400 disasters cost PHL P26B in 2011

THE economic cost of the more than 400 natural and man-made disasters that hit the country last year was a staggering P26 billion, the Citizens’ Disaster Response Center (CDRC) disclosed on Tuesday.

In the Philippine Disaster Report, the CDRC said there was a 50-percent increase in the number of disasters that hit the country last year, making it the world’s most disaster-hit country in 2011.

CDRC Deputy Executive Director Carlos Padolina said the records of the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) showed that of the 302 natural disasters that happened worldwide, 33 occurred in the Philippines.

“These natural and human-induced disasters combined affected more than 3 million families, or 15.3 million people, and caused over P26 billion in economic damages. This is a major leap from last year’s only 6.75 million people affected,” Padolina said in a statement.

The report also said that if human-induced disasters like armed conflict and fire were included, the total number of disaster occurrence in 2011 would reach 431. This is more than a 50-percent increase from the 2010 figure of 202 disasters.

The CDRC noted that 2011 was the first time in six years that disaster frequency has shown a sharp increase. Since 2005, disaster frequency in the Philippines has been on a downward trend.

Further, the 15.3 million people affected by disasters in 2011 surpassed the record-high 14.5 million in 2006 and the 13.6 million in 2009, due to Tropical Storm Sendong.

CDRC said tropical cyclones contribute to the increase in the number of affected people, like in 2006 for Typhoon Reming (Durian) and in 2009 for Tropical Storm Ondoy (Ketsana).

In terms of casualties, the Philippines placed second to Japan with 1,924 people killed. This was due to Tropical Storm Sendong (Washi) that hit the country last December and claimed more than 1,400 lives.

“When it comes to combined data on natural and human-induced disasters, the 2011 figures far exceeded the 2010 human impact data. Even if compared to the 2009 figures, which included Tropical Storms Ondoy and Pepeng, the number of affected population in 2011 is still much higher at 15.3 million,” the report stated.

Data showed that flooding was the most common disaster reported in the Philippines in 2011. There were 121 reported floods, or 28.07 percent, of the total number of disaster events monitored in 2011.

This was followed by 98 fires, majority of which occurred in cities, particularly in congested poor communities. Other disasters reported were 78 earthquakes, 66 landslides and 23 tornadoes.

“Tropical cyclones may not have made it to the top five most frequent disasters, but it affected the most number of people. At least 10.3 million people were affected in 2011. The two most destructive tropical cyclones in 2011 are Tropical Storm Sendong [Washi] and Typhoon Pedring [Nesat],” the report stated. “Tropical cyclone was followed by flood with 4.6 million people affected, and then volcanic eruption, armed conflict and fire.”

The report added that natural hazards were still the leading cause of massive disasters in 2011. There were 10.5 million people affected by natural disasters, or 69 percent of the total number of people affected by disasters last year.

Disasters caused by both humans and natural hazards affected 4.6 million people, or 30 percent of the disaster-affected population. These disasters include fish kills, floods, landslides and red tides.

Human-induced disasters, namely armed conflict, fire and development aggression affected 121,970 people or only 1 percent of the total disaster-affected population in 2010.

“In terms of frequency, however, 44 percent were caused by a combination of human-induced and natural hazards. This was fueled by the high number of floods. Natural disasters account for only 29 percent of disaster incidents, but it affected the most number of people. Human-induced disasters on the other hand account for 27 percent of the total disaster events,” the report stated.

Disasters with the most number of casualties were tropical cyclones, epidemics, armed conflict, fire and landslides. Tropical cyclones killed 1,557 people in 2011 and more than 1,400 were due to Tropical Storm Sendong. This was followed by epidemic with 60 deaths; armed conflict, 58 deaths; fire, 52 deaths; and landslides, 35 deaths.

In the Philippines Luzon had the most number of people affected by disasters with 9.4 million individuals or some 2 million families. Mindanao, which used to be the least affected by disasters, reported 5 million individuals or 868,720 families affected in 2011. –Cai U. Ordinario / Reporter, Businessmirror