Typhoon Haiyan has definitely cultivated intense mass destruction within the central area of the Philippines, but the damage that was done isn’t just solely physical.
Finance Minister Cesar Purisma states that the central region that was hit by this typhoon accounted for 12.5% of Philippines GDP, and based on preliminary data, there is a predicted deceleration in that region of 8-10%, which will most likely shave off 1% of the national growth rate of the Philippines the following year. This means that not only is the development and improvement of the standard of living going to be decreasing or put to a halt (as government will most likely spend money on provision of shelter, water, sanitation and hospital facilities), but it will be hard for the economy to bounce back fully as such a vast amount of GDP was being generated in this specific area of the Philippines.
There is ongoing criticism of the government that there aren’t enough prevention measures put in place to ensure effective risk management, but Purisma states that this typhoon is equivalent to the highest category of a tornado multiplied by a hundred.
“Risk management is the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks (defined in ISO 31000 as the effect of uncertainty on objectives, whether positive or negative) followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events or to maximize the realization of opportunities. Risks can come from uncertainty in financial markets, threats from project failures (at any phase in design, development, production, or sustainment life-cycles), legal liabilities, credit risk, accidents, natural causes and disasters as well as deliberate attack from an adversary, or events of uncertain or unpredictable root-cause.”
The government of the Philippines is steadily trying to rebuild stable infrastructure more fitting to potential future climate changes, and something more durable during the times of natural disasters. Purisma states that it will take many years to rebuild this part of Philippines again, but if the government is effectively able integrate risk management and infrastructure, damage control will strengthen and improve the outcome of any natural disasters if it were to occur again.