Localising the Humanitarian Toolkit: Lessons from Recent Philippines Disasters

The Philippines is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world. It experiences around 900 earthquakes and 20 typhoons annually, and almost three quarters of the population are vulnerable to natural hazards. This vulnerability is increasing, as changing weather patterns mean that lower-intensity storms are accompanied by heavier rainfall – a phenomenon illustrated by the particularly high casualty figures and enormous economic losses caused by relatively low-intensity storms in recent years. The typical path of typhoons across the Philippines is also shifting, meaning that increasingly, storms are hitting communities with very little experience of tropical storms. This poses enormous challenges to the efforts being made by the national government to improve disaster preparedness and response across the country, as well as for international actors seeking to assist them.