Hydro Meteorological Disasters Case Study

ABSTRACT

Hydro-meteorological is categorized as one of the natural disasters. These includes floods, droughts, cyclones of all types, landslides, avalanches, heat waves, cold waves, and debris flow. Of the hydro-meteorological disasters, floods account for the majority of disasters followed by wind storms. The primary causes of all hydro-meteorological disasters are water and wind. Precipitation, in many different forms at the upstream end leads to flooding when it is too high and droughts when it is too low (Jayawardena, 2013).The Philippines is an archipelago composed of about 7,641 islands with a total land area, including inland bodies of water, of 300,000 square kilometers (115,831 sq mi). Its 36,289 kilometers (22,549 mi) of coastline

Due to human intervention in the natural processes, the destructive power and frequency of natural disasters have increased considerably.

Hydro-meteorological is categorized as one of the natural disasters. These includes floods, droughts, cyclones of all types, landslides, avalanches, heat waves, cold waves, and debris flow. Of the hydro-meteorological disasters, floods account for the majority of disasters followed by wind storms. The primary causes of all hydro-meteorological disasters are water and wind. Precipitation, in many different forms at the upstream end leads to flooding when it is too high and droughts when it is too low (Jayawardena, 2013).

Floods

Floods affect every country, and cause more fatalities and more property damage than any other type of sudden-onset hazard. In addition to causing injuries and deaths, floods can disrupt water purification and sewage disposal system, and cause toxic waste sites to overflow. Floods affect some hundred millions of people and their livelihoods and claim thousands of lives annually

Extreme flood events often result from coincidence such as unusually intense, warm rainfall melting heavy snow pack, producing channel obstructions from floating ice, and releasing small impoundments like beaver dams.

El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)

The warming phase is known as El Niño and the cooling phase as La Niña. Southern Oscillation is the accompanying atmospheric component, coupled with the sea temperature change: El Niño is accompanied with high, and La Niña with low air surface pressure in the tropical western Pacific. The two periods last several months each (typically occurring every few years) and their effects vary in intensity.

Developing countries, such as Philippines, are dependent upon agriculture and fishing, particularly those bordering the Pacific Ocean, are usually most affected. El Niño and La Niña affects the global climate and disrupts normal weather patterns, which as a result can lead to intense storms in some places and droughts in