Flooding in Barangay Banaba and beyond

Our advance team went to the Philippines to explore the possibility of setting up new projects there.  We are interested in the Philippines for a number of reasons.  First of all, it is one of the foreign countries that are closest to Hong Kong in terms of physical distance.  It is somewhat familiar to us, partially because of the hundreds of thousands of foreign domestic workers from the Philippines working in Hong Kong.  It is relatively easy for us to work there because English is commonly spoken.  It is also attractive because of the strong service culture embodied by the strong Catholic presence, and in the government initiatives such as the National Service Training Program (NSTP).  

Life in much of the Philippines is dominated by typhoons, which regularly sweep through the country from July to October each year.  Typhoons bring strong winds, heavy rains, and much flooding, causing much damage and misery.  It is always the poor who suffer the most. 

Our partner, Ateneo de Manila University, introduced us to Barangay Banaba, one of the areas where the flooding is a matter of life and death each year. Barangay is a territorial and administrative local government unit in the Philippines.  Barangay Banaba is a barangay in the municipality of San Mateo, in the province of Rizal.  It is only an hour or so (when there is no traffic jam) from Manila.  But it might as well be another country. 

It is situated at the junction of the Marikina River and one of its branches.  When the typhoons come with heavy rains, the river swells, flooding the low lying areas on its banks.  Many houses are poorly constructed, in the low lying areas.  When they are flooded, a boat, or a hastily-constructed raft, becomes a life-saving device.  Residents  in some of the low-lying areas told us that the floods cover the first floor regularly.  Some of the worse floods cover the second floor.  

One of the neighbourhood organisations showed us a physical map identifying the hundreds of houses constructed of light materials in red, and those with semi-concrete in blue.  These are the most vulnerable.  Those constructed with concrete are in yellow, green and white.  These are more sturdy.   The map is very useful for disaster prevention and relief.  Unfortunately, the map was made in 2013 and has not been updated.  

Along parts of the river, houses lie below the surface of the water.  A retaining wall prevents the houses from being inundated - in dry season.  When the typhoon comes, the river overflows the wall, and the houses are inundated.  The flood consists of not just muddy river water, but also debris and sewage. 

Later on, we visited another community on the shores of the big lake, Laguna de Bay.  Here the fishing community face similar threats from the flooding.  Their life blood comes from the fishing.  Hence moving away from the water front is not an option.  So they are resigned to evacuating from the flood each year, returning after the flood to clean up, and repeat.  Their only hope is for their children to grow up, find a job in the city, and move sway.  Yet half of the children do not attend school, because they need all the manpower they have for the fishing.  

The needs are obvious and varied.  Maps for better understanding of the community and to provide needed services.  Public health measures to prevent and deal with diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes - most people do not go to the clinic or hospitals for small ailments because they cannot afford the costs and by the time that they do go, it is often too late.  Education and training on sanitation can, of course, improve health.  Education for the children can provide a better future.  Knowledge and skills to produce higher value crops and products can improve livelihood.  The list goes on.  What, and how much, can we possibly do, in collaboration with our local partners?