Much-needed humanitarian aid is pouring in to the Philippines in the wake of super typhoon Haiyan. The international community has once again united to help the millions whose lives were shattered by the deadly storm. But, amidst the emergency response – we must also heed this enormous wake-up call. We must make sure that the world’s poorest people no longer bear the brunt of the global problem of climate change.
The terrible impact of the powerful storm – which killed thousands, flattened cities, and forced an estimated four million to flee their homes – made news headlines around the world. Scenes of devastation were reported in news outlets and humanitarian appeals, triggering an outpouring of generosity which has seen £13 million raised in the UK alone.
Emergency and disaster response teams from humanitarian organisations were scrambled to the country, which declared a state of calamity. Aid organisations including Islamic Relief flew in essential supplies, and are battling inaccessible roads to reach communities that remain cut-off by Haiyan and the floods that followed.
The urgency driving the humanitarian response is welcome and necessary. It is seeing vulnerable people receiving life-saving assistance including shelter from the elements, food and water, and medicine. But, we must recognise that none of this was inevitable: Haiyan was one of the most powerful storms ever experienced in the Philippines, but much of the suffering it wreaked was preventable.
We know which countries are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters, and the Philippines is among the most vulnerable on the planet. In just two decades, Filipinos have suffered over 300 disasters, with authorities reporting an increasing extremity – attributed, in part, to climate change. In an average year, the archipelago is battered by 19 typhoons.
So, do we write-off countries like the Philippines as simply ‘disaster-prone’, and ready our emergency relief teams for the next Haiyan? Absolutely not. We must now act on the knowledge that climate change is driving an increase in extreme weather, and exacerbating the impact of disasters.
Right now, Islamic Relief is responding to a tropical cyclone that left 30,000 Somalis in need of emergency aid whilst the world’s attention focussed on Haiyan. In India, we are supporting communities that were ripped apart by Cyclone Phailin, just weeks ago. We are responding to the widespread floods that are sweeping Sudan, supporting Pakistanis to rebuild their lives following September’s deadly earthquake, and helping communities in China, Ethiopia and Kenya – to name but three – cope with drought.
In the last decade, 20 million Pakistanis suffered the worst floods in living memory. A catastrophic earthquake killed up to 220,000 Haitians. The Indian Ocean tsunami made killed over 230,000 people and destroyed infrastructure in fourteen countries – with Indonesia and Sri Lanka being the hardest hit. Here too, we saw incredible unity in the global emergency effort – with aid agencies such as Islamic Relief still working on the ground in these countries, helping communities to rebuild and become more resilient.
In countries with significant development challenges, recurrent disasters place incredible strain on already limited resources – diverting funds away from longer-term solutions that would make the country more resilient to calamities, and tipping even more people into poverty. However, in 2010, the world spent 23 times as much on emergency relief for ten developing countries as it spent on disaster prevention and preparedness.
If the international community is serious about eradicating poverty, this must change. With fewer resources to protect themselves, poor communities routinely suffer the most when disaster strikes. Survivors are pushed further into poverty as livelihoods are destroyed, and essential services such as education and healthcare become even harder to access.
For years, Islamic Relief has been delivering disaster risk reduction programmes in countries that are vulnerable to disasters. In Indonesia, we have trained children on how to protect themselves in an emergency, and strengthened school buildings against earthquakes. In Bangladesh, we are helping local people work in harmony with the environment – increasing livelihoods such as resilient crop-farming that are less likely to be jeopardised by natural disasters. In Mali, we are protecting the environment with tree-plantations and helping communities to set up cereal banks to boost their resilience to drought and famine.
In the Philippines, we are working with a local Catholic organisation to distribute life-saving food, shelter, and supplies. We have already committed to deliver disaster risk reduction work in the country, to better prepare the people of the Philippines for the next storm, earthquake, or flood.
Environmental disruption is already presenting massive development challenges. More of this must be expected, and, as the post-2015 development agenda is currently being shaped – now is the time for a new approach. We must move investment of limited humanitarian resources from reacting to preventing – as set out in Islamic Relief’s report, ‘Feeling the Heat’.
Investment in disaster reduction programmes must be increased. Proactive impact mitigation measures must be mainstreamed into development planning. Poor communities must be empowered with the skills and resources that they need. Action is needed now, if we are to adequately protect communities in future. Action is needed now, to prevent the world’s most vulnerable people – in the Philippines and elsewhere – from paying too heavy a price for global climate change.
