In photos:
As Typhoon Trami batters the Philippines, scientists sound warning of exponential increase in tropical cyclones
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Attribution to global warming is still challenging due to the lack of weather stations in rural areas and small islands, according to the Philippine Climate Change Assessment Cycle report.
Tropical storm Trami, which slammed into the Philippines last Tuesday, has inundated entire towns with severe flooding and killed more than 100 people, with nearly a million still sheltering at evacuation centres.
The country has barely recovered from the onslaught of the worst storm to hit the country this year, but a fresh weather alert has just been sent by the national weather agency, warning that another impending tropical storm is expected to land in the coming hours, bringing heavy rain and severe wind as it strengthens into a typhoon.
Although the Philippines is no stranger to typhoons, the number of tropical cyclones that has hit the archipelago has been increasing by 210 per cent since 2012, according to a report titled Philippine Climate Change Assessment Cycle II (PhilCCA), which synthesises the latest scientific information from international and local literature to provide an assessment of climate change for the country.
Significant increases in tropical cyclone-induced rainfall in the Philippines have also been observed since 2000, ranging from 17 to 19 per cent per decade, occurring more frequently from December to February every year, said the study authored by veteran climate scientists who have contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) global scientific assessment reports.
Bicol region, which encompasses the southern part of Luzon Island, is one of the hardest hit by Typhoon Trami. It has recorded 41 fatalities.
People in San Fernando, Camarines Sur, stand before the swollen Bicol River, hoping to cross it. Image: Noel Celis/Greenpeace
People in San Fernando, Camarines Sur, stand before the swollen Bicol River, hoping to cross it. Image: Noel Celis/Greenpeace
A man carries a tarpaulin on his head as he wades through a flooded street. The Bicol River overflowed due to rains brought by severe tropical storm Trami in San Fernando, Camarines Sur in Bicol. Image: Noel Celis/Greenpeace
A man carries a tarpaulin on his head as he wades through a flooded street. The Bicol River overflowed due to rains brought by severe tropical storm Trami in San Fernando, Camarines Sur in Bicol. Image: Noel Celis/Greenpeace
Family photos and artwork are left to dry after a house is submerged in floods brought by severe tropical storm Trami in Naga City, Camarines Sur in Bicol. Image: Noel Celis/Greenpeace
Family photos and artwork are left to dry after a house is submerged in floods brought by severe tropical storm Trami in Naga City, Camarines Sur in Bicol. Image: Noel Celis/Greenpeace
From 1958 to 2017, there has been about a 13 per cent increase in the quantity of water resulting from tropical cyclones in the archipelago, based on the study released in October, a few weeks before the storm. The largest increases are projected over western and southern Luzon, southern Visayas, and western and southeastern Mindanao, researchers said.
However, the report noted that attribution to global warming is still challenging because weather stations in the Philippines are mostly in urban or coastal plains that limit observations over remote, rural areas and small islands.
“Historical, daily and sub-daily updated climate observation data are still difficult to obtain or are unavailable. They are still in need of digitisation or rescue from the historical archives. These daily and sub-daily data are important for the analysis of climate extremes,” said the study.
The province of Batangas, about 90 kilometres south of Metro Manila, was ravaged by landslides and flooding that killed 60 people.
Relatives mourn the death of a toddler who was buried alive together with 18 other confirmed victims of a landslide that struck the town of Sampaloc at Talisay, Batangas, Philippines. Image: Jilson Tiu/Greenpeace
Relatives mourn the death of a toddler who was buried alive together with 18 other confirmed victims of a landslide that struck the town of Sampaloc at Talisay, Batangas, Philippines. Image: Jilson Tiu/Greenpeace
Families take shelter from land and mudslides in a church in the town of Talisay, Batangas Philippines. Image: Jilson Tiu/Greenpeace
Families take shelter from land and mudslides in a church in the town of Talisay, Batangas Philippines. Image: Jilson Tiu/Greenpeace
A gasoline station covered with mud in Subic, Agoncillo, Batangas, due to mud and landslide brought by severe tropical storm Trami. Image: Jilson Tiu/Greenpeace
A gasoline station covered with mud in Subic, Agoncillo, Batangas, due to mud and landslide brought by severe tropical storm Trami. Image: Jilson Tiu/Greenpeace
The province of Bicol, located in the southernmost tip of the Luzon island group, was one of the hardest hit by the storm known locally as Kristine, with 41 deaths recorded as of 27 October, mostly due to drowning.
About 77,000 families fled their homes and churches, hotels, and private homes opened their doors to shelter those displaced by the floods.
Batangas province, some 90 kilometres south of Metro Manila, was ravaged by massive flooding and landslides brought about by the typhoon.
Human activities like quarrying have been pointed to as a reason for the disaster which left 60 dead, and displaced thousands in the province. Batangas is the country’s second largest producer of industrial rocks and minerals like limestone, clays, sand, gravel that are used for construction.
Typhoon Trami is the third highly devastating weather event to batter the country this year. Greenpeace Philippines campaigner Khevin Yu said Filipinos now “need action, not lip service” from their political leaders.
“We call on the [Philippine president] Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration to go beyond disaster response by demanding climate justice. They cannot turn a blind eye to what we are experiencing and what the science says. The situation is dire,” said Yu in a statement.
Meanwhile, a member-based organisation comprised of parliamentarians and influential persons from Southeast Asian member states, said in a statement that "staggering evidence of the worsening impacts of climate change that puts the lives of the Filipino people on the line" must be acknowledged.
The Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights, which tackles the environmental effects of various industries in Southeast Asia in its annual meetings said: "Every second, every hour missed in walking the talk on climate change is costing not only the health and livelihood of millions of citizens but their survival and right to a sustainable and safe environment.”
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![People wade through a flooded alley in Triangulo in Naga City, Bicol. Image: Noel Celis / Greenpeace](https://eco-business.shorthandstories.com/in-photos-typhoon-trami/assets/rFzVEWJwzH/gp0su33zu-4000x2751.jpg)