THE Philippines ranks No. 3 among countries whose people are most at risk from disasters, according to a report released for the United Nations’ International Day for Disaster Reduction, October 13.
“Among the 15 countries with the highest risk worldwide, eight happen to be island states—including Vanuatu, Tonga and the Philippines at positions 1 to 3,” the World Risk Report 2012 said.
The report, which was prepared by the German Alliance for Development Works (Alliance), UN University Institute for Environment and Human Security and The Nature Conservancy, added: “Owing to their proximity to the sea, island states are particularly exposed to the natural hazards of cyclones, flooding and sea-level rise.”
Its evaluation of 173 countries also placed the Philippines among the top three in terms of exposure. According to the report, Vanuatu is the largest disaster risk worldwide, with a score of 36.31 percent. It is followed by Tonga (28.62 percent), the Philippines (27.98 percent), Guatemala (20.75 percent) and Bangladesh (20.22 percent).
“The World Risk Index 2012 [the product of exposure and vulnerability] shows that these countries bear the disastrous combination of extreme exposure and high vulnerability,” the report said.
The Philippines was given an exposure rate of 52.46 percent and vulnerability of 53.35 percent, based on 28 indicators. “India ranks second in the countries with the greatest number of at-risk people who may receive risk reduction benefits from reefs [people living below 10-meter elevation and within 50 kilometers of coral reefs]. The top countries are Indonesia and India [more than 35 million people each], followed by the Philippines [more than 20 million], China [more than 15 million] and Brazil, Vietnam and the United States [all more than 7 million],” a statement on the report said.
The statement added that “environmental degradation is a significant factor that reduces the capacity of [these] societies to deal with” risks of natural disasters.
“The record for the decade 2002 to 2011 is alarming: 4,130 disasters, more than a million deaths and an economic loss of at least $1.195 trillion.”
A statement in September by underwriter Swiss Re noted that the “cost of floods has more than doubled in the last 10 years and now rivals earthquake losses.”
The firm estimated that 500 million people are affected by flooding every year and “the increase in flood claims has been significant.”
Swiss Re said that in the 1970s, the annual claims were $1 billion to $2 billion, whereas 2011’s insured flood losses amounted to $15 billion.
“Recent flood events in Thailand, Australia and the Philippines show that floods now rival earthquakes and hurricanes in terms of economic losses,” it added.
Nonetheless, the World Risk Report said the Philippines and Thailand scored positive in terms of adaptive capacities in terms of natural disasters.
“Thanks to their favorable scoring in the categories ‘education and research,’ ‘environmental status and ecosystems protection’ and ‘gender parity,’ the Philippines in particular, which [was] ranked as high regarding susceptibility and [its] lack of coping capacities, attained a quite good result.”
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Source: Dennis D. Estopace, Business Mirror. (14 October 2012)
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