2013

Citizens’ Disaster Response Center (CDRC) Research and Public Information Department

[2013 PHILIPPINE DISASTER REPORT] A consolidated report on the different disasters that occurred in the Philippines in 2013, the frequency of occurrence, as well as the effects of these disasters on communities.

2013 Philippine Disaster Report

Introduction The 2013 Philippine Disaster Report concisely presents information on disasters that occurred in the

Philippines in 2013. Through graphs, tables and charts, it provides an overview of the type of

disasters that occurred, the frequency of occurrence, as well as the effects of these disasters on

communities. Where available, direct economic costs to agriculture and infrastructure are reported.

A review of the major disasters that occurred in the Philippine islands within the past decade is also

presented.

A substantial portion of the data in this report were gathered through CDRC's disaster monitoring

system, which relies on reports from Citizens' Disaster Response Network (CDRN), a network of 16

regional centers all over the country. Overview and supporting data were taken from the

Department of Social Welfare and Development-Disaster Operations Monitoring and Information

Center (DSWD-DROMIC), the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC),

and articles in major newspapers. CDRC verified the data in this report through various sources to

ensure accuracy. The triangulation method of comparing and contrasting credible sources of data

was used.

1. How did the Philippines fare in 2013?

In 2013, a total of 322 natural and human-induced disasters were reported in the Philippines. These killed 6,877 people, affected more than 5.5 million families or 26.1 million people, and caused over Php 44.8 billion in both infrastractural and agricultural damages.

Compared to the 2012 data, this year’s reported number of both natural and human-induced disasters of 322 was lower than the 2012 number of 471 (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Frequency of Disaster Occurrence in the Philippines, 2012 and 2013 (natural and human-induced disasters) Source: CDRC Database

However, human impact was much higher, with 26.1 million persons affected, compared to the 12.1 million affected persons in 2012 (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: Disaster Affected Population in the Philippines, 2012 and 2013 Source: CDRC Database

471

322

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

2012 2013

2,888,358

5,531,976

12,181,028

26,131,924

0

5,000,000

10,000,000

15,000,000

20,000,000

25,000,000

30,000,000

2012 2013

Affected Families

Affected Person

2. How did the Philippines fare compared to other countries? According to the EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database, the Philippines topped the list of countries with the most number of people killed by disasters in 2013. A total of 8,382 persons were killed in the Philippines with 6,201 people killed during Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) alone, CRED reported. Figure 3: No. of people killed worldwide by natural disasters in 2013 Source: EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED- International Disaster Database

The Philippines also placed second in terms of number of people affected by natural disasters worldwide, with 25.7 million people affected (see Figure 4). Figure 4: No. of people affected worldwide by natural disasters in 2013 (in millions) Source: EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED- International Disaster Database

200

200

212

223

244

400

730

772

1,395

7,368

8,382

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000

Cambodia

Vietnam

United States

Mexico

Nepal

Japan

Pakistan

United Kingdom

China P Rep

India

Philippines

No. of people killed

1.5

1.6

1.7

2

2.2

3.5

4.1

16.7

25.7

27.5

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Cambodia

Bangladesh

Pakistan

Israel

Zimbabwe

Thailand

Vietnam

India

Philippines

China P Rep

No. of people affected (million)

3. What were the top 5 disasters in 2013?

In terms of occurrence, like in previous years, fire incidents outnumbered other disasters with 148 reported incidents, or 46% of the total number of disaster events monitored in 2013. The list was followed by earthquake with a figure of 44 incidents for the past year. The list was also followed by flood with 40 incidents, armed conflict with 26 incidents and landslide with 24 (see Figure 5). Figure 5: Top 5 Disasters in the Philippines in Terms of Frequency, 2013 Source: CDRC Database

In terms of the number of affected population, tropical cyclone topped the list with a figure of 21,347,558 affected persons. This was followed by earthquake, flood, fire and armed conflict respectively (see Figure 6). Figure 6: Top 5 Disasters in the Philippines in Terms of Affected Population, 2013 Source: CDRC Database

