Phl 3rd most vulnerable to disasters

The Philippines ranks third among countries most at risk for disasters, according to a world risk report produced by an alliance of agencies that included the United Nations.

The report said Vanuatu is the country with the highest disaster risk, followed by Tonga, the Philippines, Guatemala and Bangladesh.

The World Risk Index 2016 ranks 171 countries according to how exposed and vulnerable they are to natural hazards, including earthquakes, floods and storms.

Pacific islands, Southeast Asian nations and Central American states still dominate the countries with highest risk of being hit by a disaster, researchers said.

A disaster occurs when an extreme natural event overwhelms people’s ability to protect themselves, researchers said in a report.

The index and accompanying World Risk Report, produced by the United Nations University, the University of Stuttgart and Germany’s Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft, showed that five countries with the lowest disaster risk are Qatar, Malta, Saudi Arabia, Barbados and Grenada.

Thirteen of the 15 countries with the highest vulnerability are in Africa.

Countries like Liberia (ranked 56), Zambia (66) and Central African Republic (71) are quite weakly exposed to natural hazards but are very vulnerable, the report said.

Australia, ranked 121, shows how low vulnerability mitigates its relatively high exposure to drought, earthquakes and sea-level rise.

But Japan is ranked 17 because of its very high exposure, mainly to earthquakes and floods, even though it has many measures in place to protect people, the report said.