By NITZ ARANCON Correspondent CITY hall’s disaster riskeduction management group yesterday warned of the possibility of violent weather conditions, and tropical cyclones as strong or even stronger than Typhoon Yolanda as a result of the El Niño phenomenon still gripping the country. While the El Niño––a warm ocean current that flows along the equator––has become synonymous with dry spells, it has no effect on storm or typhoon formations over large bodies of warm water. Typhoons draw their energy from the ocean surface through evaporation. In other words, the warmer the waters are, the stronger tropical cyclones could become. And with the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) declaring the start of the rainy season, and warning of “very strong” tropical cyclones towards year-end, city hall is bracing for the worst. City disaster riskeduction management officer Alan Porcadilla said preparations are meant to cushion the impact of typhoons that could develop into something like or even stronger that Typhoon Yolanda. The Category 5 typhoon that hit and left over seven thousand people dead or missing in the Visayas regions in 2013, was the strongest tropical cyclone to make landfall in recorded history. It dwarfed Typhoon Sendong that devastated Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities in December 2011. Porcadilla told reporters at the Mediakonek program at the Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC) that city hall’s preparations were aimed at achieving a “zero casualty” in case of Sendong-like or Yolanda-like weather conditions. Luz Mercado, a weather specialist at the Pagasa office in El Salvador, said the state weather bureau was expecting 11 to 16 tropical cyclones to develop and hit the country before year-end. Mercado said Pagasa also categorized weather conditions as tropical depression, tropical storm, severe storm, typhoon, and super typhoon. She also said the El Niño gripping the country has been seen to intensify and turn from “weak” to “moderate” by August––meaning, the ocean water would become warmer, and make tropical cyclones erratic and stronger. “Mosamot pa ang init aning ‘moderate’ El Niño. Basta init ang panahon unya na-ay bagyo, kana nga bagyo dako ang posibilidad nga mokusog tungod sa ka-init nga dala sa El Niño,” Mercado explained. Porcadilla said city hall was prepared to call for pre-emptive evacuations, and even order forced evacuations depending on the threats. Teodoro Sabuga-a, city hall’s social welfare and developnent office chief, said the local government would no longer be caught off-guard because of a system of disaster preparedness that includes identifying floo-prone and landslide-prone areas. Sabuga-a said evacuation centers have also been in place and have clearly been identified. He said even public schools have been equipped with multi-purpose buildings with rooftops that could be used by evacuees in case of floodings.