Coastal Protection for the

Coastline of the Philippines

A case Study for Tacloban and
outlook for Metro-Manila

Wouter de Hamer
25 April 2017
 Typhoon Yolanda

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 Typhoon Yolanda
 November 2013 the largest typhoon ever recorded Yolanda.
 NDRRMC confirmed 6,201 identified fatalities, 5,803 of which in Visayas.

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Coastal protection strategy for Tacloban and Palo | 2 June 2016
 Coastal Defense Masterplan Tacloban and
Palo Municipality

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 Coastal Protection Strategy
Objectives:
to develop a coastal protection strategy to:
 minimize flood risks (loss of life and damage to properties) due to
natural coastal hazards (surge and typhoon waves);
 enhance the sustainable development of the coastal zone (develop
natural ecosystems, sustain livelihoods, etc)

Taking into account:

 Extreme typhoon events
 Expected climate change
 Future urban development

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 Coastal Protection Strategy

Multi-level Safety Approach:

 Level 3, resilience and emergency response
 Level 2, planning and zoning
 Level 1, flood protection, prevention of inundation

Level 3

Level 2

Level 1

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 Basis: Flood Risk Damage
Assessment
 Flood hazards for different Return
Periods

 Damages ($/m2) - using damage

functions)

 Economic risk ($/m2/year) – area

under the damage probability
curve

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 Translation of Risk to Strategy

Strategy:
Non-structural

Strategy:
Structural &
Non-structural

Strategy:
Structural &
Non-structural
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 Project area – North Tacloban
 No “expensive” structural measures
due to limited marco-economic benefit

 Invest in emergency shelters and early

warning to ensure safety of the people
Strategy:
Non-structural  Invest in mangrove expansion and
conversion of fish ponds to improve
resilience.

 Only future urban development in flood

free areas

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Project area – Central Tacloban
Coastal
Sea wall  Invest in structural measures due to high
marco-economic benefit
 Offshore seawall in the bay area to
Non-structural

minimize social impact

Structural &

Offshore  Dike along provincial road alignment to the

Seawall south to minimize environmental impact
 Dike along ocean-side of airport to protect
essential infrastructure
 Maintain proper drainage from the urban areas
and wetlands to the ocean
Elevated  Design for low maintenance for the dike (no
road concrete, but earthen dike and armour rock)
 Create mangrove education park north-west of
airport for education of DRR function soft
measures.
Coastal
Sea wall
Coastal
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 Mid North - MCA

A B C

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 Mid South - MCA

weight factor elevated road sea wall

Technical 10 76% 56%
Socio-economic 70 54% 47%
Environmental 20 80% 20%
61,6 42,8

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 Bird’s Eye Impression

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Project area – Palo Municipality
 Only targeted investments in structural
measures to protect urban areas of Palo
Strategy: Municipality
Structural & Non-structural
 Invest in emergency shelters and early
warning to ensure safety of the people

 Maintain wide openings for the rivers to

freely discharge into the ocean

 Invest in mangrove expansion and

conversion of fish ponds to improve
resilience.

Coastal protection strategy for Tacloban and Palo | 2 June 2016

 Bird’s Eye Impression

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 The proposed strategy is….

A strategy built up from hard measures where necessary and soft

measures where possible, creating a healthy ecosystem and a
protective landscape for the people in and around Tacloban and Palo.

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 Assessment Flood Risk Philippines
Quick Assessment done for LGUs along the eastern
shoreline: over 2500km coastline (158 LGUs) .

Using open source data:

 Population density
 Flood risk maps (DOST, NAMRIA)
 Typhoon tracks (probability)

Conclusions:
 Three regions (V, VIII and XIII) at high risk
 10 cities (>65,000 people) at high risk
 Preliminary emergency plans generally in place
 No actual coastal protection strategy exist…
 Landuse planning along the coast is key!

For this analysis risk is defined as: “the probability of a flood to occur
multiplied by the damage caused by this flood scenario”.

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 Assessment Flood Risk Philippines

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 Typhoon Pedring (2011)

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 Typhoon Modelling Pedring (Cat. 3)

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 Typhoon Modelling Pedring

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 Manila Bay - Multi-level Safety Approach
 Level 3, resilience and emergency response
 Most cities have emergency plans in place (mainly
focussing on riverine flooding)
 Special/more attention needs to be given to the
most vulnerable people living along the coastline

 Level 2, planning and zoning

 Overall Masterplan for Manila Bay is lacking
 Recent promising initiatives:
 NEDA: Manila Bay Sustainable Masterplan
 PRA: Programmatic EIA and DSS Manila Bay

 Level 1, flood protection, prevention of inundation

 Hard measures: implemented on LGU level
(questionable if these are all “future proof”)
 Soft measures: non-existing (mangrove and
wetlands areas degraded in most parts)

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 Manila Bay’s Issues on Planning (Level 2)
 High pressures on ecosystem due to rapidly increasing
population / urban sprawl :
 Untreated wastewater discharges in Manila Bay
 Overload of solid waste dumped in Manila Bay
 Overfishing / Uncontrolled development of fishponds
 Unregulated/illegal (land) developments

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 Manila Bay: modern example of “Tragedy
of the Commons”?
 Hardin (1968); “user pursues its own (short-term) benefits over
the (long-term) common benefit to maintain a healthy
ecosystem”.

 In these cases, literature advises to:

 improve communication and trust between the stakeholders,
 steer towards a “regulation-driven win-win situation”.

 For the Manila Bay key for success is:

 Regulatory and trustworthy
government body for Manila Bay
 Buy-in from private sector
 Involvement NGOs

Let’s not wait for a Masterplan!

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 Thank you for your attention

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