00:00What is your dream house?
00:03A sleek modern house?
00:05A bungalow?
00:07A big mansion?
00:09Or a cozy house?
00:11Where do you plan to build it?
00:14On a paradise-like beach?
00:16In the mountains?
00:18Or by the lake?
00:20During a climate crisis, is your dream house ready?
00:24Faced with the reality of strong storms?
00:30What is your dream house?
00:39Due to the heavy rainfall caused by Hurricane Christine in October 2024,
00:44it caused landslides in the towns of Talisay, Laurel, and Agoncillo in the province of Batangas.
00:54One of the most affected is the town of Laurel.
00:58Landslides caused landslides, landslides, and landslides
01:03caused landslides, landslides, and landslides
01:06In December of last year, the storm still hit the area.
01:14It's like a diluvium.
01:16It's all water, there's nothing we can do.
01:19We can't even climb a tree.
01:22It's too high.
01:25It's a disaster.
01:27The water runs fast.
01:30There are a lot of vehicles, cars, trucks, and tricycles.
01:35I carried all of them.
01:37I carried them in a pailo.
01:39I was 54 years old when this happened.
01:43I didn't expect it to be this big.
01:47Because of the rapid rise in the water level, they were unable to escape.
01:52We couldn't climb a tree.
01:54We had to carry all of them.
01:56We were in a pail for 3-4 hours.
01:58The children were crying.
02:00They were praying.
02:02They were all crying.
02:06After the flood, the landslides hit the town of Laurel and Agoncillo.
02:12If the landslides didn't happen, we would have drowned.
02:17We would have been carried away.
02:19Thank God, the landslides stopped.
02:21The landslides helped the water level rise.
02:25Now, there are trees, trees, and palm trees.
02:30There are a lot of palm trees.
02:33If the landslides didn't happen, we would have been carried away.
02:38Because the water level is high in the river,
02:42that's why the landslides happened.
02:46Just like how the river was flooded,
02:48Dennis' house was destroyed.
02:50When the flood came, the landslides came.
02:54I broke the windows.
02:58I broke the windows.
03:00The windows were broken.
03:02The water level was this high.
03:05Up to here.
03:11Our house was destroyed.
03:15Our store was destroyed.
03:19My wife's house was flooded.
03:24Here, we walked to the window.
03:32This window was broken.
03:35So we could escape from the flood.
03:38Here, this is a washout.
03:41This is a mess.
03:44This is a mess.
03:47This is a mess.
03:49And this is a mess.
03:51I have two children.
03:53This is a mess.
03:55It's not fixed yet.
03:59It's a mess.
04:01This is where the water came in.
04:03At the end.
04:06Aside from the flooded end of the river,
04:08it also left more than two acres of land.
04:17Before, half of the land was made of stones,
04:20the other half of the land was made of plywood.
04:22Everything was destroyed.
04:24Everything was destroyed.
04:26We lost everything.
04:30We lost everything.
04:32We lost everything.
04:36The location, location, location is a hot topic
04:39whenever we talk about real estate.
04:41In times of climate crisis,
04:43what other factors should be considered
04:45before you can say that a place is safe?
04:53Here at Project NOAA of the University of the Philippines,
04:56MAPA is their platform.
04:58On their website,
05:00you can see if a place is dangerous.
05:03Know your neighborhood.
05:04Not only your house,
05:06but also your junior's school,
05:08your father's office.
05:10You can see it.
05:11So that when a disaster happens,
05:13we know what to do.
05:15We know if the house, office, or school will be hit.
05:19And most of all,
05:21where we will go.
05:23Because these maps
05:25not only show where the most dangerous place is,
05:29they also show the places
05:31that can be visited that are the safest.
05:35If there is a bad weather,
05:37these are the things that can happen.
05:39There can be floods.
05:41You can see the branches
05:45that stick to bigger rivers
05:48until they reach the sea or the ocean.
05:51There can also be landslides.
05:54And if the wind is strong,
05:56there can be a storm surge.
05:58Those are the red ones.
05:59So those places
06:02are called dangerous places.
