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Typhoon Bopha and People Displacements in the Philippines Ulrike Julia Wendt

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Typhoon Bopha and People Displacements in the Philippines Ulrike Julia Wendt The State of Environmental Migration 2013 TYPHOON BOPHA AND PEOPLE DISPLACEMENTS IN THE PHILIPPINES ULRIKE JULIA WENDT 1. INTRODUCTION will follow. It is important to note that, at the time of writing in , policy responses are still being Typhoon Bopha, locally known as Pablo, made implemented and are changing. Policy recommen- landfall in the southern part of the Philippines on dations are discussed in the conclusion. December . It was not only the sixteenth and strongest typhoon that hit the country in , but it was also the most powerful and southern typhoon 2. THE PHILIPPINES: A COUNTRY that was recorded in the Western Pacific in the FAMILIAR WITH NATURAL past years, a worrying indicator how climate change could affect the Philippines in severe DISASTERS AND CONSEQUENTIAL ways (IOM Philippines, ). Considering that PEOPLE DISPLACEMENTS the Philippines is a country familiar with natural disasters and consequential people displacements, The Philippines is one of the most disaster-prone this paper examines the extent to which Typhoon countries in the world. According to the World Risk Bopha has caused large-scale displacements of Report , it was ranked third out of coun- people and significantly contributed to decreased tries, meaning the third most exposed and vulner- standards of living. In so doing, the paper will able country to disasters (Alliance Development refer to “displaced people” as those who have been Works, : ). Between and , forced or obliged to leave their homes as a result natural disasters occurred in the country, which of the threats or impacts of Typhoon Bopha. This is nearly a third of the total number of disasters comprises of people who were evacuated or fled by that occurred in the South-East Asian region in themselves before or after the onset of the event. this period (GFDRR, : ). Typhoons are the It also includes situations where people lost their most common and detrimental disasters. Between homes or livelihoods and now stay in different June and December, an average of typhoons sites (Yonetani : ). hit the country annually, usually accompanied by The first section of the paper will provide a short intense rainfall and flooding, causing the death of background about the Philippines’ long history hundreds of people and damaging the country’s of environment-induced displacements. It then economy significantly (GFDRR, : ). elaborates on Typhoon Bopha and its detrimental impacts, which forced many people to leave their .. The Philippines homes before and after the storm. The next section geographical vulnerabilities examines these displacements in greater detail. Subsequently, a critical study of the major policy Natural disasters strike the Philippines due to responses that have been implemented to address various reasons. Its geographical situation contrib- the particular needs of the displaced population utes to the high vulnerability that is further exacer- bated by the risks resulting from climate change. In . The description used in this paper to identify “displaced fact, the Philippines have recorded its most detri- people” is informed by the United Nations Guiding mental, largest and deadliest typhoons in the past Principles Document that defines Internally Displaced years (GFDRR, : ). Furthermore, envi- People (IDPs) as “persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or ronmental degradation has increased the coun- places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of try’s risks of disasters. Poor land-use, planning and or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situa- population growth contribute to the enormous tions of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not damage of the environment and lead to the defor- crossed an internationally recognized state border”. estation of large regions (GFDRR, : ). As a This paper refers to people that were displaced due to result, landslides and flash flooding have increased Typhoon Bopha without differentiating between those and some areas that have significantly lost their who have been displaced internally or across border. The available data suggests that the majority of people dis- woodland have become more vulnerable to the placed due to Bopha have been displaced internally. damage caused by typhoons (GFDRR, : ). IDDRI STUDY 09/2013 33 The State of Environmental Migration 2013 The high occurrence of natural disasters has , the Philippines have supported the Hyogo caused the displacement of millions of people in Framework for Action (HFA), which is a ten-year the Philippines. Between and , more plan that aims to explain, illustrate and specify than twelve million people were displaced due the work that is needed from different fields and to natural disasters (Yonetani : ). After Ty- stakeholders to better address issues related to phoon Washi, locally known as Sendong, hit