Natural disasters’ impact worsened by poverty--analysts

from INQ7

Agence France-Presse, Associated Press

THE PHILIPPINES is naturally prone to disasters but rising poverty and climate change are making the problem steadily worse, analysts said.

Despite repeated disasters, many people are too poor to leave dangerous areas, they say.

Some 30,000 people fled the Mayon volcano when it started rumbling in August only to return when the activity subsided. But this week, typhoon-triggered mudslides swept hundreds of these people to their deaths.

Typhoon “Reming” (international codename: Durian) was the fourth "super" typhoon in four months to hit the country, swamping the Mayon volcano with so much wind and rain that ash and boulders cascaded down its slopes in walls of black mud that swamped entire villages Thursday.

The Philippines has long tried to minimize the damage caused by the 20 or so typhoons that hit the sprawling archipelago every year. Despite a combination of preparation and mitigation measures, high death tolls and destruction persist.

The Philippines' location in the northwestern Pacific puts it right in the pathway of the world's No. 1 typhoon generator, according to meteorologists.

"We are often the first to experience typhoons before they go to China, Taiwan and Japan," said Thelma Cinco, senior weather specialist of the Philippine weather bureau.

Roger-Mark De Souza of the Washington-based Population Reference Bureau said the danger from natural disasters here has risen markedly in recent years.

"The risk to human life from natural disasters in the Philippines has increased dramatically over the past generation," he said in a recent report. "From 1971 to 2000, natural disasters killed 34,000 people but from 1990 to 2000, natural disasters killed or disrupted the lives of 35 million people."

Nationwide in 2001-05, 2,892 people were killed and 909 others went missing in typhoons and other storms, which caused damage totaling P26.05 billion ($521 million), the National Disaster Coordinating Council says.

During the past century, bad weather has cost the country about P15 billion ($300 million) a year just in infrastructure, said Anthony Golez, the council's deputy chief, noting that the estimate doesn't include losses to employment and other economic opportunities.

Sitting on the edge of the "Pacific Ring of Fire," the Southeast Asian archipelago nation is also vulnerable to earthquakes, at least six a day, and volcanic eruptions from its 18 active volcanoes.

It all makes for a deadly mix making the Philippines one of the most disaster-prone countries on earth, according to the International Red Cross.

In a country where more than 50 percent of the population are living on less than two dollars a day, the human cost of such disasters is enormous.

Senator Richard Gordon, who heads the Philippine National Red Cross, said better planning is needed.

"We have to break the cycle of disaster and poverty by being smarter, by being sure we can plan our community smarter," he said. "The big problem here in our country is we don't plan our communities. It's every man for himself."

He said the government has money for disaster mitigation but that politicians look to building projects that last only long enough for people to remember them during election campaigns.

For all the stark images from the devastation wrought by Reming, the scenes were troublingly familiar.

In the eastern island of Leyte earlier this year, 1,800 were killed when a mudslide caused by heavy rains obliterated the farming community of Guinsaugon.

The International Red Cross has estimated that some 5.9 million Filipinos were killed or injured as a result of natural or manmade calamities in the 10 years to 2001.

In its 2005 Disaster report the IRC said the impact of natural disasters "aggravate pre-existing poverty, creating a downward spiral of vulnerability, arresting development."

Leoncio Amadore, one of the Philippines' foremost meteorologists, believes that climate change is also contributing to the severity of the typhoons now hitting the Philippines.

"The combination of strong typhoons, excessive rain and landslides has caused a great deal of death and destruction in the Philippines.

"If we do not act urgently, climate change will further intensify the severity of extreme weather events," he said.

But how can Filipinos deal with typhoons?

"The country would need a big umbrella," Golez quipped. "Figuratively, that umbrella is the knowledge that we should instill in our people -- knowing about disaster preparedness."

He said Filipinos should be "bombarded" with disaster information, including stories of the Indian Ocean tsunami two years ago and the Guinsaugon landslide.

"They have to get scared, or else," he said. "We have to give them the reality, and it's a sad reality. We have to tell them the truth."

But work should go beyond preparedness, Golez said. Too many people live close to danger zones like mountainsides or riverbanks, he said.

"They are pushed there because they do not have any choice. If you develop their economy, then they would have more options," he said.

Mayor Jessie Robredo of Naga City, Camarines Sur, said his people are used to the yearly storms and began bracing for Reming a week before it arrived. The result was "zero casualty" this time, he said.

But he laments that emergency funds, used to help his constituents get back on their feet after every typhoon, could be used for economic projects.

"We would have been more progressive, more productive," he said. "The worst part of a typhoon is that instead of using our funds for livelihood, we use them for relief to help people rebuild their lives. Instead of building infrastructures, we repair buildings."

The cycle seems unlikely to break soon. But Robredo said life goes on in Typhoon Alley.

"The people of Naga are very resilient," he said. "Typhoons are like a way of life, a part of life. We do not like them, but our attitude is that there is still another day and we will rise again."