06:05If there is a bad weather,
06:07and we know that our house, school, or office
06:11is in a dangerous place,
06:13we should flee.
06:16But where should we flee?
06:18To those white places.
06:19So that it won't be hard,
06:20look for the white places that are the safest,
06:24the closest to your house
06:27or school.
06:29So that you won't have a hard time.
06:31You don't need to move
06:34to the other province.
06:36Just stay in the same barangay.
06:39You can see your house up close
06:42and the dangers that surround it.
06:45As you can see, it's high-resolution.
06:47This technology is called
06:49Light Detection and Ranging.
06:51To show you the landscape
06:53of a high-resolution barangay level,
06:55where the dangers are,
06:57and where the safest place is.
07:00That is very important.
07:03The safest place.
07:05Because you have a higher chance of survival.
07:09Project NOAA was established
07:11on Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazard in 2012.
07:14After the earthquake in Mindanao.
07:17The government wanted
07:19to have a responsive program
07:22for disaster risk reduction.
07:24It was led by the Department of Science and Technology.
07:27And it was taken by researchers.
07:31Researchers who do research
07:35on disaster risk reduction
07:37and new methods.
07:40Lessons from past disasters.
07:43The program was suspended in 2017
07:46due to the government's lack of funds.
07:49But it was continued
07:51by the University of the Philippines
07:53because they saw the potential to save
07:55millions of Filipinos
07:57from the floodwaters.
07:59Updating information does not stop.
08:02Mapping does not stop.
08:06Because our land changes.
08:09Conditions change,
08:11especially when there is climate change.
08:14When there is climate change,
08:15the former small floods
08:17will become larger floods.
08:19And not just sometimes,
08:21if not immediately.
08:26This is a map of Laurels.
08:28In Batangas.
08:30And this is the community.
08:32The parish church is there.
08:35The municipality is here.
08:37And this is the community
08:40where there are many houses.
08:42If you live there,
08:44and there is a possibility of flooding
08:46and landslides,
08:48check the flood landslide
08:51and storm surge.
08:53It's good because you can see
08:56the dangerous places
08:58and the not-so-dangerous places.
09:01If you are only there temporarily,
09:05not just for a week or a day,
09:09if the weather is bad,
09:10you can move from here.
09:12Because those are the safest places
09:15in the community.
09:20This is the town of Agoncillo,
09:22next to the town of Laurels in Batangas,
09:24which was also flooded by the community
09:26because of the flash floods
09:27caused by the heavy rain
09:29caused by the storm Christine.
09:31It also raised the water level in Taal Lake.
09:36Because of this,
09:37it's game over for the houses
09:39that were completely flooded.
09:49These are the four houses
09:50that were abandoned
09:51because of the storm Christine.
09:53This is where I live,
09:54at the end of the house.
09:57Suddenly, the flood came
09:59and the landslide happened.
10:02Elena's dream house
10:03is this house next to the landslide.
10:06It was beautiful before.
10:07It was really beautiful.
10:09Because the plan here
10:10is to build a baywalk
10:12that is attractive to tourists
10:14and next to the landslide.
10:16The seashore was far away
10:18from where my house was built.
10:22In 2018,
10:23the seashore was 50 meters away
10:25from where their house was built
10:27until it was gradually reclaimed by nature.
10:47We spent almost P350,000 in 2018
10:50to build this three-story house.
10:55The rooftop will be made
10:58to make it attractive to Taal
11:01and to continue the baywalk.
11:03But this is what happened.
11:05The storm Christine.
11:08Their house is still submerged in water
11:10and it's dangerous to live here.
11:13First of all,
11:14if you're going to buy a house,
11:16check if the house is in the house.
11:19It might be dry now
11:20because there's no bad weather.
11:22But if it rains,
11:23if there's a storm,
11:24it might sink to the second floor.
11:37This house in Montinupa City
11:39is an elevated design.
11:41The house is built on stilts
11:43and has a bay underneath.
11:45In the map of Project NOAA,
11:47you can see a house near a danger zone.
11:50A tree near the house
11:52that might erupt.
