IT'S NOW official: After years of painstaking research and observation, scientific experts as well as relief and donor organizations worldwide have concluded that the Philippines is the "most disaster-prone country" on the face of the earth.
This latest tag for the country was based on actual statistics derived from over 160 countries showing the casualty figures from earthquakes, typhoons, volcanic eruptions, floods, epidemics, drought, famines, storms, wildfires, and landslides occurring on a global scale in the last 100 years.
The Philippines tops the list of "disaster-prone countries" and is followed by China and Vietnam, also both from Asia.
A "disaster profile" for the Philippines drawn up by the United Nations' Office for Civilian and Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) showed that almost every month, a typhoon, earthquake or some other calamity hits the country and leaves an average of 53 persons dead and thousands more hurt, missing, homeless or orphaned.
Statistics from OCHA's International Disaster Database also showed that from 1900 to 2001, a total of 757 disasters struck the Philippines and left 50,769 people dead and several millions "affected."
OCHA explains that the disaster database only contains calamities wherein 10 or more people were killed, 100 people were affected or if the country concerned called for international assistance or issued a state of emergency.
In its own study and analysis of disaster data, the Brussels-based International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent described the Philippines as "The Most Disaster-Prone Country in the World" based on statistics on the number of victims in typhoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, garbage landslide and military action against Muslim insurgents in the country.
The University of Wisconsin's College of Medicine confirms the ICRC's findings. A separate study it made showed the most disaster-prone countries in the world were the Philippines, with 38 recorded major catastrophes, China with 26, and Vietnam with 17.
The World Bank, in a recent report, says Asia is the most disaster-prone region of the world, with Metro Manila, Philippines "the city most at risk."
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in its last Global Economic Outlook (GEO-2000), said nine of the 10 most disaster-prone countries in the world are in the Asian region: Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, New Zealand, and the Philippines. The tenth area in its list is Hawaii.
The World Health Organization also classified the Philippines as the most disaster-prone country, with an average of 19 typhoons and earthquakes yearly.
This latest tag for the country was based on actual statistics derived from over 160 countries showing the casualty figures from earthquakes, typhoons, volcanic eruptions, floods, epidemics, drought, famines, storms, wildfires, and landslides occurring on a global scale in the last 100 years.
The Philippines tops the list of "disaster-prone countries" and is followed by China and Vietnam, also both from Asia.
A "disaster profile" for the Philippines drawn up by the United Nations' Office for Civilian and Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) showed that almost every month, a typhoon, earthquake or some other calamity hits the country and leaves an average of 53 persons dead and thousands more hurt, missing, homeless or orphaned.
Statistics from OCHA's International Disaster Database also showed that from 1900 to 2001, a total of 757 disasters struck the Philippines and left 50,769 people dead and several millions "affected."
OCHA explains that the disaster database only contains calamities wherein 10 or more people were killed, 100 people were affected or if the country concerned called for international assistance or issued a state of emergency.
In its own study and analysis of disaster data, the Brussels-based International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent described the Philippines as "The Most Disaster-Prone Country in the World" based on statistics on the number of victims in typhoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, garbage landslide and military action against Muslim insurgents in the country.
The University of Wisconsin's College of Medicine confirms the ICRC's findings. A separate study it made showed the most disaster-prone countries in the world were the Philippines, with 38 recorded major catastrophes, China with 26, and Vietnam with 17.
The World Bank, in a recent report, says Asia is the most disaster-prone region of the world, with Metro Manila, Philippines "the city most at risk."
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in its last Global Economic Outlook (GEO-2000), said nine of the 10 most disaster-prone countries in the world are in the Asian region: Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, New Zealand, and the Philippines. The tenth area in its list is Hawaii.
The World Health Organization also classified the Philippines as the most disaster-prone country, with an average of 19 typhoons and earthquakes yearly.






