Typhoon damage reaches P18 B in 2015

MANILA, Philippines - The typhoons that hit the country this year have claimed at least 116 lives and damaged more than P18 billion worth of property, data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) showed.

Fourteen typhoons hitthe Philippines in 2015, namely Amang, Betty, Chedeng, Dodong, Egay, Falcon, Goring, Hanna, Ineng, Jenny, Kabayan, Lando, Nona and Onyok.

The deadliest storm to hit the country this year was Typhoon Lando, which claimed 48 lives, followed by Nona that left 42 dead.

Typhoon Ineng had 21 fatalities while Tropical Depression Amang and Typhoon Dodong claimed two lives each. One person was killed due to Kabayan.

Total damage to agriculture and infrastructure hit P18.2 billion, more than a third of the Philippines’ year-to-date budget deficit of P52.57 billion.

Lando, which brought heavy rains and floods in Luzon last October, also proved to be the most devastating cyclone this year, damaging P11 billion worth of properties.

Nona, which battered Luzon and Eastern Visayas this month, damaged P6.46 billion in agriculture and infrastructure.

Ineng posted P469.61 million in property damage while Egay’s damage reached P214.65 million.

The damage caused by Kabayan amounted to P46.86 million while Amang and Dodong destroyed P30.34 million and P16.3 million, respectively.

More than 3.8 million people were affected by storms this year.

Of this, some 2.56 million individuals were displaced or moved to safer areas. The weather disturbances also damaged or destroyed more than 420,000 houses.

NDRRMC executive director Alexander Pama admitted that the country needs to improve disaster preparedness.

“We have seen and experienced the effects of strong typhoons. The effect of the typhoons in 2015 was invariably strong,” Pama told The STAR.  

“Aside from the strength the unpredictability became a challenge for us in terms of pre-disaster risk reduction,” he added.

Pama claimed that the country’s disaster preparedness has improved but noted that some local governments need to enhance the way they respond to calamities.

“We need to work on number one, the cooperation of the people. We still need to convince some people who are hardheaded. Some local government units have to study and understand the proper procedures,” he said. 

The Philippines is one of the countries most vulnerable to natural disasters because of its geographic location. 

An average of 20 typhoons, five to seven of which are destructive, visit the country every year.