Population blamed for disasters’ hard economic impact, high casualty rate

The severe socio-economic impact and the high casualty rate of natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific can be attributed to the soaring population in the region, officials said yesterday.

Prisco Nilo, officer-in-charge of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), said because of the growing population, people who have nowhere to go chose to live near coastal areas and river banks, which are considered disaster prone areas.

"Basically that is the reason, there are more people in the Asia Pacific region, particularly in Asia," Nilo told reporters during the opening of the 39th session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) typhoon committee at the Manila Hotel.

"This is the reason why more people in the region are affected by the disasters," he said.

Reports said that the Asia Pacific region represents more than half of the world’s population. China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan rank among the 10 most populous countries.

A recent study by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) showed that natural disasters have had greater socio-economic impact in the Asia Pacific than in any other region in the world.

"For the period of 1990 to 2005, the number of deaths caused by natural disasters in the region accounted for 91 percent of the total number of deaths caused by natural disasters in the world, while the total economic damage accounted for 49 percent of the world’s damage during the period," Dr. Le Huu Ti, UNESCAP’s economic officer, said.

From 1990 to 2006, the number of people killed by typhoon-related disasters reached 84 percent of the total number of deaths, or 73,000 persons killed, by natural disasters.

"The total socio-economic damage wrought by typhoon-related disasters accounted for 98 percent of the total damage by all natural disasters during the same period," Ti said.

Ti also said that the ideal investment for disaster prevention and recovery programs for the whole region is $35 billion.

He said at least one percent of the total Gross Development Product (GDP) of a country should be allocated to this.

Representatives from weather bureaus in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines and United States gathered yesterday for the week-long session which aims to create a strategic plan for 2007-2011 on the enhancement of sub-regional cooperation in typhoon-related disaster mitigation and water resources management.

The Philippines hosted the event for the second time after 35 years. The typhoon committee has its secretariat at the Pagasa central office in Quezon City, which will be transferred in Macao, China next year.