The hot dry season is underway.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) announced this week that the start of warmer conditions has begun typically from the month of March to May, each year.
In a statement, PAGASA advised the public to take precautionary measures to minimize heat stress and optimize the daily use of water for personal and domestic consumption
They will also start releasing daily heat index records from March to May.
The heat index refers to what people “perceive or feel as the temperature affecting their body.” It is computed by taking the actual air temperature combined with the relative humidity in an area.
So far, the highest computed heat index for 2022 is a new record-high and scorching heat index of 53°C in Dagupan City, Pangasinan, recorded on March 17, Thursday.
This is alarming not only to our health and safety, because, as temperatures rise, severe heat events such as heatwaves and drought are also expected to increase in frequency and gravity, threatening human lives, disturbing ecosystems, reducing crop harvest and food production, and putting at risk some infrastructure resulting in economic losses.
Per assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its Third and Fourth Assessment Reports on the current heat health risk in 139 Philippine cities, it was found out that on the basis of population density, Manila, had a very high heat exposure index.
Manila, with a population density of more than 42,000 people per square kilometer, is the most densely populated city, not only in the country but also in the world. Two other cities located in Metro Manila had high heat exposure index values; these were Caloocan City and Mandaluyong City.
The least densely populated city in the country is Puerto Princesa City in Palawan, with only 107 people per square kilometer and classified with very low heat exposure index values.
Our government should not sit idly on the surface of these realities.
They should immediately at least, undertake a bold step to save the lives of our people who are exposed to these risks.
Policies to reduce exposure to direct heat of sunlight by workers in the construction, transportation, traffic enforcement, and the like, should be enacted and implemented. Flexible time schemes can be made by private companies to safeguard their workers’ health and safety like instead of working during the scorching sunlight heat from 10 AM until 3 PM, they could adjust it to 5 PM until 9 PM, just to protect the people’s health. Construction projects can be performed during nighttime. There are also some sectors that can work during dawn until early morning hours, just to avoid the roasting heat of the sun.
But all these should emanate from a policy. Laws such as executive orders, republic acts, department orders, or ordinances. We have lawmakers both in national and local levels, adequately compensated by taxpayers’ money to perform their duties devotedly. Health professionals have already informed us, about the risks caused by extreme heat and humidity, yet, our authorities still allowed many among our people to expose themselves to these risks.
Contrary to the developing environment brought about by rapid urbanization, there is also mounting legitimate concern about the risks that heat poses to urban populace. Usually, the occurrence of higher surface temperatures in cities is high compared to that in their surrounding rural areas–a phenomenon called the urban heat island (UHI) effect. The test in safeguarding the quality of urban environments and the well-being of city residents is considered as gargantuan task.