Yet, the warnings about storm surges appeared as no more than little footnotes in the advisories that Pagasa issued on Yolanda. In a report posted on Rappler last Nov. 14, Pagasa’s assistant chief for weather services, Ma. Cecilia Monteverde, admitted that the threat from storm surges had not been emphasized: “We weren’t able to tackle that. We were more focused on the signals and in delivering the forecasts and warning to the public. But the storm surge was not explained there.” She was quick to point out, however, that all the primers that Pagasa regularly distributes to local government units during information and education workshops conducted by the agency contain references to storm surges. Deflecting criticism, Ms Monteverde added: “Filipinos don’t follow unless they experience the disaster… even if we already gave the warning. When it floods, that’s when there’s forced evacuation.” RANDY DOESNT KNOW THAT PAGASA, A CLIMATE DENIALIST SINCE 1990S PAGSA DIR. THEN USEC YUMUL,AN ANGINEER NOT A METEOROLOGIST, CONCLUDED IN AN INTL PAPER THAT CLIMATE CHANGE MAY BE DUE TO NATURAL VARIABILITY!PAGASA REFUSED TO OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZE HAWAII-BASED JOINT STORM WARNING CENTER SIGNAL 5 FOR 220KPH & ABOVE TYPHOONS, CRIMINALLY LIMITING PUBLIC WARNINGS, EDUCTION & PREPRATION TO SIGNL 4 90 KPH !!! “Typhoon ‘Yolanda’ may have pushed the ocean water from San Pablo Bay into its narrowest part, San Juanico Strait, where Tacloban is located.”!!! We are not really strangers to storm surges. National Artist Virgilio Almario, the chair of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, reminds us that the Tagalog word for storm surge is “daluyong.” But, over the years, the term has been used more in its metaphorical sense, and appears to have been stripped of its original association with physical danger. As in the case of “lahar” and “habagat,” the word’s elemental links to peril are now coming back to us.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 06:01:08 +0000
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