November 12, 2025 | 7:42pm
MANILA, Philippines — At the start of November, the Philippines was battered by two consecutive typhoons, striking just days apart and leaving a trail of devastation. Typhoon Tino (Kalmegi) brought landslides and floods across the Visayas, claiming more than 200 lives. Before the country could recover, Super Typhoon Uwan (Fung Wong) followed – a storm so massive it captured global headlines and drew renowned storm chasers to document its impact.
Typhoon Uwan ripped through Luzon with relentless force. Torrential rains sent walls of mud cascading down hillsides into residential areas. In other neighborhoods, fast-moving flash floods destroyed homes in minutes.
As of this writing, families are struggling to piece their lives back together, and the full extent of the damage remains unclear. But the images we see on news reports and social media tell an all too familiar, heartbreaking story: dozens dead including helpless children, homes flattened, farmlands submerged, roads washed out, and livelihoods swept away by floods and landslides.
One thought that comes to mind upon seeing the magnitude of the damage left by typhoons Uwan and Tino is this: Why is it that year after year, despite decades of experience with monster typhoons, our country remains pitifully unprepared?
This is not just about climate change, it is also a matter of governance and foresight. The failure to plan and invest in resilience is costing us more than property, it’s costing us futures. The storms will keep coming, given the location where the Philippines is in. But for me, the real disaster lies in our failure to demand accountability and our inability to learn and act.
For over two decades, the Philippines has remained as one the world’s most disaster-prone nation, topping the 2025 World Risk Index again, which measures disaster risks for 193 countries based on exposure to climate-related hazards; susceptibility of the population; and coping and adaptive capacities of communities.
The impact of natural disasters, whether typhoons or earthquakes, is not just disruption but has long-lasting consequences to our nation’s economy and development.
Behind the numbers on economic losses are human stories – Filipinos who lost their loved ones and homes to floods and landslides, families forced to flee every time there is a storm, farmers watching entire harvests get washed away by floodwaters, and small businesses closing indefinitely.
While resilience and solidarity during crises are admirable, these should not be normalized as solutions. Recovery must go beyond rebuilding what was lost. Structural and systemic solutions must be put in place to ensure that public funds are used properly to help our communities withstand severe weather events – not drown them in corruption.
In the coming years, the storms entering Philippines will probably be more frequent and stronger. The question is, how do we adapt to finally put an end to what seems to be an unending cycle of recovery and rebuilding?
Readiness must be a mindset that is reflected in our education system, public infrastructure, policies and government spending.
Disaster literacy should be taught to children in schools as early as kindergarten and in communities by local government units. Urban planning should reflect climate readiness with infrastructure designed to withstand severe weather events. Government spending should be scrutinized and watched like a hawk to ensure that the budget for flood control projects and disaster readiness is spent properly. We must demand accountability from national agencies down to local officials. Disaster funds must be transparent, and infrastructure projects must meet climate-resilient standards.
The Philippines must prioritize resilience by investing heavily in advanced weather monitoring systems and impact-based forecasting. Accurate, real-time data can save lives by helping communities anticipate risks, prepare effectively, and reduce losses before disaster strikes. Readiness is not just about responding faster; it’s about preventing devastation.
We don’t have to look far for inspiration. Japan, one of the most seismically active nations on Earth, faces earthquakes and tsunamis regularly, yet it has transformed vulnerability into strength. Through rigorous building codes, cutting-edge early warning systems, and a culture of preparedness ingrained in every citizen, Japan has proven that disasters can be managed, and their impact minimized.
If Japan can do this, so can we. Filipinos have the knowledge, technology and experience. What we need now is the political will and unified action to make disaster preparedness a critical element of national development.
It is time to shift our mindset as a nation and start viewing storms not as seasonal disruptions but as a constant part of life in the Philippines. This way, we can embrace disaster readiness, rebuild smarter communities, and protect what we have built as a nation.
Readiness is not a luxury; it is a necessity. We owe it to ourselves and to the future generation of Filipinos to build a future where a typhoon is no longer synonymous with devastation.