Batanes Province, a cloister of islands on the most northern tip of the Philippines, is the typhoon capital of the Country. Experiencing an average of 15 typhoons a year (the Philippines experiences 20 a year) it is usually the last point of land that a typhoon will pass through before leaving the country.
Covering an area of just 209 square kilometers, it is one of the smallest provinces in the Philippines with a population of only 16,467.
This constant exposure to typhoons has made the Ivatan (people of Batanes) a very hardy and resilient people. Decades of staring typhoons in the eye has yielded some pretty good survival tips. Not to mention that storm prediction has become second skin to them. According to them their survival knowledge has been passed down through generations.
Typhoon’s can be easily predicted by taking a cue from nature: When the cows come down to barn from their upland pasture areas, birds start to hide inside houses or on the ground, or when the sky becomes pinkish orange.
The Ivatan people live in stone houses with thick walls and heavy roofs. All this plus their sense of community have helped tide them over whenever a typhoon drops by.
With the island being windswept and pummelled by rain all the time, I can’t help but romanticize the idea of living off-grid there. Powered by your own home miniature wind turbine that doesn’t have to be set high as normal wind turbiness have to be set because of the availability of wind. Just remember to design it to be easily taken down once you see your neighbor’s cows coming home. Getting your internet feed via cellphone you’d still be in touch with the mainland. Now isn’t that the life? Yup dreaming is free.
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Category: Misc
July 6th, 2008 at 8:50 am
This is a really important question and idea. More aspects of Ivatan culture and evolution can be used to give us ideas about how to cope with the coming years.