Legarda concerned PH No. 1 in World Risk Report
UPON learning of the new WorldRiskIndex Report 2022 which ranks the Philippines at the highest in terms of disaster risk among 193 countries covering 99 percent of the world’s population, Senate President Pro Tenpore Loren Legarda expressed urgent concern which she said requires prompt action from the government.
Countries in the top 10 WorldRiskIndex list include India, Indonesia, Colombia, Mexico, Myanmar, Mozambique, China, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The report assessed countries based on risk, exposure, vulnerability, susceptibility, coping capacities, and adaptive capacities.
Legarda said that as a nation of many small islands, situated along the typhoon belt, the Philippines is one of the countries vulnerable to extreme weather events.
Tens of thousands of lives were lost during the last decade which saw the occurrence of seven of the deadliest and costliest typhoons in Philippine history. Data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council revealed that damage to crops and structures reached 240 billion pesos.
For a vulnerable country like the Philippines, the aftermath of disasters turbo-charged by climate change weather of recent years, as well as the projected climate change impacts, have given a glimpse of a future in a rapidly warming world.
“We can break the cycle of destruction and reconstruction by assessing and understanding our risk, exposure and vulnerability,” Senator Legarda urged.
Legarda called on government to effectively address these issues at the national and local levels with the primary goal of enhancing the resilience of communities and reducing potential loss and damage.
“We care deeply about the lives of our people and the well-being of our nation. We have been perennial witnesses to the vulnerability of our communities to disasters and the prevalence of risks throughout the country, not only from the impact of hazards but also from human-induced disasters,” said Senator Legarda.
The World Risk Report is published annually by Bundnis Entwicklung Hilft and the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, and has been in circulation since 2011.
