The Philippines ranked the third-most country at risk of disasters, according to a new United Nations study that measures social vulnerability, exposure to natural hazards and climate change.
The potential impact of the risk in the Philippines is intensified by a lack of preparedness, coping and adaptive capacities at the national and local levels, according to the World Risk Report 2011 released this week by the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Humanity Security in Germany, which calculated risk values for 173 countries worldwide.
“Although there are individual plans and programs for disaster-risk reduction at the local, regional and national levels, the management of such extreme events is often problematic and demonstrates the limits of existing capacity in these areas,” the report said.
Vanuatu and Tonga came first and second as they are highly vulnerable from a rise in sea levels and judged to be poorly armed to cope with disasters. Qatar shows the lowest risk worldwide.
The Philippines got an overall rating of 24.32 percent in the risk index. On exposure to risk, it received 45.09 percent rating, vulnerability 53.93 percent, susceptibility 34.99 percent, lack of coping capacity 82.78 percent, and lack of adaptive capacity with 44.01 percent.
The study further said storms and rains hit degraded ecosystems in the Philippines, destroying coral reefs and mangrove forests and depleted soils and deforested areas. These leaves not enough natural bulwarks against the threat of disasters.
“People also feel the effects of climate change. The high variability in precipitation increases. Storms become increasingly intense and lead salty seawater on the fields and into groundwater, which damages soil and food crops,” the study stated.
Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, whose province has been dubbed as the “nature’s laboratory on disasters,” has said the best course of action is not to blame, but to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
“Adaptation must be pursued in the context of development, its goals on reducing poverty and its constraints on managing erratic weather events,” Salceda told the BusinessMirror. “But as part of the overall development strategy, adaptation becomes an investment with huge economic returns in the long run. That is why we are in the front line of confronting the escalating impact of climate change.”
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By: Imelda V. Abano
Source: Business Mirror, Sept. 7, 2011
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