Draft:1972 Luzon floods

Massive floods in Luzon, Philippines (which were called Great Luzon flood or Great flood) occurred in 1972, caused by month-long, continuous rains brought by four to five successive tropical cyclones from July to August; rains were the heaviest since 1911. Affected ​greater Manila and Central Luzon, it was the one of the country's worst disasters since World War II.

Floods reportedly affected 16 provinces, including the majority of Central Luzon (which included Pangasinan at that time) as well as Manila and Baguio. With massive effects, the floods became the country's worst disaster since World War II, and until the 1990 Luzon earthquake and the 1991 Pinatubo eruption. Single-day rains were also the heaviest since 1911 in Baguio.

Floods caused by two typhoons, were the country's most destructive and extensive since 1867. It primarily affected Central and Northern Luzon.

History

In 1972, four successive typhoons arrived from the second week of July to the first week of August.

On July 6, 1972, Typhoon Edeng hit Luzon, with landfall at Casiguran, Quezon and leaving through Vigan, Ilocos Sur two days later. It caused only moderate flooding in Pampanga and Bulacan.

Supertyphoon Gloring then entered at the Philippine area of responsibility. It was the strongest tropical cyclone on record—375 kph—until Yolanda While it never hit the landmass, it stayed within 10 days. Gloring caused monsoon clouds, triggering incessant, heavy rains on Manila, Baguio, and Central Luzon.

Typhoons Huaning, Isang and Konsing followed quickly, worsening the weather over Luzon. Rains continued for nine days until July 30. It lasted for 40 days until August.

Flooding began to stop on July 22.

The typhoons caused continuous rains and wider, deeper floods in greater Manila and provinces in Central Luzon—where the entire plains were submerged—including Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, parts of Bataan, as well as parts of Rizal, for at least a month. The flood covered 16 provinces in total, as well as 90% of Manila. Floods remain by the second week of August, at the time the sun was reportedly finally seen after about a month.

A combination of typhoons and continuous monsoon rains resulted to an estimated 1,800 mm of rainfall into mainly agricultural land of about 20,000 square kilometers. The rains were the heaviest since 1911, when Baguio had recorded 479.6 mm of rain in a single day—a total of 4,724.5 mm in a month. In Apalit, Pampanga, 1,999 mm; Manila, 1,751 mm.

Superstitions suggested that the disaster of its kind, which had never been experienced before, served as a punishment to Filipinos. It was attributed to the image of Santo Niño de Tondo, which was stolen from on the main altar of Tondo Church in Manila, shortly prior to the floodings. It was found in a canal near the suspect's house in Tondo, while the jewels were sold to an art gallery, whose owner surrendered them later to First Lady Imelda Marcos. The image was taken to Malacañang and eventually returned on August 2 in a procession.

Aside from devastation, the flooding also caused misery among affected disenchanted residents. The chaos in the flood's aftermath was reportedly one of the reasons President Ferdinand Marcos declared nationwide martial law on September 21.

Background

The Philippines is located in the tropics; the climate depends to its geographical location of any particular place and the wind systems that prevail there during different times of the year, namely, the northeast (November–February) and southwest (July–September) monsoon, and trade wind, which generally comes from the east (the rest of the year).

History

On July 10–25, 1972, Typhoon Gloring hit the entire nation, later re-entered the area; devastating Luzon, it also caused flooding.

Impact

In July 1972, Luzon experienced the most serious floods on record. At a time, a vast inland sea connected Lingayen Gulf with Manila Bay. At the end of June, a moderately intense typhoon passed through central Luzon, accompanied by heavy rains which created local flooding there. A later typhoon northeast of Luzon in July caused continuous rains.

The occurrence of several tropical disturbances in succession, especially by typhoons Edeng and Gloring, caused the flooding in Luzon to be one of the country's most destructive and extensive since 1867. The effects made it as well to become the country's worst disaster since Second World War, and until the 1990 Luzon earthquake and the 1991 Pinatubo eruption.

• The flood affected the entire Luzon, particularly central Luzon and Southern Tagalog, as well as Eastern Visayas.
• It primarily affected Central and Northern Luzon, particularly, 11 provinces, which included 10 cities, 152 towns and 1,608 barrios.

