With the Philippines being located along the typhoon belt in the Pacific, the country is visited by an average of 20 typhoons every year, five of which are destructive (Asian Disaster Reduction Center, 2019). Luckily, we are protected by a 1.4 million hectare mountain range that acts as a natural shield against typhoons and storm surges – the Sierra Madre.
Also known as “the backbone of Luzon,” the Sierra Madre Mountain Range is the longest in the Philippines, spanning almost 500 kilometers in length. It covers 10 provinces – Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Nueva Ecija, Aurora, Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna and Quezon, and it’s highest peak has an elevation of “1,266 meters above sea level or equivalent to three Petronas Towers of Malaysia stacked together” (BusinessMirror, 2018).
Photo retrieved from Orange Magazine
The Sierra Madre, aside from being our natural shield, also serves as support to “major infrastructure, including irrigation dams, water utility and power plants that are serving urban settlements, including Metro Manila” (Forest Foundation Philippines, n.d.).
We may be unaware of it but this mountain range has saved our lives countless times. Numerous typhoons could have been more devastating for the Philippines, but thanks to the Sierra Madre, these fierce typhoons have been stifled.
Typhoon Ompong, which hit the country in 2018, is an example of a could-have-been more devastating super typhoon. With an international name Mangkhut, this super typhoon was seen to be the strongest storm to ever hit the planet for the year 2018. However, the Sierra Madre Mountain Range slowed down Ompong’s sustained winds from 220 kilometers per hour to 160 kilometers per hour. Our natural wall hampered Super Typhoon Ompong’s greater impact.
“Since the Sierra Madre has a large surface area with many slopes and curves, it can help break the eye of the cyclone resulting in a slower wind speed,” (Haribon, as cited in BusinessMirror, 2018).
The Sierra Madre Mountain Range also served as our protective barrier on the onslaught of Typhoon Karen and Super Typhoon Lawin in 2016.
In the aftermath of the most recent tropical cyclone Typhoon Rolly in Nov. 2020, we checked out the effects of the storm in some of our favorite developments in Antipolo, Sun Valley and Eastland Heights. As Typhoon Rolly approached Metro Manila, news reports indicated supertyphoon levels of strength, however, it could be surmised that as the typhoon approached the Sierra Madre mountains, it’s wind strength had significantly decreased, resulting in no significant damage even in areas with high elevations like Sun Valley and Antipolo. Check out the video here.
References
Asian Disaster Reduction Center. (2019). Information on Disaster Risk Reduction of the Member Countries – Philippines. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3eycI59
BusinessMirror. (2018). Sierra Madre stifles world’s fiercest typhoon this year. Retrieved from https://businessmirror.com.ph/2018/10/01/sierra-madre-stifles-worlds-fiercest-typhoon-this-year/
Forest Foundation Philippines. (n.d.). Sierra Madre. Retrieved from https://www.forestfoundation.ph/sierra-madre/