With the ongoing strong El Niño phenomenon, drought is now experienced in eight provinces in Luzon, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said on Friday.

In a radio interview, NDRRMC executive director Undersecretary Ariel Francisco Nepomuceno said that currently, the droughts are felt in Apayao, Bataan, Cagayan, Cavite, Ilocos Norte, Kalinga, Palawan, and Zambales.

According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration, drought means three consecutive months of way below-normal rainfall (more than 60% reduction from average) or five consecutive months of below-normal (21% to 60% reduction from average) rainfall.

Nepomuceno added that by April, based on the weather bureau's projection, drought will be felt in almost the entire Philippines, except for some Mindanao areas.

“When April comes, there will be more than 50 provinces; it's like the whole Philippines, except in some areas of Mindanao, 56 provinces, so we are trying to prepare for it,” he said, adding that the government should focus on long-term solutions, especially since the country will again experience this weather phenomenon.

“It is necessary that while we are pushing for short-term solutions, we can provide them, we can lay them out correctly, and it is important that we can do the projects that are long-term solutions correctly because this will happen again and again; if not, we will just survive.”

He said that the government is continually finding different solutions. For short-term solutions, their priority is focused mainly on food, water, electricity, security, and peace and order.

The NDRRMC official said that the Department of Agriculture has already fixed 843 kilometers of irrigation canals and deep wells and conducted cloud seeding.

“The people can help if each one... for example each family... just saves 10 percent to be realistic...when the family's normal water consumption [is lower], putting it together is a big thing,” he said, noting that the water level in Angat Dam is still stable.

For the long-term solutions, Nepomuceno said these are engineering solutions such as the construction of catch basins and dams, among others.

Earlier, PAGASA forecasted that the strong and mature El Niño will persist until February and is expected to transition to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation until June.