U.N. WARNS 'UNPLANNED URBAN EXPANSION' TO CAUSE
MORE FLOODS
[PHOTO -Manila, like most of the world's large cities, suffers from a
huge and problematic urban sprawl.]
MANILA, AUGUST 11, 2012 (PHILSTAR) A unit of the United Nations has
warned that rapid and unplanned urban expansion exposes cities to severe
flooding and other disasters.
"As the urban sprawl of rapid urbanization expands outwards and upwards, it
prvides ready opportunities for hazards such as floods, storms and earthquakes
to wreak havoc. Half the world's population now lives in urban areas, and that
figure is estimated to rise 70 percent by 2050. That's a lot of vulnerable and
exposed people given that urban floods will represent the lion's share of total
flood impact because of infrastructure, institutions and processes that are not
yet up to the task ahead," said Margareta Wahlström, chief of the UN Office for
Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).
She said governments, countries and communities should be alarmed by the
increasing flood risk and frequency of massive flooding and that measures to
address them are ineffective.
The Philippines has seen three recent catastrophic floods - first in 2009
when tropical storm Ondoy dumped half a month's rain fell on Metro Manila in 24
hours; typhoon Sendong which led to floods that killed more than 400 people in
Mindanao; and the recent monsoon rains that caused landslides and deep floods in
many parts of Luzon.
UNISDR noted that Metro Manila's population includes millions of informal
settlers, who were forced to flee the huge shantytowns lining rivers and sewers
following relentless rains that began Monday night.
Citing statistics from the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) of the Centre
for Research on the Epidemiology of Disaster, USIDR added that the Philippines
suffered economic losses worth $730 million, affected 11.6 million people and
claimed 1,904 lives in 2011.
Wahlström's observations find resonance in a new report just out by the World
Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction, Cities and Flooding --
A Guide to Integrated Urban Flood Risk Management for the 21st Century, which
states that "poorly planned and managed urbanization contributes to the growing
flood hazard due to unsuitable land use change. As cities and towns swell and
grow outwards to accommodate population increase, large-scale urban expansion
often occurs in the form of unplanned development in floodplains, in coastal and
inland areas, as well as in other flood prone areas."
Besides the Philippines, the UN unit also said destructive floods have
occurred over the past 18 months in Pakistan, Australia, Brazil, Japan, South
Africa. Sri Lanka, Thailand and the US. In Thailand, the Bangkok floods caused
$40 billiion in economic losses.
"What's happening in Asia is alerting us about what is going to happen more
regularly everywhere in the world. The new climate situation requires more
disaster risk reduction investments in urban planning as unplanned urbanization
is increasing flood impacts, "Wahlström said.
She said governments must ensure that new investments would address these
problems.
"Economic and human losses as well as the disruptions to economies are
increasing rapidly and substantially. Surely, this should be unacceptable to all
concerned? There must be an all out push for to increase knowledge and expertise
that will enable countries of and communities to build more robust urban
evironments," said Wahlström.
The UNISDR has launched the World Disaster Reduction Campaign - Making Cities
Resilient, which calls for substantial investrments by both national and local
governments in disaster rick reduction if cities are to better adapt to climate
variability. The project sees the intergration of disaster risk reduction in all
urban planning as a critical component of reilience building.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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