'Typhoon Engineering' efforts for sustainable development in the Philippine setting

by Benito M. Pacheco and Ronwaldo Emmanuel R. Aquino, 2007, Proceedings of the 4th Civil Engineering Conference in the Asian Region (4CECAR), Taipei, Taiwan.

Abstract: Disaster reduction helps poverty reduction, and thus ultimately helps sustainable development. In the Philippines, the cumulative damage in past typhoon disasters is worse than other disaster types. Even recent typhoons have caused considerable damage that arguably could have been avoided through better engineering. Meanwhile, typhoons not only bring strong and destructive winds, but also storm surges, heavy floods, and landslides. There is a need for a multi-disciplinary field that intends to reduce typhoon disasters, similar to ‘earthquake engineering’ in reducing earthquake disasters, and it is referred to here as ‘typhoon engineering.’ Typhoon engineering is part of disaster reduction efforts initiated by civil engineers in the Philippines. This paper presents these current and future typhoon engineering efforts.

Keywords: Philippines, typhoon damage, typhoon disaster prevention, typhoon engineering, NSCP