EXTREME HOT WEATHER, REACHED 42 C

El Niño’s damage to the agricultural sector in the Philippines has reached over one billion pesos. Western Visayas is most affected, followed by MIMAROPA, Ilocos Region, CALABARZON, and Zamboanga Peninsula. More than twenty thousand farmers and fishermen are affected while almost eighteen thousand hectares of crops are damaged. 

DOH warns public on extreme hot weather (Photo courtesy of Philippine Star)

PAGASA Monitoring Chief Ana Solis warned that the heat will intensify until May despite the weaking of El Niño, “so meaning, with the weakening of El Niño in terms of warming the temperature of the sea, its relation to us is the more intense, we will experience its severe effects.”

But according to the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), only one percent of the farms with irrigation were affected by the drought. A contract farming scheme will now be implemented this year, so that the rice planting can continue despite El Niño.

The National Water Resources Board (NWRB) will not reduce the allocation of water to MWSS and NIA until April despite the dry season. 

The Department of Health is preparing for the possible impact of El Niño on water supply to hospitals. Health Secretary Ted Herbosa said that the operations on the hospitals will be difficult in the event of a shortage of water supply.

The DOH also warns of diseases during hot weather such as dengue and heat exhaustion. In Tuguegarao the temperature has reached 42 degrees Celsius where a heat index of 50 degrees Celsius can be recorded. 

Source: ABS CBN News

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