Resilience of Filipinos on Disaster

Disaster resilience is the ability of individuals, communities, organisations and states to adapt to and recover from hazards, shocks or stresses without compromising long-term prospects for development. According to the Hyogo Framework for Action (UNISDR, 2005), disaster resilience is determined by the degree to which individuals, communities and public and private organisations are capable of organising themselves to learn from past disasters and reduce their risks to future ones, at international, regional, national and local levels.

“The world recognizes the resilience of the Filipino spirit. Even after experiencing the worst disaster, we find reason to smile and laugh, we help others even if we are victims too, and we immediately go about our business. Resilience has been a remarkable strength of our citizens, but at the end of the day, the greater challenge after a typhoon or earthquake is always how to rebuild our communities?”

It is estimated that each year an average of 20 typhoons make landfall in the Philippines. The strongest of these storms create significant damage and can cause many fatalities. In 2013, Super Typhoon Yolanda (also known as Typhoon Haiyan elsewhere), which was one of the strongest storms ever recorded at landfall, claimed approximately 6 000 lives and damaged a million homes in nine regions.

In view of the latent typhoon and other natural disaster risks, the Philippine government had already started to change its strategic approach a couple of years earlier in the wake of the 2009 typhoon season, which had caused losses of USD 4.4 billion (equivalent to 2.7% of GDP). It introduced new legislation marking a move from disaster response to disaster risk reduction and preparedness, and started to implement a three-tiered Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance strategy.

The three tiers refer to the national, sub national and household level. At the national level, the government negotiated a contingent credit line with the World Bank to provide immediate liquidity in the aftermath of a natural disaster. In 2017, protection was added at the sub national level for the most exposed provinces. Supported by the World Bank, Swiss Re and other partners, the government bought a parametric earthquake and typhoon cover offering up to USD 200 million of protection to 25 provinces along the eastern edge of the Philippine archipelago. The risk has been fully ceded to local and national re/insurers, including Swiss Re, who will quickly provide provincial governments with liquidity in the event of a disaster.

REFERENCES:

http://gsdrc.org/topic-guides/disaster-resilience/concepts/what-is-disaster-resilience/

http://reports.swissre.com/corporate-responsibility-report/2017/cr-report/solutions/strengthening-risk-resilience-2017-highlights/strengthening-disaster-resilience-in-the-philippines.html

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/649279/filipinos-must-show-resilience-before-disaster-legarda

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