PH: ‘Most storm-exposed country on Earth’

Sixteen years after the passage of the law creating the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and 17 years after the enactment of the Climate Change Act, the Philippines is far from becoming a resilient nation as it battles all sorts of risks—both natural and man-made.

Last year, our country topped the World Risk Index mainly because of our exposure to extreme weather events such as the perennial flooding that comes during the rainy season. Comparing disaster risk for 193 countries, the World Risk Index found the Philippines itself alone at the top of risk hotspots because of its high geographic fragmentation and high exposure to weather-related extremes. Following closely were India, Indonesia, Colombia, and Mexico (see “PH again tops World Risk Index over weather,” Global Nation, 9/27/25).

Once again, after two weeks of relentless rain caused by the intensified habagat (southwest monsoon) and consecutive tropical cyclones—and with two more typhoons on the horizon this month—it’s only natural to wonder whether there’s anything we can do to lessen the effects of extreme weather events on a planet severely impacted by climate change.

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Flooding and landslides in Cagayan Valley, Ilocos Region, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, and Western Visayas have already caused nearly P200 million in agricultural damage and losses, led to 19 deaths, disrupted in-person classes for some 6.5 million learners, and caused the suspension of work in many government offices.

Desensitizing effect. Repeated exposure to calamities has a desensitizing effect—it is what it is, we may say. But watching the news these days, the observant public can still feel the depth of emotional anguish, physical pain, and psychological torture inflicted on many vulnerable Filipinos forced to live beside waterways, in perpetually flooded communities, and in landslide-prone hills and mountains, with no better alternative in sight. As motorists and commuters wade through flooded streets because of the failure to effectively unclog our urban drainage system last summer, do we shrug it off and say, what else is new?

Local governments perennially complain about a lack of funding to address flooding and mitigate their constituents’ suffering. While reforms have been instituted by the executive since last year to safeguard taxpayer money, it’s undeniable that the lingering consequences of a widespread corruption scandal are here to stay.

They will serve as a perpetual reminder that corruption once ran amok, taking hold of billions in congressional allocations for flood control and other public infrastructure projects, including climate-resilient roads, bridges and classrooms, permanent evacuation centers, and livable resettlement areas with access to utilities, schools, and livelihoods.

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Geographically, we have long been accustomed to preexisting hazards, but Filipinos’ misery is turbocharged during the rainy season.

“Most storm-exposed country on Earth.” Study after study since the ‘70s have pointed to the Philippines’ high vulnerability to environmental natural hazards such as floods, storm surges, landslides, earthquakes, and tropical cyclones for much of the country’s history.

We may not want these pesky visitors, but we are inundated by an average of 20 typhoons each year. In my own study on building climate resiliency in the Philippines (2016), I found out that based on historical meteorological data, the Philippines is “the most storm-exposed country on Earth,” according to a Time Magazine article by Sophie Brown (2013).

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Filipinos born in the 1970s have lived in a country that has been hit by more tropical cyclones than any other country on Earth, second only to China, according to the United States National Hurricane Center. It doesn’t help that the Philippines is in the northwest Pacific, the most active region for tropical cyclone formation.

Greg Bankoff (2015) has an in-depth study of the peoples of the Western Pacific, which includes the Philippines. “The peoples who inhabit the states that lie in the direct paths of typhoons in the Western North Pacific share a common history of repeated dislocation, destruction, and death,” Bankoff said (source: https://tinyurl.com/wrnvtamp). He noted that between 1900 and 1991, there were 702 disasters, or an average of eight a year, hitting the Philippines.

Experiencing eight disasters a year should prompt the government to prioritize disaster preparedness over response. Although this focus is mentioned in NDRRMC’s disaster management plan, the reality on the ground remains largely geared toward response. For instance, even preemptive evacuation is a response to an incoming typhoon or expected flooding rather than a more permanent solution, such as relocating entire communities from hazardous areas.

We need political will to do this, and a dedicated disaster risk reduction department should be in charge of implementing risk reduction strategies instead of NDRRMC, which is an ad hoc body.

(More on this in my next column.)

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