If another typhoon hits any of the provinces in Davao Region today or a strong earthquake happens now, is it ready?
The answer is a big NO. A recent nationwide survey on disaster preparedness and climate change perceptions in the Philippines by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) showed Davao Region as the third lowest level of preparedness.
With a score of 17.3 (out of 50), Davao Region was bested by Negros Island, which has a score of 15.8. The least prepared is the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), which had a score of 15.1.
The regions with the highest levels of preparedness are the Cordillera Administrative Region (24.0), Central Visayas (21.5), and Western Visayas (21.4).
“Filipinos’ self-reported disaster preparedness level has increased by 42% on average over the past seven years,” said a press statement released on the 11th anniversary of Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan), one of the most destructive typhoons in history.
Nationwide data collected from 4,608 Filipinos across all regions from February to March 2024 show an average score of 19.2 out of 50 across five objective measures of disaster preparedness: planning, training, material investment, information, and social support. Each criterion received a score from 0 to 10.
The result of the survey is a “significant improvement” from an average score of 13.5 out of 50 in a pioneering study conducted by HHI in 2017 using the same methodology and instrument.
“However, it is not enough for a country with the highest disaster risk in the world,” the statement said.
“A score of 19.2 highlights both progress and areas needing urgent attention. While it shows an improvement in disaster preparedness, the score suggests that Filipinos are only doing 38.4% of the kinds of disaster preparedness activities needed to be prepared,” says Dr. Vincenzo Bollettino, director of the HHI Resilient Communities program and co-lead of the study.
“For a country as vulnerable to disasters as the Philippines, this is not enough, so we must accelerate our efforts to ensure Filipinos are investing, planning, training, and building closer ties to their communities,” Dr. Bollettino adds.
Among the objective measures of disaster preparedness, Filipinos scored highest in information (4.9 out of 10); and scored lowest in social support (2.3 out of 10). However, the overall score remains relatively low across all dimensions.
In terms of specific social support activities, only a few Filipinos are members of a group or association (23%) and are familiar with their local disaster risk reduction and management officers (16%). Generally, social support declined from2.7 out of 10 in 2017 to 2.3 in 2024.
Most Filipinos implemented measures to safeguard important documents like birth certificates and property titles (87%). Many Filipinos also monitor typhoons and other disaster warnings (70%) and familiarize themselves with rainfall warning systems (60%), suggesting they routinely experience water-related hazards, such as storms and floods.
While many Filipinos discuss emergency plans as a family (58%), only a few have prepared their respective disaster management plan (20%), Go bag (27%), adequate supplies of regularly taken medications (32%), and first-aid kit (33%).
In terms of education, Filipinos who only have primary education are less prepared (15.3 out of 50) compared to those who attended higher education (24.1). Meanwhile, in terms of wealth, the poorest Filipinos feel less prepared (16.1) compared to the wealthiest (22.8).
If there’s one country in Asia that is disaster-prone, it’s the Philippines. In fact, it has the highest risk of disasters from extreme natural events and negative climate change impacts, as measured by the 2024 World Risk Index.
The Philippines topped the index with a score of 46.91, surpassing other Asian countries such as Bangladesh (27.73), India (40.96), Myanmar (35.85), Indonesia (41.13), and Pakistan (27.02).
In 2022 and 2023, the Philippines likewise led the ranking. Since 2022, its score has been gradually increasing.
Disasters are not waiting to happen; they happen every now and then. As Kathleen Tierney, director of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado, points out: “The Philippines is one of the most disaster-prone places on Earth. They’ve got it all. They’ve got earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, tropical cyclones, landslides.”
While other countries are prepared whenever there is a brewing disaster, it’s not so in the Philippines. “We do not have a rescue or pre-hospital law in the country,” laments Dr. Teofredo T. Esguerra, a flight surgeon who is an expert on emergency medical services. “Our psyche is not much into it.”
Dr. Esguerra, who is with the Philippine Coast Guard Medical Service, handles air medical evacuation, remote and wilderness rescue. He also conducts training – if and when needed. “I usually handle the difficult advance life support interventions,” he says.
In some of the training he conducted, he found out that there are quite a number of rescue teams who were ill-trained and ill-equipped. “They don’t have many safety inductions,” says Dr. Esguerra. “And to think of it, they are performing high-end operations.”
When asked on how Filipinos can respond to disasters, Dr. Esguerra replies: “Filipinos should make it like a part of their lives. They should be like Japanese who are always prepared; in fact, they have some survival kits which have already become a part of their day-to-day activities.”
