NOAH head: Philippines ignored 1941 flood control master plan

MANILA, Philippines — The massive flooding being experienced in Metro Manila and various areas in the country is the result of decades of failure to follow the 1941 master plan, according to a University of the Philippines expert.

UP Resilience Institute (UPRI) executive director and Project NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards) head Mahar Lagmay warned Monday that flooding would continue to worsen if the country fails to implement science-based solutions.

“Our problem today is the accumulation of decades because the master plan was drafted in 1941. This is not different from the master plan of Cebu, which was the development plan of 1939 but it was not followed. The master plan would have been good, if we had followed that,” Lagmay said over radio dzBB.

“It’s all too late, the plan is to propose solutions other than just dikes, so not just one but many, let’s not call it flood control, but flood management instead,” he added.

Lagmay said concerned government agencies such as the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) are now consulting Project NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards) before undertaking flood-related projects.

“We have simulations that are very, very high, high-resolution. Simulations that are being done, which are constantly being passed by the DPWH, the MMDA, the designs, particularly DPWH, so that before we invest in the project, we have already seen on the computer how high the flood has been lowered, which ones will no longer be flooded…which ones would be flooded, how effective is the investment before we spend money on an area,” Lagmay said.

Since 2012, Lagmay said Project NOAH has helped reduce the number of deaths caused by floods and storms to about 250 to 300 per year.

Lagmay stressed that there is no overnight solution to the country’s flooding problem, saying authorities must begin implementing long-term measures as Metro Manila’s population continues to grow.

“This has been going on for a long time. I said 1941, that’s a few decades. We’ve been neglecting it for more than half a century, let’s not expect a magic bullet that will solve it immediately, it won’t happen tomorrow,” he said. “But it’s important to start this so that it doesn’t get worse.” — Ramon Efren Lazaro