The report also said the rising global temperature could cause intense tropical storms, with heavy rains, that could develop into disastrous typhoons which could destroy low-lying areas and coastal villages.
When we talk about “low-lying areas” we usually think of islands in many of the atolls in the central Pacific. We tell ourselves that we are safe because Palau is made up of high islands. We may be deluding ourselves because we might be in just as much danger from rising sea levels as our fellow islanders living on low-lying atolls in the central Pacific. The islands of Kayangel, Sonsorol, Hatohobei, Merir, and Helen’s Reef would certainly suffer the most if the World’s sea levels were to rise due to rising temperatures as projected.
But there may be other potential disasters lying in store for us. The majorities of our taro patches are located in low-laying areas and would be among the first in the country to be flooded by a rising sea level. If that were to take place, our food supplies from that source would suffer catastrophic damages, which would take a long time to restore. We do not know if our mangrove forests and our lagoons, which provide all of our foods from the sea, could withstand the effects of rising sea levels associated with rising temperatures. What will happen to the mangrove crabs, the giant clams (Kim, Oruwer), the sea cucumbers (Eremrum, Ngimes), and the sea grasses that sustain our favorite fish foods (Meas, Kelat) and many others?
The Global Warming is also expected to cause intense tropical storms, including typhoons, and these would definitely have devastating effects on all islands, high or low, when they occur. Our farm lands and vegetable gardens would be washed away by the heavy rains that would accompany these packages of troubles. We hope our government would know where to lead us when rising tides and temperatures come knocking at our doors.
Our people need appropriate shelters for natural disasters. The warnings on Global Warming should alert us to the need to have properly prepared and designated shelter facilities for our population in the event a major disaster such as typhoons should strike or occur in our area of the Pacific. As things stand today, many people would not know where to go for protection because the government does not have a program identifying facilities that would be used as shelters if a super typhoon were to develop and head our way.
During the Trust Territory period, the Palau District Government always identified certain facilities, both public and private, where people could go for protection when typhoons threatened Palau. Most of these facilities were school buildings, public offices, and churches. The people knew where to go for protection and despite the many super typhoons that struck Palau back then, no one was seriously injured or killed in any of them. The only fatality recorded in Palau occurred in Peleliu in the mid-sixties. The victim elected not to seek appropriate shelters but to remain in his own house, which was totally destroyed by the strong wind.
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