PH ranks second in worst displacement in 2016

Photo: United Nations Commission on Human Rights/Facebook.com

Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) lists the Philippines as the second country with the worst displacement following China.

The IDMC noted that there are about 5.9 million people in the Philippines who were forced to flee their homes last year. It has been stated that over 75 percent of internal displacements were due to natural disasters and weather-related events while the rest is from violence and armed conflicts.

The increase of displaced people in the country was due to two massive typhoons that hit the country last year namely Typhoon Nina (international name Nock-Ten) and Typhoon Kawin (international name Haima).

“That said, based on the number of people still sheltering in evacuation centers, around 31,000 were still displaced a month after Haima struck, and around 400 a month after Nock-Ten,” read the report.

According to the report, Typhoon Nina, a category four storm triggered the mass evacuation of utmost 2.6 million people last year. Government data noted that six days after the incident there were around 230,000 displaced people who are either staying in or outside evacuation centers. The number had dropped to 368 in January of 2017.

East Asia and the Pacific accounted for two-thirds of all new cases of displacement associated with natural disasters with 16.4 million.

China tops the list with 7.4 million while India follows with 2.4 million, Indonesia with 1.2 million and the United States with 1.1 million.