The Philippines’ Improving Response to Natural Disasters

To the Editor,

In a recent article, the authors interestingly claimed that India was an emerging global power with respect to providing medical aid during natural disasters. Despite being a developing country and economy, it has emerged as a 1 of the key providers of immediate disaster aid to affected countries. ¹ This claim is firmly validated since the Philippines is 1 of the recipients of this charitable act. I would therefore like to present the recent developments and improvements in my country that can be imitated by other developing countries.

The Philippines is 1of the world’s most disaster-prone countries. Located along the boundary of major tectonic plates and at the center of a typhoon belt, its islands are regularly impacted by floods, typhoons, and landslides, as well as earthquakes, volcanoes, and droughts. It also ranks among the top 3 countries in the world for population exposure and vulnerability to hazards. ² When Haiyan (known as super typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines) hit the country in 2013, it affected more than 14 million people across 44 provinces, displacing 4.1 million people, and killing more than 6000 people with 1800 missing. It also damaged 1.1 million houses, destroyed 33 million coconut trees, and disrupted the livelihoods of 5.9 million workers. Overall damage was estimated at $5.8 billion. ³ India was 1 of the countries that immediately sent assistance by airlifting relief package comprising of medicines, hygiene chemicals, tents, and blankets, as well as tarpaulins, and ready-to-eat meals. ⁴ During this disaster, the clearest explanation for why the country suffered such dire effects, is poverty. Many homes are modestly constructed of light materials like wood and the government has few resources to invest in infrastructure that could resist natural disasters and be used for relief efforts. The devastated city of Tacloban remained almost inaccessible after 3 days; aid workers said it took 6 hours to make the 14-mile round trip ferrying supplies between the airport and the city center. ⁵ This implies that the disaster response of the country needs a lot of improvement.

Today (10 years after the earthquake), major improvements can be seen. First, there was the development and launching of “Ready to Rebuild (R2R): Disaster Rehabilitation and Recovery Program.” The R2R training program provides manuals, guidance, and training sessions to assist the country’s Local Government Units (LGUs) in developing Local Disaster Rehabilitation and Recovery Plans based on the National Disaster Rehabilitation and Recovery Planning Guide, which was developed by the Government of Philippines with technical support from the World Bank. It also covers the use of GeoRiskPH integrated multi-hazard database, to improve local climate, disaster, and health-related baseline data sharing for risk-informed planning. ⁶ Second, there was the launching and immediate use of PhilAWARE: a system that provides hazard monitoring, early warning, and advanced modeling to provide critical impact and potential needs’ information to aid rapid response. It has been proven to be an effective tool for disaster monitoring. Since its deployment, the system helped the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) to monitor and respond to super typhoon Rai in December 2021, and was successfully used again for mapping the numerous landslides that occurred during tropical storm Agaton in April 2022. ⁷ Lastly, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) developed the Plan Smart web application which is an automated planning tool that will systematically generate rehabilitation and recovery plans using science-based information from GeoRiskPH integrated system and pro-forma templates. This web application is also ready to receive baseline data of local governments that are essential for planning. To equip provinces and cities, a series of trainings on the use of Plan Smart is ongoing. Participants are trained on how to collect, manage, and integrate their baseline data into GeoRiskPH platform for a risk-informed Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan. ⁸

Much has been done but there is still a lot to do, in order to improve the Philippine’s response to natural disasters. However, with continuous effort and collaboration between the government and other private sectors, as well as a strong, continuous show of solidarity by other nations, resilience will never be out of reach.