Poor urban planning blamed for flood woes

Huddled on the second level of their wooden, four-by-four metre dwelling, the Flores family's three siblings eagerly wait for the day's supply of food.

Their father Rogelio Flores, 43, had earlier tried to catch a handout of relief supplies from the local disaster response team. He tries to dock his makeshift boat, an aluminum basin, large enough to fit inside a truck's overblown interior tube, right below his house's upper level window.

"It is always like this during the wet season every year," he says as he disembarks from his boat, cautious of falling into the eigh-feet deep water outside his house, where during the dry season a well-paved road lies underneath.

The Floreses are among the hundreds of families residing at the Artex Compound in Malabon City's Panghulo district who are trying to bear with the inconveniences of living with murky flood waters just outside their homes, at least 15 days a year.

Rogelio, who works as a watchman for the Globe Paper mills located in the same city, says he would move on to another location had it not been for his job.

"During this season, at least one of my children will fall sick because of complications from flooding," he said. Rogelio Flores' situation is no different from thousands of families living in Malabon where during the times of heavy monsoon rain or typhoon, only 15 per cent of the city's landmass is not covered by floods.

Some three kilometres from the Artex Compound to the south, the city's dump site is located in the district of Catmon. Every time rain comes between June to December, floods rush down the road to a residential area where most of the district's 50,000 inhabitants reside.

Situation in Artex Compound and in Catmon depicts the plight of a great number of Malabon residents, some of whom have already referred to their city as the ''cesspool of northern Manila''.

Amado Vicencio, Malabon City Mayor said, "Malabon suffers from floods during rainy season because the inland cities of Valenzuela, Quezon and Novaliches all dump their rain water in Tullahan River which ends in Malabon."

The Tullahan River, at the same time has also been listed as one of the world's dirtiest rivers because of the huge amount of refuse thrown by local industries upriver.

Roderico Cruz, an official of the local health office told Gulf News, "If you only realise how dirty the flood waters here are, you would not even dip your fingers in the water." He cited that cases of ailments such as conjunctivitis, diarrhoea, dyptheria and pulmonary diseases increase between July and September, the season when floods normally occur.

In worst cases, the health department said, people who wade in flood waters can catch leptospirosis, an ailment traced to micro organisms from rat urine mixing with rain water. Leptospirosis that can cause quick death if it gets in a person's bloodstream such as when the organisms enter through an open wound.

Malabon, one of the oldest among Metro Manila's 13 cities, was once prominent for its huge fish farms. Now the city has the highest population of squatters and is among the poorest areas in the metropolis as original inhabitants have moved on to less flood-prone areas of the national capital region.

Hernan Dabalos, City Administrator, said the situation in Malabon is a case of haphazard urban planning by past administrations. He said, "There used to be huge fish farms dug out of marsh areas which act as catch basins during heavy rains. Now there are only a few of these. Most have been reclaimed by land developers who have turned the fish farms into residential or industrial areas without first considering impact of their actions on the environment."

He said that of the estimated total 2,500 hectares of fish farms in Malabon, less than 500 remain. The reclamation of these fish farms started during the time of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who in 1978 ordered the establishment of a residential and industrial area at a 1,000-hectare fish farm, south of the city, now known as 'Dagatdagatan,' (little ocean).

Dagatdagatan's name was very appropriate. Every year during the wet season, portions of the estate are flooded, in some parts neck deep.

Dabalos warned that unless local land developers cease from reclaiming these areas, Malabon will be constantly pestered by floods. "If we don't watch out and continue with unabated development without considering the impact on the environment, other parts of Metro Manila would suffer the same consequences," he said.

Bayani Fernando, a civil engineer in the newly installed Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), also fears the situation in Malabon would be duplicated in other parts of Metro Manila where 10 per cent of the country's 80 million inhabitants reside.

"The problem is poor urban planning. Past city developers overlooked some considerations such as the size of the drainage canals in Metro Manila. The existing waterways would not be sufficient to handle the rains and the fact that these could be clogged by trash," Fernando said.

He said a multi-billion peso plan to enclose Malabon and two other flood prone cities, Valenzuela, Navotas, Caloocan and Obando in Bulacan province; with a system of dikes, and flood gates is currently on the anvil.

"The Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela) Flood Project will be finished anywhere between four and eight years," he said. In the meantime the MMDA is making preparations to bid out the project by October.

Fact Box

- The Philippines lie astride the Typhoon Belt and is usually visited by at least 21 typhoons every year. Of these around six are strong enough to be considered as cyclones according to the Philippines Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.

- An estimated $1.2 billion every year is lost to disasters such as typhoons and floods every year in the country according to the National Disaster Coordinating Council.

- At least 250 people die every year in the Philippines due to typhoons and flood-related accidents.