TYPHOON SENDONG: NDRRMC admits PAGASA erred in excluding CDO and Iligan in advisory

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council revealed that PAGASA did err in alerting officials of the possible heavy rains brought by Typhoon Sendong. NDRRMC also said Pagasa never included Cagayan de Oro or Iligan in areas which PAGASA expects to be hit by Sendong. It only did several hours after flash floods have already inundated large parts of Malaybalay, CDO and Iligan.


Reports show that Sendong hit ground by about 4 o'clock in the afternoon (severe weather bulletin no. 4) in Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur, unleashing heavy rains as many as 200 mm (according to Pagasa) when in fact, according to NASA and Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sendong (international code name Washi) dumped 400 mm of rains, 26 mm less than Ondoy.

Early in the morning of December 16, 2011, PAGASA issued its regular weather bulletin. Its severe weather bulletin no. 4 reported that a new Typhoon, codenamed “Senyong” was expected to make landfall over at Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur with maximum sustained winds of sixty five kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 80 kph. The weather bureau forecasted it to move West north west at speeds of up to twenty two kph.

Compared with other tropical cyclones which hit the country in the past, Sendong was a relative weakling. It does not have the wind power of an Ondoy nor that of the 1991 Typhoon Uring which killed an estimated 5-8,000 people.

Pagasa even predicted that rains would only amount to 10-25 mm per hour within the 400 kilometer radius of the storm. This is extremely off--when as early as December 14, the Japanese weather bureau already predicted that the typhoon will bring in more than 200-400 mm of rain.

That explains why Pagasa only declared Signal number two over the provinces of Surigao Del Norte,Siargao Island,Surigao Del Sur,Dinagat Province,Agusan Provinces, Bukidnon, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental,Compostela Valley and Camiguin island.[i] 

Pagasa did not expect that Typhoon Sendong would actually create havoc or destruction to Mindanao.

Inspite of the weather bulletins issued by Pagasa, local government officials say there was no alert warning given to them as to the severity of the typhoon. Residents were advised to stay at home.

Sendong made landfall at around 4 o’clock in the afternoon in Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur. After soaking the town with more than 25 mm of rain, Sendong moved stealthly towards other provinces in Northern Mindanao, packing more than 200 mm of rains in its way.

On Saturday morning, residents of Bukidnon experienced the wrath of the Storm. Sendong unleashed more of his power, strong winds and heavy rains poured down on the city of Valencia. The Pulangi river spilled over, destroying the bridge that connects Bukidnon going to Davao City. Houses along the river got swept away by raging flood waters.[ii]

NASA said what caused the devastation was "poor warnings, deforestation, and weak construction". see link: 

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/-depth/12/21/11/nasa-sees-poor-warnings-deforestation-behind-sendong-disaster 

Areas mentioned that were affected were heavily logged areas such as Bukidnon, CDO, Iligan and Surigao. 

Illegally cut logs barred normal water flows from the mountains, causing rivers to swell to as high as 15 feet. This caused siltration and erosion which, along with raging floods from the mountains and swelling rivers, spilled over riverine communities and even those near coastlines.

This calamity exposed the continuous illegal activities of loggers in the area, and to think that this area is the territory of Presidential adviser on Climate Change Nereus Acosta.

Acosta positions himself as an environmentalist.

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[i] http://turtzonthego.blogspot.com/2011/12/pag-asa-public-weather-forecast.html#.TvKMdTX9Pes

[ii] http://www.bukidnononline.com/

TO KRIS AQUINO: AN APOLOGY FROM PNOY AND PAGASA WOULD HAVE SUFFICED

A SIMPLE APOLOGY WOULD HAVE MATTERED.

" Our world stopped when your mother died. "

But, presidential sisters Balsy, Pinky Aquino-Abellada and Kris Aquino were one in defending their brother, President Benigno Aquino in his latest brouhaha.


In an ABS-CBN interview, the presidential sisters were one in defending the non-appearance of their brother during those critical weekend when Cagayan de Oro and Iligan were being battered by strong torrential rains brought by Typhoon Sendong. Malacanang just admitted that Pnoy was out partying with PSG officials and men and was even said to have laughed hard when sexy and sultry actress Valerie Concepcion cracked jokes. (Obviously not Pnoy Penot jokes of fellow sexy actress Francine Prieto). Here is what Kris and her sisters said during her show over at ABS-CBN:

"Ngayon, 'yun namang party ay matagal nang naka-schedule 'yon. Siyempre, may mga masasamang nangyayari at may malungkot but then, life should go on. Hindi naman pwedeng huminto na lang ang buhay at magmukmok na lang tayo."That party was for the PSG, ang mga nag-aalaga sa Pangulo at sa kanyang pamilya. Tradisyon 'yon na talagang every year ay nagsasama-sama. Kasi it's time to thank them for always being there. At saka alam naman nating lahat na binibigay nila ang buhay nila para mapangalagaan ang Pangulo. At talagang nasa Constitution na dapat mapangalagaan ang Pangulo. Kung di man sa Constitution, there's some law."
Pinky, on the other hand, explained that the President does not want his arrival to disrupt rescue operations.
"Pinaghahandaan niya ang pagdating niya, ayaw niyang makagulo nang ganoon. So as early as Saturday, alam na natin na Tuesday ilalatag nila lahat. Sana ay hindi siya makaabala doon sa government agencies na talagang working hard to save as many lives as possible," she said.
Kris, for her part, said critics should give the President and their family a break.
"I think hindi niyo po maiaalis sa amin na gusto naming i-depensa ang kapatid namin. The entire night, also Saturday, when we were together, he was constantly on the phone monitoring everything. I think today ang pagpunta ko although I'm going with ABS-CBN. I'm also representing him. I think in many cases talaga, the three of us were able to do that and also there are a lot of security concerns as well," she said.
"Pero siguro hindi niyo maiaalis sa amin na sabihin namin na it's not like he doesn't care. Give me a break, diba? Siyempre pangulo siya ng Pilipinas at mahal niya ang ating mga kababayan. So siyempre, gagawin naman niya ang lahat.
"Sana huwag napakabilis ng batikos kasi napakaraming ahensiya ang nagtatrabaho na. It's just that a President is not like you or me na we can hop on a plane and go there because there are a lot of national concerns.
The sisters just gave a nice alibi but what hurt me and I think many who heard it the most was what Kris said:

" Where is my president?"

