I WOULD like to think that by this time most of the 800 or so fatalities from tropical storm Ondoy and typhoon Pepeng have been buried, except for those who remain missing from landslides and the terrible floods.

Things are back to normal in the towns and cities that were inundated during the onslaught of the twin disasters late in September and early October, with the exception of some areas, particularly in Metro Manila and nearby provinces in the south. The mud and debris left by the floodwaters have been removed, roads and highways are again busy with traffic, homes have been cleaned, appliances and furnishings repaired or replaced, and people are back to their daily routines.

“Back to normal” would have been a welcome situation after an extraordinary event that disrupted people’s lives. But those twin disasters left a specter. The floods that ravaged about two-thirds of Metro Manila and many outlying towns and cities can come again.

This time, a “back to normal” attitude is dangerous. It could lull us into forgetting what happened between September and October and lead us to complacency.

Right after the floods, people suddenly remembered such disasters had been anticipated almost four decades ago. The studies were made and plans were prepared.

I am referring in particular to the 15 flood-control projects for which plans were drawn up during the ’70s. According to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), only six of the projects were implemented between 1988 and 2009 (which means more than 10 years passed before the projects were even started). These were the Manggahan Floodway Project (which serves to divert floodwater from Marikina River to Laguna Lake), Effective Flood-Control Operation and Warning System Project, Rehabilitation of Flood-Control Operation, and Warning System in Metro Manila, the Metro Manila Flood Control Project-West of Manggahan Floodway (which prevents flooding in the western area of the Manggahan floodway from Laguna Lake), Camanava (Caloocan-Malabon-Navotas-Valenzuela) Area Flood-Control and Drainage System Improvement Project and the recently started Pasig-Marikina River Channel Improvement Project.

The nine other projects still waiting to be implemented are the Valenzuela-Obando-Meycauayan Area Drainage System Improvement Project, the Integrated Drainage Improvement Project at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and surrounding areas, the Drainage Improvement in the Core Area of Metropolitan Manila, the East Manggahan Floodway Area Flood-Mitigation Project, the San Juan River Flood-Control Project, the Upper Marikina River Improvement Project, the Marikina Dam Project, the Marikina Spillway and the South to West Laguna Lakeshore Dike Project.

The six projects that have been implemented cost a total of P17.9 billion, while the nine remaining projects will need a total of P81.6 billion. According to the DPWH, these nine projects were not implemented because of lack of foreign funds.

I don’t think we have a choice. We have seen how destructive floods can be in terms of life and property. We cannot just sit in a corner, waiting for foreign aid to implement flood-control projects, while 8 million residents of Metro Manila and millions more in nearby areas live under the threat of future disasters like Ondoy and Pepeng.

We are in a better position now than four decades ago in terms of securing financing for these vital projects. We have the sympathetic ears of developed countries, and the ongoing international discussions on climate change (those two disasters are being cited as an example of the disastrous impact of climate change, and the need to implement adaptation measures, such as the flood-control projects in Metro Manila).

My point is this. We should give these projects the highest priority, and explore all options to ensure these are implemented, before the next great flood comes.

There are other things we can do to avoid floods, or at least minimize their damage. Water from the sky or from the mountains has only one destination—the sea—and it will find a way to reach that destination. The debris and mud that buried roads and houses came from the creeks, rivers and drainage systems that would have facilitated the flow of water. To a large degree, the clogging of these waterways contributed to the massive flooding.

As I said, roads and homes have been cleaned, the debris taken to the dump. We don’t need foreign funding to clean our drainage systems, our creeks and rivers. Are we doing it?

I would assume that people realized that throwing garbage indiscriminately was wrong. And yet I still see people in luxury cars and sports utility vehicles throwing candy wrappers on the roads as if these were big public trash cans.

So our problem is not only lack of funding. It’s also the short attention span of agencies and government executives in aggressively clearing up waterways, and public indifference.

Government alone cannot prevent massive floods. The task has to involve everybody. Groceries, for instance, can immediately begin using paper bags instead of the plastic bags that end up in drainage systems, creeks and rivers.

People can do little things to help, like disposing of trash properly. Candy wrappers thrown in the garbage can mean a lot in preventing the clogging of waterways. It’s as simple as that.

We need tens of billions for the large flood-control projects, yes, and we should undertake them. But we also can do things that cost nothing, yet will also go a long way toward avoiding destructive floods.

We have to start somewhere. The place to start is here. And the time to start is now!

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