Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
At a Glance
- Human-induced disasters cost the country around P9.29 billion last year. Of this amount, P4.93 billion or 53.1 percent was due to oil spill, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported.
- There were 448 occurrences of human-induced disasters last year, most of which were due to fire-related incidents, armed-conflict incidents, land incidents, maritime, among others.
- Damages due to natural extreme events and disasters, on the other hand, stood at P24.49 billion in 2023, lower by 17.5 percent compared to the previous year.
- Over 208 occurrences of natural disasters were recorded last year which were mostly due to geophysical including earthquakes, meteorological such as typhoons, and hydrological such as floods.
The country incurred over P4.93 billion in human-induced damages to the agriculture sector last year due to oil spill, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.
Data from the PSA showed that human-induced disasters cost the country P9.29 billion from January to December 2023, wherein over half or 53.1 percent of it was due to major disasters that included oil spill.
It was in 2023 that the oil tanker MT Princess Empress, carrying 800,000 liters of industrial fuel oil, submerged in the rich marine-biodiverse Verde Island Passage in Mindoro.
Meanwhile, damages to infrastructure reached P4.31 billion or 98.7 percent of the total damages due to minor human-induced incidents.
According to the statistics agency, there were 448 occurrences of human-induced disasters last year, mostly attributed to fire-related incidents (43.3 percent), and followed by armed-conflict incidents (20.1 percent), land incidents (14.3 percent), maritime (7.4 percent).
PSA noted that this type of disaster left the country with 100,111 affected families, 340 casualties, and 9,109 damaged houses last year.
On the other hand, the cost of natural extreme events and disasters stood at P24.49 billion in 2023, 17.5 percent lower than the P29.68 billion recorded in the previous year.
A total of P1.24 billion in damages was recorded due to minor natural incidents, a 33.4 percent increase from P930 million in 2022.
In terms of damages, infrastructure incurred the largest damage due to these disasters reaching over P630 million or 50.7 percent of the total damages, and was followed by agriculture at P0.53 billion or 42.4 percent of the total damages, the PSA noted.
Over 208 occurrences of natural disasters were recorded last year most of which were due to geophysical including earthquakes (37 percent), meteorological such as typhoons (29.3 percent), and hydrological such as floods (20.7 percent).
These kinds of disasters inflicted a total of 3,474,899 families, caused 157 deaths, and damaged 365 houses, according to PSA. — Xander Dave Ceballos
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Credit belongs to: www.mb.com.ph
