On October 24 Philippines time, Tropical Storm Kristine, made landfall in Isabela. with winds rising to 95 km/h. Tropical Storm Kristine is the country’s 11th tropical cyclone this year.
The current death toll is at least 20 throughout the Bicol region, including a child who fell into a flooded canal. Estimates from the Department of Social Welfare and Development state that at least 315,160 families or almost 1.5 million individuals were affected, and nearly 1 million consumers have lost power.
Tropical Storm Kristine has triggered lahar flows and floods or volcanic mudflow that can crush, bury, or carry away almost anything in its path.
Due to the climate crisis, typhoons or big storms are forming closer to coastlines and growing more quickly & lasting longer over land.
It is also no coincidence that communities severely impacted by the lahar & floods also house quarrying sites, a process of removing & flattening land from the mountains to be used for creating land mass elsewhere.
Quarrying companies are destroying watersheds and soil erosion, thereby exacerbating the result of poor disaster preparedness response and flood control and turning them into into disasters.
Yet there are still no sustainable & long term solutions presented by the Philippine government. President Marcos’ response and reassurance to the public has been to “sit tight, wait, hope, and pray that there is not too much damage and there are no casualties.”
Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence. In the face of disaster, the Filipino people are just told to await government aid that is slow, not enough, or used for political gains.
It shouldn’t take another storm or more lives loss to recognize that prioritizing the interests of the private sector are destroying the Philippines, its people, and their livelihoods.
While community members are still recovering from environmental phenomena such as El Niño and calamities like typhoons, NAFCON uplifts the calls of our Philippine partners to ensure immediate support to affected community members in Bicol and to hold accountable the government to take actual action on the loss and damage faced by the Filipino people.
We urge the community to support a people-to-people response to Tropical Storm Kristine through our Bayanihan Disaster Response campaign. Donate at tinyurl.com/nafcondisasterresponse.
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