Two successive tropical storms, Edeng and Gloring (latter typhoon was the wettest), induced the southwest monsoon and caused torrential rains, continued for 16 consecutive days (July 8–23), triggering floods in the Central and Northern Luzon regions and the Greater Manila area. The rainfall was equivalent to the average annual of 80 inches.

In July, about six feet of rain fell on Central Luzon rice lands; 15 feet on the surrounding mountain ranges which later ran onto the plains. During Typhoon Gloring, the entire region was massively flooded, turning into a vast sea with towns looked like islands. Some suburban towns, which had never experienced such before, were affected as well. Pampanga River delta was reportedly hardly distinguishable from the shoreline of Manila Bay. In many areas of the region, flood waters rose as high as nine feet, causing destruction to houses, bridges and roads, dikes and irrigation systems.

In metropolitan Manila, all streets were submerged; every river, lake and stream overflowed. When the floodwaters receded, several roads were extensively eroded. Sharp decline in business was recorded, transportation facilities were totally paralyzed, and almost all activities were stopped.

Statistics

In the case of the Marikina River complex, four cyclones were attributable for the floods: typhoons Konsing (June 23–26) and Gloring (July 10–25); tropical depressions Isang (July 26–August 1) and Lusing (August 10–13). In Marikina River basin complex, the total rainfall amount in all 13 stations in July was almost four times than that of June, but decreased by 65% in August. Among these stations, that in Diliman, Quezon City had the highest amount in June (492.7 mm; above monthly average of 335.08 mm) and July (1,885.3 mm; monthly was 1244.41 mm); that in Romarosa, Tanay, Rizal in August (668.7 mm; monthly, 431.78 mm).

Rains in the first half of July were above average; Philippine Weather Bureau's Science Garden in Quezon City recorded 388.6 mm from July 1–16 as monthly average was 350.4 mm.

Casualties

• The floods left 565 dead — 485 by drowning (five cyclones, July to August)
• The floods left 653 people dead (Edeng and Gloring, July 8–23)
• The National Disaster Control Commission confirmed the death of 430 persons (four cyclones, June 23–Aug. 13)
• Confirmed dead were 775 persons (late June to July)

Over 7,000 were hospitalized with flood-related illnesses.

On July 28–29, a series of landslides in Baguio buried 25 houses, killed 22 persons and injured 20 others.

Affected people

• The floods directly affected 5.5 million people,
• The floods left 370,647 people homeless and over 2.4 million directly affected; 35,275 were evacuated.

Damages

The widespread inundation of some 4,000 square miles of land resulted to the destruction of homes, buildings and public works. There were major deterioration of the road network, as many bridges destroyed; flood control and irrigation systems were seriously damaged; thousands of classrooms were destroyed.

Floods resulted also to heavy losses to agriculture and livestock; damaging 250,000 hectares of agricultural lands, with 160,000 metric tons of rice production lost.

• The floods cost ₱2 billion in damage.
• Estimated total damage was approximately $220 million.
• The National Economic Council estimated the damages at ₱736 million for the entire Luzon and part of the Eastern Visayas. In Laguna, Rizal and other towns around Laguna Lake, estimated property loss was ₱60 million, within July 26–28.
• Amount of damage to economy was some £60 million.

Response

National

A major disaster created by the flood in the entire central Luzon prompted the President to declare a state of calamity in the affected areas.

As Typhoon Gloring hit the country, on July 12, President Ferdinand Marcos immediately declared a state of calamity in the entire Luzon. The Congress of the Philippines later passed a ₱500 million Calamity Fund Bill, where the emergency relief fund would be managed by the executive.

Five days later and within the next seven days, President Marcos personally directed the national government's massive relief and rehabilitation efforts. There had been decisions since July 19.

Following an aerial survey of the disaster area, President Marcos ordered the immediate distribution of rice from the warehouses to the flood victims. To help government relief agencies, he also ordered the commandeering as emergency measures of retail stores with all available food supplies, and private transport facilities, in certain locations; this is to avoid black marketing of supplies, with store owners compensated for their stocks.

Marcos also ordered the suspension of relief operations in Pampanga, diverting them to Pangasinan where residents had lacking supplies by then. The first relief ship, navy's RPS Surigao del Norte, arrived in Lingayen on July 23. In August, with the arrival of two more transport ships; the President and other national officials flown.