11:55This house was designed
11:57by architect Alistair Sadi.
11:59His inspiration is a modern house.
12:03The main feature of this house
12:06is the bay.
12:07That's why it's on stilts.
12:09The bay design is not native.
12:14It's a rat guard
12:16to prevent viruses and pests
12:19from entering the main house.
12:21It's resilient from flooding
12:22because it's already elevated.
12:24It's floodproof.
12:25We recommend stilt houses
12:28for flood-prone areas
12:31near rivers and creeks
12:33where it can overflow
12:35and reach your location.
12:38You can also buy roofs
12:40with the right angle.
12:41The roof design here
12:43is oriented in a way
12:45that it's not against the strong wind
12:50so that it won't uplift
12:53when there's a typhoon.
12:56Trees and plants are not just a motif.
12:59Their placement is also strategic.
13:02The presence of plants and trees
13:04hold the roots of the soil
13:08so that the elevation of our lot
13:11won't change.
13:16This house is called a cuboid.
13:18It can withstand typhoons,
13:20strong winds,
13:21and hot weather.
13:24The designer and innovator,
13:26Hilvian,
13:27says the typhoon
13:29in Bicol has increased.
13:31When I was young,
13:32I experienced typhoons.
13:34But not like now.
13:36Typhoons are stronger now.
13:37The old houses
13:39have long eaves.
13:41Sometimes, you can use the eaves
13:43of the old houses.
13:45When the wind hits the eaves,
13:48it pushes the eaves up.
13:50The tendency of the wind
13:52is to push the eaves up.
13:54The first thing that can be damaged
13:56is the gutter.
13:58When the gutter is backlash,
14:00the typhoon will come directly.
14:04I created an aerodynamic form.
14:07When the wind hits the eaves,
14:09there's no stress.
14:12I made a simulation.
14:15The flat surface
14:17shows how the wind hits the eaves.
14:20There's a lot of stress.
14:22But when I removed it,
14:24the wind will go inside.
14:26The shape is the same.
14:30No matter where the wind comes from,
14:32it's safe.
14:33If you notice,
14:35the usual house
14:36has a high ceiling.
14:39It's too high.
14:41Since I removed the aerodynamic form,
14:45I can't make it higher.
14:48So, it's like this.
14:50That's how it started.
14:52It's kind of plastic.
14:54But in this construction,
14:56I want to show it like this.
14:58Instead of making it higher,
15:01I lowered it here.
15:05In 2020,
15:06he started to build a decennial cuboid house.
15:09In 2022,
15:10he built two prototypes in Bicol.
15:13The design is patented.
15:15Some countries are interested in building it.
15:18This is optional.
15:19It's for hot areas.
15:22This can be raised.
15:25The air will come out here.
15:28But it depends.
15:29If the rain is too heavy,
15:32we can adjust it.
15:34The material we use
15:36is APS,
15:37Expanded Polystyrene.
15:39This is not the usual CHB concrete.
15:44Even at 7 p.m.,
15:46it's still hot when you touch it.
15:48This one,
15:49even if you touch it directly,
15:51when you touch it inside,
15:53it's cold.
15:55A house is worth 1.2 million pesos.
15:59This is suitable for high areas
16:01except for low areas.
16:03It's not designed for flooded areas.
16:06If we can give it a chance,
16:08funding from the government,
16:10and people who really need it,
16:15I'll be happy.
16:19A new strategy is not enough
16:21to save us from the climate crisis.
16:24More importantly,
16:25the government's responsibility
16:27is to build communities for the people.
16:30We should be designing homes for the future.
16:32And we should be building communities
16:34that will last.
16:35If you look at it,
16:37it's the same for local government units
16:40when planning the zoning of their area.
16:43Where will the critical facilities be built?
16:47Where will the hospital be built?
16:49Where will the future developments be built?
16:52Where should the seat of government be placed
16:54for the people in that area to avoid flooding?
16:58So that when development is avoided,
17:01hazards are avoided,
17:02or floods are avoided,
17:04we won't have a disaster
17:06even if floods occur.
17:28For more UN videos visit www.un.org
