Author: Aira Mae Esguerra

The Cordillera Region in northern Philippines is mountainous with a fragile geophysical landscape. The slopes are denuded of trees and the grounds are unstable because of large mining activities. In 2009, Typhoon Parma caused a massive landslide in some of its provinces that wiped out villages and buried schools. The Cordillera Region is famous for the rice terraces, a system of rice fields carved on mountain slopes. For the indigenous people (IP) living there, the terraces are considered an indigenous technology developed to mitigate the impacts of landslides. The IPs also observe the Begnas Ceremony, a cultural ritual, to...

The Eastern Visayas Region in central Philippines is a hotspot of natural hazards. It is prone to typhoons, storm surges, flooding, droughts, landslides, red tide, and volcanic eruptions. In November 8, 2013, the region was hit by Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded on the planet. It killed at least 6,000 people and damaged millions worth of livelihood and infrastructures. One of the communities severely affected by Typhoon Haiayan is the Municipality of Guiuan in Samar Province where the storm made its first landfall. Guiuan is a second-class municipality with 60 villages, a population of 52,999,...