‘Assume stronger typhoons now,’ NDRRMC chief says

By: Bong Lozada - 10 years ago

AFP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—When the advent of the rainy season dropped, the chief of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said everyone should assume the next weather disturbance would be stronger than before.

After the full council meeting on disaster preparedness, NDRRMC Chief Alexander Pama said people should learn from the lessons of the past disasters and that the next typhoons could be stronger.

Of the 18 remaining typhoons to hit the Philippines in the remainder of 2014, Pama said there would be no sure-fire way to predict the strongest, but it would always be a safe bet to assume every single one is a devastating typhoon.

“We cannot predict this precisely. This is a function of the weather, that’s why we can call this as an erratic weather,” Pama said at the Department of National Defense building in Camp Aguinaldo Wednesday.

Besides the southwest monsoon that would bolster rains and typhoons, the El Niño phenomenon would also cause unpredictable weather changes.

“The prudent thing is to assume the next typhoons would be stronger.”