NDCC warns of possible drought in September

By Ronron
July 26, 2007

The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) warns of a possible drought in Luzon by September if the amount of rainfall does not normalize by next month.

NDCC spokesman Dr. Anthony Golez told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo Thursday that the government is taking measures for the “impending drought” such as massive information campaign about water conservation, and cloud seeding operations in affected areas.

He said that currently, a dry spell is being experienced in Regions 1, 2, 3, and the Cordilleras, and parts of Regions 4 and 5. “These are the areas that we need to watch out for.”

Golez admitted the government did not expect the dry spell to hit the country because the government weather station earlier pronounced that three tropical cyclones will enter the Philippine area of responsibility starting July. So far, only one - “Bebeng” - arrived.

Golez explained the “weird” weather now is part of the global warming or climate change the entire world is experiencing.

He recalled that the last time the country experienced a dry spell was in the 1990’s and it affected around 3 million people.

Golez projects that if the drought pushes through, “billions” of worth of properties will be damaged.

“We are issuing memorandum to all concerned regional disaster coordinating councils to do as instructed water conservation techniques, how to combat (the drought), and do some other counter measures,” Golez said.

He asked the public to cooperate with their local officials in the counter-measures that will be undertaken to hasten the impact of the situation./DMS