40% of disasters occur in Asia

ASIAN countries have been battered by natural hazards but the commitment shared by each nation amplifies each government’s contributions to mitigate natural disasters and bring to fore the urgency of disaster preparedness.

At a workshop on natural disaster at the 10th Science Council of Asia Conference, University of Tokyo professor Teruyuki Kato stressed on Tuesday the vulnerability of the Asian region as a “showcase” of natural disasters where flood, wind storm and earthquake account for 71 percent of the natural disasters in the region.

Kato, using 1975-2000 data, said around 40 percent of the 6,617 natural disasters in the world occurred in Asia. At the same time, 88 percent of people affected by natural disasters came from Asia, with Africa a distant second at 8 percent.

Of the 850,417 people killed from natural disasters in Asia, 92 percent were attributed to only three disasters—earthquakes, wind storms and floods.

It is interesting to note, according to Kato, that 95 percent of those who were killed came from the low- and middle-income group.

“Earthquake is the worst natural disaster in terms of human loss and economic damage. The recent Japanese government policy aims for human prosperity in the world through development of science and technology [S&T],” he said.

Through the collaboration among the Japan Science and Technology Agency, Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development has been successfully implemented in Japan and in its neighboring countries, Kato explained.

The program, as discussed by Kato, aims to strengthen the international S&T cooperation between Japan and developing countries, advance scientific knowledge and technology for resolving global issues and build capacities of counterpart researchers and research institutes.

The Philippines has been one of the recipients of this program, he said. In 2009 some of the projects initiated by the Japanese government include Integrated Coastal Ecosystem Conservation and Adaptive Management under the Local and Global Environmental Impacts in the Philippines, the Enhancement of Earthquake and Volcano Monitoring and Effective Utilization of Disaster Mitigation Information in the Philippines, and Prevention and Control of Leptospirosis in the country.

This year another project is set to be implemented in the country entitled “Comprehensive Etiological and Epidemiological Study on Acute Respiratory Infections in Children.”

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) director Renato Solidum Jr. put emphasis on the country’s own efforts to prepare for natural disasters. Dubbed as the “Project Ready,” the initiative intends to address problems of disaster-risk management (DRM) at the local level, he said.

At the same time, the project looks at the availability of hazard maps and the lack of community-based hazard monitoring and warning systems that can empower community leaders to fully implement the activities and measures for disaster reduction, he added.

The Philippines, Solidum said, has a reported 20 earthquakes recorded each day; around 200 are felt each year and 90 may be considered destructive.

Phivolcs has also launched a hazard and damage assessment tool, such as the Rapid Earthquake Damage Assessment System (Redas), which was developed by the institute in 2002, he added.

Redas, a noncommercial, geographic information system, is a seismic hazard simulation software that aims to produce hazard and risk maps immediately after the occurrence of a strong earthquake or for potentially damaging earthquake scenarios, Solidum explained.

“It is being shared among local government units,” he said. –Anjo Alimario, Businessmirror