Reforestation — long-range answer to massive flooding

The immediate need in Luzon is for continued rescue and relief work for the people who lost their homes in the wake of typhoon Ulysses, the latest of a series of storms and typhoons that swept in from the Pacific in a span of three weeks.

It was initially reported that Ulysses had caused massive flooding in Marikina City, the catch basin of Metro Manila, but it turned out the next day that the flooding had actually hit the whole of Luzon, particularly Cagayan and Isabela in the north. Helicopters brought food packs to many barangays isolated by the floods that covered the region.

Damage to rice and other farms in the Cordilleras, Ilocos region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, and Bicol was estimated at ₱2.53 billion. With the declaration of a state of calamity in all of Luzon, the national government augmented the funding of the National Risk Reduction and Management Fund by ₱10 billion.