El Niño, maaaring mas tumaas sa April 2024, 63 lalawigan puwedeng maapektuhan – DOST

MAAARING dumating sa rurok o pinakamataas ang El Niño phenomenon sa  April ng susunod na taon habang  63 lalawigan ang posibleng makaranas ng matinding tag-tuyot.

“The drought will come one month earlier than the previous forecast of May, with two less provinces to be affected,” sinabi ng Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

“So essentially, the effects of El Niño will still be covering the first and second quarters of 2024,” ang sinabi ni  DOST Secretary Renato Solidum Jr.  sa press briefing sa Malakanyang.

“But the peak of El Niño, in terms of drought, will be April of 2024, which is slightly different from the forecast last week or two weeks ago, that it will be May,” aniya pa rin.

Iyon nga lamang, nilinaw ng DOST  na ang matinding tag-tuyot sa susunod na taon ay hindi tatama sa CARAGA at iba pang bahagi ng  Davao Region.

Samantala, sinabi naman ni Department of National Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro  na maglalabas si Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr., sa lalong madaling panahon ng  executive order  na muling bubuo sa  Task Force El Niño.

Ang  task force, pamumunuan ng National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, ay nakatuon sa seguridad sa tubig, pagkain, enerhiya at kalusugan at maging kaligtasan ng publiko.

“The President made this a presidential task force so that adequate importance and urgency is given the initiative,” ani Teodoro.

Para naman sa Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), masusi nitong mino-monitor ang  water supply sa urban centers at sa  agricultural sector.

Winika ni DENR Secretary Toni Yulo-Loyzaga na ang Angat Dam sa Bulacan,  nagsu-suplay ng  potable water sa Kalakhang Maynila, sa kasalukuyan ay may sapat na suplay ng tubig  dahil may water level ito na  212 meters.

Mayroon din aniyang infrastructure projects ang nakapila para sa water treatment.

“So ang instruction din ng pangulo  is to have our infrastructure investments be multi-purpose,” ayon kay Yulo-Loyzaga.

“So that one investment in a kind of infrastructure can generate several values, whether they are for flood control in the end, whether for irrigation, or eventually for water supply and distribution as well,” dagdag na pahayag nito. (Daris Jose)