The heaviest blow

Rammasun made three landfalls in the Chinese provinces of Hainan, Guangdong and Guangxi, destroying around 40,000 homes and ravaging almost half a million hectares of crops. It then hit northern Vietnam, killing at least eight people and damaging more than 6000 homes. 

All this came after Rammasun killed at least 94 people, damaged more than 100,000 homes and forced almost half a million to evacuate their homes in the Philippines.

And, as I write this, Typhoon Matmo is now threatening the area still reeling from Rammasun. It is the third typhoon to form in the northwest Pacific basin in as many weeks, and the first that will strike Taiwan this year.

While Matmo did not make landfall in the Philippines, heavy rainfall and flooding is still affecting many areas of the country.

This all comes eight months after Super Typhoon Haiyan devastated parts of the Philippines in November 2013. It’s also just a few weeks after StrategicRISK’s latest risk-management roundtable was held in Manila.

Attended by risk and instance professionals from sectors such as energy, finance, telecommunications, water, banking, transport and manufacturing, the event made it clear that the top concern for everyone present was natural catastrophe risk.

The Philippines is one of the most disaster-stricken countries in the world, with a yearly average of 20 typhoons. Roundtable participants explained that climate change and increasingly destructive weather events posed great challenges to supply chains. Manufacturing facilities and infrastructure projects were at risk from floods and high winds, with many facilities needing to be reinforced and elevated.

These challenges and the many others face by the Philippines will be explored in more detail in StrategicRISK’s upcoming Philippines Risk Report, sponsored by Zurich and supported by the Pan-Asia Risk & Insurance Management Association (PARIMA).

All our country reports are available here