Furthermore, four government departments were activated by Marcos to bring help to the typhoon victims. On July 24, he took measures to prevent the spread of cholera, gastroenteritis, and bronchial diseases. The Health Department carried out mass vaccination against cholera and typhoid in central Luzon. Marcos ordered as well a physical inventory of food stored in private warehouses, and directed the seizure of stocks from owners refusing to sell to flood victims at prices fixed by the Price Control Council.

While seeking foreign governments' help for additional relief goods, the President quickly obtained foreign loans for the repair of major public works projects. He directed the Finance Department to prepare an estimate of the necessary matching funds for a $300 million loan from a group of world bankers, which, when secured, would be repaid later.

The National Disaster Control Center, established by President Marcos two years prior, operated under his direct command during the Luzon flood. High government officials, from the executive offices to the governors, joined the flood relief efforts on a 24-hour basis; the public contributed as well.

The Government of the Philippines distributed nearly 25 million pounds of food and other commodities to flood victims, and over $1.7 million in cash relief during the emergency operations. In the resettlement phase, it distributed 5,532 house construction kits; in the rehabilitation phase, it gave $2.3 million in family cash assistance to 1,765,194 persons, and assisted communities through some programs.

The Philippine Red Cross raised a total of $908,000 from local contributions and the League of Red Cross Societies, for assistance.

The Congress passed a bill appropriating ₱320 million ($50 million) for rehabilitation and reconstruction; $5.2 million of it was for immediate relief.

International

A total of 40 countries and 8 international organizations provided assistance. The donor nations assisted the Philippine Government in numerous rehabilitation projects, which progress was observed within six months after the floods.

The United States Government and voluntary agencies, and the international community (including United Nations, World Council of Churches, CARITAS, SEATO, League of Red Cross Societies, and donor nations) provided grants-in-aid. In addition to the governments of United States and of Japan, Asia Development Bank and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development provided loans for reconstruction of roads. Overall, their assistance in cash, in-kind donations and loans amounted to the total of $188 million.

Foreign transport

On August 2, two transport ships, British and American, arrived in Lingayen.

United States

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) began its flood assistance on July 14. U.S. President Richard Nixon expressed his sympathy to those affected and later designated Maurice Williams to coordinate their disaster relief assistance to the Philippines.

After visits to the flooded areas, the Government of the United States authorized $50 million for Philippine flood aid, programmed for both emergency relief activities (approximately $1 million) and later reconstruction and rehabilitation projects to be done jointly by the Government of the Philippines and USAID. The Philippines and United States conducted as well joint rescue operations.

Relief efforts by the U.S. Mission by the USAID and United States Embassy was supported by the Bureau for Population and Humanitarian Assistance/Foreign Disaster Relief Coordinator.

The U.S. Government utilized PL 480 food commodities for distribution to the victims. Nutribuns were developed, and being the first relief food available at that time, became the most-widely distributed, especially in the post-disaster rehabilitation feeding from late August to December through the Food for Peace Division. It was given, sometimes along with rations of rice and canned goods.

The United States military engaged in rescue and relief efforts; from Okinawa, six Disaster Assistance and Relief Teams were deployed, while Marines, Air Force and Navy conducted mercy missions; seven C-130 cargo planes were deployed as well. The military was among those helped to move relief goods and personnel, and to evacuate people, through air transport. They also assisted in repairing bridges in Zambales, and in response operations in Baguio landslide.

Aftermath

Months after the typhoon swept across the archipelago, on September 21, President Marcos declared martial law, specifically because of widespread economic uncertainty, the threat of rebellion, and possible secession in Mindanao.

Since then until as late as 1985, as the country was being affected by storms, the Marcos administration blamed the floods in Manila on the people who migrated from the provinces to the city, being suspected the cause of the garbage clogged in the city's sewage system. As at the height of the typhoon, rural migrants' homes had been increased, which led to the decrease of canals and water-catchment areas.

Since the typhoon, the planned flood-control project in Metro Manila was delayed. Necessary funds were raised for a system; however, until the mid-1980s, allocated funds, while being managed without accountability or any appropriate measures, led to minimal results.

Note: Monthly average exchange rate (July 1972–February 1973): $1 is ₱6.78 (Source)