PH is 4th most vulnerable to flooding in Southeast Asia – ADB

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The Philippines is among the top 5 countries to have the most number of population affected by coastal and inland flooding in Southeast Asia, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is among the top 5 countries to have the most number of population affected by coastal and inland flooding in Southeast Asia, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

In its 2012 Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific, the ADB said the country is ranked 4th in Southeast Asia with 6.81 million Filipinos vulnerable to coastal flooding and 3.71 million Filipinos vulnerable to inland flooding.

The report also said that Quezon City is included in the list of the top 40 Asian cities that are vulnerable to inland flooding. The ADB said 2.9 million Filipinos living in Quezon City are vulnerable to inland flooding.

“Asia has seen unprecedented urban population growth but this has been accompanied by immense stress on the environment,” ADB Chief Economist Changyong Rhee said.

“The challenge now is to put in place policies which will reverse that trend and facilitate the development of green technology and green urbanization,” he added.

Urbanization and flooding

The ADB said that the rapid increase in urban populations is one of the reasons why Southeast Asia is now the most vulnerable to coastal flooding and the second most vulnerable to inland flooding in Asia.

The report stated that over 400 million people in Asians cities may be at risk of coastal flooding and roughly 350 million at risk of inland flooding by 2025.

Manila-based multilateral development bank said that Asia is already home to almost half of the world’s urban population.

In just over 10 years, ADB said Asia will have 21 of 37 megacities worldwide. Over the next 30 years, cities in Asia will have another 1.1 billion people.

“Unless managed properly, these trends could lead to widespread environmental degradation and declining standards of living,” ADB said. – Rappler.com

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