PHL gets 3rd largest share of 2010 disasters – report

The Philippines suffered the third highest share of the world's natural disasters last year, the Citizens' Disaster Response Center (CRDC) reported in its recently launched 2010 Philippine Disaster Report. Citing data from the international think tank Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), the report said the country bore the brunt of 14 natural disasters in 2010. China topped the list of the most natural disaster-prone countries with 22 reported natural disasters in 2010, followed by India with 16. The Philippines topped the list in 2009, with 26 reported natural disasters. The fifth highest number of people killed or affected by natural disasters in 2010, meanwhile, came from the Philippines. A total of 3.9 million Filipinos, or 3.6 percent of its population, ended up as victims of natural disasters last year. The most number of affected people were from China, with 145 million, followed by Pakistan (18.1 million), Thailand (10.1 million), and India (4.9 million). In 2009, the Philippines placed second on the CRED list. Carlos Padolina, CRDC deputy executive director, said the “slight decrease" in the number of affected Filipinos should not lull the country into complacency. “We should in fact strive to be taken off the list completely," Padolina said. "And we can do this by being prepared." Solutions go as deep as fixing the country's political institutions, according a landmark report by the World Bank and the United Nations titled "Natural Hazards, Unnatural Disasters: The Economics of Effective Prevention." The team leader of the report, Apurva Sanghi, said countries should strengthen their political party systems in particular as one of the first steps to disaster prevention. "The longer the political party is in power, and all things being equal, they are more responsive and accountable to the citizens at large," Sanghi said. — VS, GMA News