"Ngayon, 'yun namang party ay matagal nang naka-schedule 'yon. Siyempre, may mga masasamang nangyayari at may malungkot but then, life should go on. Hindi naman pwedeng huminto na lang ang buhay at magmukmok na lang tayo.

WHY KRIS???

WHEN YOUR MOTHER DIED, EVERY SINGLE FILIPINO STOPPED WHATEVER HE WAS DOING AT THAT TIME, AND PAID HOMAGE TO HER.

Pang Pnoy, masama bang makipaglamay ka sa amin?

I, ALONG WITH MILLIONS, STOOD IN LINE TO VIEW HER. I, ALONG WITH MILLIONS, WAITED HOURS ALONG SOUTH SUPERHIGHWAY TO PAY MY LAST RESPECTS.

NOW, YOUR BROTHER IS PRESIDENT AND HE CAN'T EVEN SPEND A FEW MINUTES ATTENDING TO RELIEF AND EVACUATION OPERATIONS IN CAGAYAN DE ORO AND ILIGAN?

MANY PEOPLE DIED KRIS. FATHERS AND THEIR KIDS, MOTHERS AND THEIR BABIES. WHOLE GENERATIONS WERE WIPED OUT.THE ENTIRE CAGAYAN WAS ALMOST TRANSFORMED INTO A WASTELAND AND YOU WILL TELL US THAT "LIFE SHOULD GO ON...AND IT WILL NOT BE GOOD IF OUR LIVES STOP FOR A WHILE AND FOR US TO MOURN?"

WE MOURN FOR YOUR FATHER, KRIS. I WAS JUST A KID WHEN MY TITAS AND TITOS VOWED TO SACRIFICE THEIR LIVES FOR YOUR FATHER TO GET JUSTICE...

OUR LIVES STOPPED WHEN YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER DIED.

DON'T EVER TELL US, US, THE FILIPINO PEOPLE THAT WE WILL NOT MOURN OUR FELLOW FILIPINOS WHO DIED DURING THIS TYPHOON.

WE ARE NOT LIKE YOU, WHO DOESN'T CARE.

WE CARE FOR FELLOW FILIPINOS, POOR ONES, WHO BECAME VICTIMS.

MORE THAN A THOUSAND LOST THEIR LIVES BECAUSE OF THE INGRATITUDE AND THE INEPTITUDE OF THEIR LEADERS!!

THOUSANDS MORE LOST THEIR FUTURES BECAUSE OF THE CALLOUSNESS OF LEADERS LIKE YOUR BROTHER, KRIS!

A MERE APOLOGY WOULD HAVE SUFFICED.

Pnoy chose a Slenda Body than a Sendong

A Slenda body is worth more than Sendong

Malacanang says and it later corrected itself that the President will visit the typhoon Sendong ravaged cities of Iligan and Cagayan before (and not after) Christmas. It fails to even grasp my imagination why on earth the Presidential communication group made an error such as this. Imagine, sending out an erroneous message in this time of great calamity! Dios mio!@ Que horror, as the conos would say.


And this enlightened indio can't believe his ears when he heard that Pnoy was out partying with Slenda girl, Valerie Concepcion during the Typhoon Sendong outslaught. Maybe Pnoy thought that this is just an ordinary storm, nothing to worry about. 


Opps, flashback to Manila Bay Hostage Crisis. Flashback to the Bicol flooding tragedy. Flashback to other similar tragedies that happened here without the President ever going there and commanding the bureaucracy.


This same kind of lack of insight and obvious katamaran is neither an aberration nor a propaganda-based accusation. It is beginning to be a hallmark of this administration. 


Valerie Concepcion, the sultry ABS-CBN talent who was invited during the party attended by no less than the President and hundreds of testosterone crazy PSG men, even tweeted that Pnoy enjoyed her jokes. Since when did the sexy, vavavoom become a comedianne? She doesn't look like Ai-ai, right?


Anyway, the party lasted into the wee hours of the night so much so that the President was so drunk and that explains why probably he wasn't able to read the report--and that report about the devastation probably gave him a headache---scores dead, hundreds missing and entire villages swept by raging flash floods.


And quite expectedly, the President would have remarked---This can't be! This is Mindanao! It rarely rains there. Or so we thought.


His secretary Mario Montejo, in classic cono style said that PAGASA did not err in predicting the path of the typhoon. How about predicting the volume of rain water? Of what, Mr. Mangubat, I imagine Mario responding. " Of soda water and whisky?"


" The amount of soda water last Sunday was enough for everybody."


O, flashback again, and we see the "Emperor" former AFP Chief Esperon throwing thousand peso bills in the air, to the delight of his ISAFP men, who were so drunk, they thought the party was inside Ms. Universe in Pasay. Wrong.


This explains why we have a depressed nation, with a depressing economy and a similarly depressing bureaucracy.


We have conos in power, who have a false sense of priority in their lives. Who choses a Slenda body instead of bodies which Sendong killed?


Of course, who will not succumb to a Slenda?