the disasters (NDRRMP, : ). In , the Filipino country in December , about per cent of the Government signed the Philippines Disaster Risk population of the city Cagayan de Oro and about Reduction and Management Act (PDRRM) that per cent of the population of the city Iligan in aims to reform the country’s main laws and poli- the country’s southern part were displaced (Gin- cies in line with the HFA (Ginnetti et al., : ). netti et al., : ). Clearly, these numbers help In order to specifically address issues related to explain why the Internal Displacement Monitoring Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), the country Centre (IDMC) and the Norwegian Refugee Coun- has formulated a number of laws and bills, such as cil (NRC) have identified the Philippines as one of a bill to protect the rights of IDPs that was passed the countries with the highest number of people in February (UNHCR, ). The PDRRM has displaced due to natural disasters. In , they since included a provision on IDPs as well (Ginnetti have ranked the country third; in , seventh; et al., : ). and in , fourth (Yonetani, : , , ; Yon- Despite the governmental attention given to etani : ). DRR and IDPs and the consequent adoption of do- A number of factors highly increase the risks of mestic policies based on international standards, the displacement of people. For example, homes Typhoon Bopha has caused large-scale people dis- and buildings are often not built to the same placements and significantly contributed to their standards as in developed countries (Ginnetti et decreased standard of living. al., : ). Consequently, the risk of them being destroyed is far greater and can lead to the peo- ple’s displacement. Poor urban governance and 3. THE TYPHOON AND ITS weak political accountability are the underlying DETRIMENTAL IMPACTS reasons for this because they often lead to un- successful and/or unenforced land planning and building standards (Ginnetti et al., : ). Fur- .. Formation and path thermore, Ginnetti et al. (: ) cite that a lack of of Typhoon Bopha understanding of the effects of climate change and unsatisfactory early-warning systems for natural The origins of Typhoon Bopha were first sighted disasters contribute to the country’s high risk of around November (Gutro, ). Bopha people’s displacement. formed in an uncommon and distinctive manner because it developed fewer than five degrees north . Policy adaptation to of the equator (Met Office, ). This is an area the high level of risks where tropical storms do not typically emerge due to the low Coriolis force that helps typhoons to Given this high risk of natural disasters and its form by causing their rotation (Haeseler, ). consequences on people’s displacement, the Phil- In the following weeks, Bopha steadily increased ippines have enacted a variety of policies and legis- in its size and intensity. On December, it hit the lations on disaster risk reduction (DRR). In fact, southern part of the Palau archipelago (around similar efforts have a long history in the country. , km east of the Philippines) where it devas- As a colonial power starting in the th century, tated several areas, caused power outages but no Spain set up a record system to keep informa- casualties (OCHA, a). tion on environmental events. Interestingly, the On December at . am, Bopha made landfall records of the environmental events that occurred over Bagaga in Davao Oriental, which is in eastern between and have informed today’s Mindanao in the southern part of the Philippines early warning systems (Ginnetti et al., : ). (NDRRMC, ). Bopha recorded wind strengths Since the end of the th century, laws on disas- of about km/h in its center, gusts of up to ters associated with natural and human-induced km/h and rainfall of - mm per hour within its hazards and institutions on disaster manage- diameter of km (IOM Philippines, a). This ment have increasingly been enacted. In , was three times the wind strength and twice the President Marcos issued Presidential Decree rainfall than Tropical Storm Washi had brought that remains the basis for the country’s disaster to the Philippines in (OCHA, : ). In the management (Ginnetti et al., : ). Since following days, Bopha traversed the landmasses 34 STUDY 09/2013 IDDRI The State of Environmental Migration 2013 Map 1. The path of Typhoon Bopha Source: OCHA 2013: iv. Map provided courtesy of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations IDDRI STUDY 09/2013 35 The State of Environmental Migration 2013 of Mindanao and turned north while it weakened on December, to on December and to , (NDRRMC, ). As noted earlier, Bopha moved on December (IOM Philippines, ; OCHA, along the most southern course of a typhoon that b; OCHA, c; OCHA, d; OCHA, e). has been recorded in the Western Pacific in the Many factors explain this increase in numbers: it past years. Bopha was downgraded to a tropi- took several days until Bopha completely left the cal depression when it left the Philippine area on country and thereby killed people in the days after December (NDRRMC, ).
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