophyllum inophyllum)
- Dagang (Anisoptera thurifera),
- Kamagong (Diospyros blancoi)
- Katmon (Dillenia philippinensis)
- Lauan (Shorea malibato)
- Narra (Pterocarpus indicus)
- Pili (Canarium ovatum)
Our neighbors were not as lucky. They haven’t maintained any forests or tree orchards around their houses. They regularly cut down their trees for charcoal and building material. As a result, annually, their homes are directly hit by heavy rains and rapid winds. Their roofs fly off –all because they live in open fields and valleys with less vegetation.
2. Water and Food storage. At Healing Present, we also add protocols and structures when electricity, water, and food supplies temporarily stop during a severe storm or natural disaster. We installed rainwater tanks for an extra supply of water. Every building has an emergency kit with extra food, drinking water, and first aid medical supplies. We installed fire hoses and fire extinguishers incase a fire occurs during a severe lighting storm or electrical accident. Each building also a set of solar radios, emergency solar flashlights, and solar phone chargers, and walkie-talkies. The equipment allows us with maintain our safety, health, cellphone communication, and ability to address emergency repairs during a disaster. We plan to also add solar cookers and solar panels so if our main electricity lines fail, we still have power for communication, food, and drinking water.
In alarming contrast, the open streets and damaged river systems of Cebu City are highly defenseless from typhoons or storms. Urban residents are told to call emergency agencies but those have no centralized phone numbers. They haphazardly have five or more cellphone numbers that are often not working. Dangerously inadequate and inaccessible. Storm winds can become destructively faster as they blow through the open cement roads and hit weak buildings. During storms, heavy rains continue to fill roads with no substantial drainage piping or absorption. In effect, the roads become disgusting cement slides or pools filled with sewage water, floating cars, and pollution. If you want to play a sad game while you’re driving in Cebu, try to count the amount of clean drainage vents, holes, or sewers on the roads. You’ll quickly see the new road widening projects don’t include upgraded drainage. You’ll see skinny rectangular drainage openings blocked with garbage. Every year we have a rainy season with increasing storms and yet every year we don’t see improved storm drainage or street cleaning.
Here are other techniques that can help stop the yearly destruction of urban housing, electricity, water infrastructure, and lives:
Gardens and Vegetated parks. A continuous network Cebu City street gardens and roofs with gardens of grass, groundcovers, vines and containerized plants could capture rainwater and absorb heavy rains. More large parks with trees and groundcovers in Cebu City would increase rain absorption and decrease flooding. Other types of natural parks could restore or construct wetlands and mangroves that act as defensive buffers against heavy storms and typhoons. As many Cebuanos know, we pay a very polluted and destabilizing price for the highways, malls, houses, and casinos built over Cebu’s original wetlands and mangroves.
Places like IT park have a strong network of drainage channels and densely planted gardens properly control storm winds and rains. They divert and slow down the flow of stormwater in the their streets. In Cebu City, Healing Present has an office in Lahug. In the back of the office is an old pool converted into a sunken garden full of containerized plants. These plants have the power to absorb heavy rains. For more than ten years, this simple sunken garden has prevented any flood damage in our office building. Our neighbors with the standard cemented landscapes can’t say the same.
Hopefully we can fight for long-standing, private and public storm disaster prevention and recovery measures at all scales– for our homes, workplaces, urban centers and rural uplands.
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