21,347,558, 82%

3,217,094, 12%

1,362,595, 5% 150,601, 1% 28,890, 0%

TROPICAL CYCLONE EARTHQUAKE FLOOD ARMED CONFLICT FIRE

148

44 40

26 24

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

FIRE EARTHQUAKE FLOOD ARMED CONFLICT LANDSLIDE

4. What types of hazards were dominant in 2013?

Disasters caused by natural hazards took the leading place of cause of massive disasters in the Philippines in 2013. There were 24,579,379 people, or 94% of the total number affected by natural hazards, which includes strom surge, tropical cyclone, and earthquake (see Figure 7). Following the disasters caused by natural hazards, disasters caused by both humans and natural hazards (combination) affected 1,373,054 people or 5% of the affected population. These disasters include epidemic, fishkill, flood and landslide. Last was human-induced disasters, which included fire, armed conflict and development aggression, which affected 179,491 people or 1% of the total disaster-affected population in 2013. Figure 7: Affected Philippine Population by Types of Disasters, 2013 Source: CDRC Database

In terms of frequency, 54% were human-induced disasters. The major cause of the human-induced disasters was fire. The incidence of natural disasters on the other hand was 25%, followed closely by the combination-type of disasters at 21% (see Figure 8). Figure 8: Frequency by Types of Disasters, Philippines, 2013 Source: CDRC Database

24,579,379 94%

179,491 1%

1,373,054 5%

natural human induced combination

174, 54% 80, 25%

68, 21%

Human Induced Natural Combination

5. What disasters had the highest mortality rate?

The major source of mortality last year was tropical cyclones, followed by armed conflict, earthquake, fire and landslide. Tropical Cyclones alone affected more than 21.3 million people and killed 6,271 people in 2013 (see Figure 9). Typhoon Yolanda (Int’l name: Haiyan) was last year’s biggest disaster. Of the number of the people killed due to tropical cyclones, 6,201 deaths were caused by Typhoon Yolanda (source: NDRRMC data). The list was followed by armed conflict with 267 casualties. This was mainly due to the Zamboanga City Crisis in September 2013 between government forces and a faction of the Moro National Liberation Front. Earthquake came in third with 186 casualties; fire with 56 casualties; and landslides with 44 casualties. Figure 9: Top 5 Disasters in the Philippines in terms of Casualties, 2013 Source: CDRC Database

6,271 92%

267 4%

186 3%

56 1%

44, 0%

TROPICAL CYCLONE ARMED CONFLICT EARTHQUAKE FIRE LANDSLIDE

6. What regions were most affected by disasters? The 322 disaster incidents were spread out all over the country, with Visayas having the greatest number of affected population by disasters, followed by Luzon and Mindanao (see Figure 10). Visayas registered a summation of more than 18.6 million individuals or more than 3.8 million affected families, mainly due to last November’s Typhoon Yolanda. Luzon had 6.1 million affected individuals or 1.3 million families affected, followed by Mindanao with more than 1.3 million individuals affected or 280,993 families affected. Figure 10: Geographical Distribution of Affected Population in the Philippines, 2013 Source: CDRC Database

1,357,313

3,893,670

280,993

6,126,441

18,637,853

1,367,629

0

2,000,000

4,000,000

6,000,000

8,000,000

10,000,000

12,000,000

14,000,000

16,000,000

18,000,000

20,000,000

Luzon Visayas Mindanao

Families Individual

7. What were the trends in the last 10 years? Since 2004, disaster frequency had shown a downward trend in the frequency of disaster occurrence but increased again last 2011 and 2012. The trend also showed that the frequency of disaster occurrence for 2013 lessened with 322 disasters (see Figure 11). Figure 11: Frequency of Disasters, Philippines, 2004-2013 (10-year period) Source: CDRC Database

However, in terms of the number of affected people, it showed a sharp increase last 2013 (see Figure 12). Typhoon Yolanda greatly contributed to the increase in affected people which made 2013 the most disaster-affected year since 2006 with a total of 26,131,924 persons affected. Figure 12: Number of Affected Persons, Philippines, 2004-2013 (10-year period) Source: CDRC Database

440

384

317

236 253

191 202

431

471

322

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

10,464,777

2,612,068

14,506,790

4,282,763

8,533,842

13,635,362

6,753,355

15,321,817

12,181,028

26,131,924

0

5,000,000

10,000,000

15,000,000

20,000,000

25,000,000

30,000,000

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013