Price of poor planning
During the rainy season, low-lying areas are inundated with water that flow from mountain tops and estuaries. Silt eventually covers a large area along the shore (especially in the Garapan Area) drowning precious fish habitat. We shrug off this destruction with the usual bureaucratic excuse of “it’s the rainy season”. And we repeat the same excuse when the rainy season floods the same area time and again.
Places such as southern Tanapag (homestead area), Kanat Tabla, residential area immediately outside Lake Susupe, hotel district in Garapan are the usual victims of flooding, annually. Homesteaders in Tanapag have back-filled their land before building the first family home. So they are mostly spared of the annual phenomenon.
Residents of Lake Susupe have been encouraged to either take out flood insurance ore relocate altogether. Insurance companies are reluctant to grant policies to residents given that their place is situated right in flood prone areas. And so they are asked to relocate, but relocate to where when they staying in the last family property? Have we set aside land and some form of assistance for such relocation or did we quietly ignore it with “sink or swim?”
The Kanat Tabla area gets the usual dosage of road repair at least two to three times a year when river-like water roars down along the road ripping it completely leaving huge rocks right in the middle of this artery. It’s a recurring problem of more than three decades that still gets the band-aid solution. Perhaps, it’s a justification to keep the mayor’s office working on secondary roads, time and again.
Furthermore, there’s a certain family dwelling at As Lito (South of the Joeten’s Housing) that suffers from at least two feet of water annually. The rescue unit from the Department of Public Works and the Mayor’s Office jointly converge to pump out excess water every heavy down pour. While the peons drain out water, the big guns busy themselves with hand held radio dispatching messages. It’s quite an impressive scene of radio in one hand and cigarette on the other with more promises to return when the next heavy rain comes.
The problem will persist for as long as appropriate agencies don’t gather in a room to hammer out a permanent solution to flooding in all these areas. We are sure that through creative planning, all agencies can pitch into securing federal funds to resolve this issue once and for all. A piece meal approach isn’t going to resolve this longstanding problem. Shall we put our heads together before the next rain falls?
