10 years after ‘Yolanda,’ lingering impacts require climate action, reparation — groups

Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza, Reporter

GREEN GROUPS launched information drives in Tacloban City and nearby areas to mark the 10^th anniversary of super typhoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan), shedding light on the enduring impact on victims.

Yolanda made landfall in the Philippines on Nov. 8, killing as many as 6,000 people and destroying thousands of homes and other infrastructure particularly in Tacloban in Eastern Visayas.

While most of the victims have moved on to rebuild and recover from the tragedy, long-term consequences, such as disrupted livelihoods and lasting trauma, “still stay and fester like a wound that never heals,” said Jefferson Chua, a campaigner at Greenpeace Philippines.

“These include compounding costs related to change in livelihood as a result of a change of jobs post-Haiyan, increasing debt from being unable to cope fully with the costs of repeated impacts, and most glaringly, the trauma that remains long after homes are rebuilt,” he said in a Facebook Messenger chat.

Mr. Chua said the long-term impacts also pose threats to the people’s “self-determination” as well as public health.

On Tuesday, so-called Climate Walkers from different parts of the country crossed the San Juanico Bridge in Leyte province in Eastern Visayas to demand reparations for communities affected by the changing climate and call for climate justice.

Greenpeace has sent a ship named Rainbow Warrior to Tacloban City this week to join climate-impacted communities in their demand for climate reparations from the world’s biggest oil and gas companies.

The ship is set to hold a “People’s Museum of Climate Justice” to honor the determination of Filipino communities that are standing up for justice in the face of devastating impacts of climate change.

While communities have been on the frontlines of disasters driven by climate change, “the biggest oil and gas companies have enjoyed decades of unfettered growth and profits,” Mr. Chua said. “They need to own up to their responsibility in the ongoing climate crisis and pay up not only reparations, but also help finance adaptation systems that give communities a fighting chance.”

Center for Ecology, Energy, and Development (CEED) Executive Director Gerry Arances pointed out the insufficiency of “adaptation and resilience building” a decade after Yolanda, noting the overreliance on the “resilience of Filipinos” without a long-term plan for dealing with climate change, the root cause of intensified and frequent typhoons.

“The government wants a more resilient Philippines but as long as it continues to push for the use of fossil fuels with a new preference for fossil gas, no amount of resiliency and preparations would suffice,” he said in a Viber message.

Despite discussions on climate change, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has yet to declare a national climate emergency.

Mr. Arances stressed the significance of such a declaration, as it would acknowledge the impacts of climate change and “help avoid the experience of another Yolanda.”

The call is for Mr. Marcos to leverage the United Nations (UN) decision to push for more climate commitments from rich countries.

While the US and China have not declared a climate emergency, the Philippine House of Representatives and various local governments have taken this step, recognizing the urgent need to enhance climate resilience and cease support for fossil fuel projects.