Inquirer.net, Philippine Daily Inquirer

In the Philippines and most Southeast Asian countries, traditional disaster risk reduction measures aren’t holistic and sufficient to deal with the warming planet.

A team of researchers from the French École Normale Supérieure (ENS) recently announced the discovery of an AI algorithm to predict seismic events.

Six years after Supertyphoon Yolanda's destruction, the city of Tacloban is still struggling to recover. Many remain homeless, and resettlement creates new conflicts.

The magnitude 6.4 earthquake that hit Luzon Island earlier this month once again shows that current regulations in the Philippines are not strict enough to allow buildings to withstand powerful earthquakes. In addition to the economic losses that occur, this also puts human lives at risk.

Five years after Yolanda, Cebu's Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office has improved its equipment, response coordination, and personnel capacities.

Disaster-response agencies in Sorsogon province have started preparing for possible lahar flows during heavy rain following the eruption of Mt. Bulusan on Friday. At least 12 villages are on the path of lahar should it flow along Cadac-an River, said Raden Dimaano, chief of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.

'Evaluation and retrofitting of public and private infrastructure is crucial in ensuring that buildings, bridges and other similar structures can withstand strong quakes; while the conduct of earthquake drills is also a must in order to equip our citizens with the knowledge of what to do before, during and after such disasters,' said Senator Loren Legarda, reports Inquirer.net...

On the 10th anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami, the UNISDR chief said 'thanks to a combination of better organization, coordination, response and preparedness, improved weather forecasting, early warnings, public education, and media engagement, there has been a reduction in the number of people dying in such [disasters]. That’s the good news. But risk and opportunity are two sides of the same coin. Economic development and population growth are driving up our exposure to risk at an unprecedented rate...'