PHL still most disaster-prone nation

THE PHILIPPINES kept its title as the world’s most disaster-prone nation fora 2I* straight year, with typhoons and floods battering communities while billions of pesos meant to protect them vanish in graft scandals.

- Aubrey Rose A. Inosante

The Southeast Asian country posted a risk score of 46.56 in the 2025 WorldRiskIndex, unchanged from last year but still ahead of 192 other nations. India ranked second, followed by Indonesia, Colombia and Mexico, according to the study released on Wednesday by Germany’s Biindnis Entwicklung Hilft and Ruhr University Bochum.

The index weighs exposure to disasters such as cyclones, floods and earthquakes alongside vulnerability indicators like poverty, inequality and health systems. A score of 100 signals extreme risk.

The Philippines faces a broad spectrum of hazards, but river and coastal flooding remain the most significant threats, according to the report.

The ranking highlights how climate change continues to hit the archipelago, which is lashed by about 20 tropical storms each year. The latest assessment comes as the country braces for Tropical Storm Opong, days after Super Typhoon Nando — internationally named Ragasa — plowed through Luzon.

At the same time, government flood control programs are collapsing under the weight of corruption scandals. A sweeping investigation this year exposed widespread misuse of funds, foreing the removal of P255 billion ($4.4 billion) worth of projects from the proposed 2026 national budget. Flood control allocations were cut to zero.