NATURAL disasters affect the well-being of Filipinos the most among 117 nations, with a global assessment of human damage—as measured in terms of lost consumption—found to be larger than asset losses, a report by the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) said. “Severe climate shocks threaten to roll back decades of progress against poverty,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. On average, households spent P1,930 on medical care and some households reported spending more than P10,000, it added. In addition to lost earnings, households noted damages to appliances, furniture and housing stock. And children suffer: a third of households reported the absence of children from school—five days a year on average,” it said.

Source: Manila Times November 14, 2016 17:07 UTC