60% of Philippines population vulnerable to tsunamis

Estrella Torres, Business Mirror 18 Nov 09;

THE Philippines needs to relocate more than half of the people living in coastal areas as they face tsunamis and disasters linked to climate change, according to a marine biologist.

Former environment secretary Angel Alcala, a marine biologist, who delivered the keynote address of the launching of the United Nations State of World Population on Wednesday said the Philippines has four tsunami areas where the “Earth’s lithospheric plates are [constantly] interacting.”

He said the tsunami-prone areas include south Negros Island; the Cotabato Trench, where 7,000 people were killed in the tsunami in 1976; the Philippine Deep; and the Manila Trench, which starts from the west side of Mindoro Island.

“At least 60 percent of the country’s population live in coastal areas, and they are the most vulnerable to storm surges, strong winds, heavy rainfall and tsunamis,” Alcala said in a press briefing at the launch of the UN State of World Population Report, titled “Facing a Changing World: Women, Population and Climate.”

He said strong typhoons similar to Ketsana and Parma (local names Ondoy and Pepeng) could again hit the country, and a larger part of the population would be affected if the people living in coastal areas were not relocated.

Alcala said the Philippines is also the most vulnerable to facing disasters among the countries in the coral triangle, particularly because more than half of the nation’s population live on the coasts.

The coral triangle refers to the waters off Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, the Philippines and Timor Leste.

He also said the impact of disasters related to climate change will also be more destructive as many subdivisions and housing projects are sitting in unstable reclaimed lands.