In late September and early October 2009, the Philippines was hit, in quick succession, by two typhoons—Ondoy and Pepeng—that severely affected over 9.3 million people and resulted in the loss of 956 lives, with over 700 injured and 84 persons missing. While the majority of deaths caused by tropical storm Ondoy were due to drowning, reported deaths during typhoon Pepeng were also due to landslides.
Ondoy, the equivalent of a Category I storm, brought an unusually high volume of rain, which generated high flooding in the Marikina River causing extensive flooding in the Metro Manila area and the neighboring Rizal province, including the cities of Antipolo, Makati, Malabon, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Pasig, Quezon, San Juan, Taguig, and Valenzuela. Tropical storm Ondoy was quickly followed by typhoon Pepeng (international name Parma), a category III storm, bringing powerful winds with gusts of up to 230 km/hr then an extended period of heavy rains.
The Government of the Republic of the Philippines declared a National Sate of Calamity on October 2ndand requested development partners to undertake a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) jointly with the Government. In response, a PDNA was undertaken with the support of the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) with financial support from the European Commission and the governments of Australia, Norway and Sweden. The assessment team consisted ofthe government agencies, representatives of the private sector and civil society organizations, multilateral development partners―the Asian Development Bank, European Commission, United Nations, and the World Bank Group, and bilateral development partners, including Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the governments of Australia, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, and the United States.
Tropical storm Ondoy and typhoon Pepeng caused a total of US $4.38 billion in damage and losses, equivalent to about 2.7 percent of GDP. The share of private sector damage and losses was estimated to be 90 per cent of the total. Total cost of recovery and reconstruction was estimated at US$ 4.42 billion, consisting of US$ 942.9 million for recovery needs, and US$ 3.48 billion for the reconstruction efforts over the short term (2009-10) to medium term (2011-12).
Arecovery and reconstruction strategy was recommended including (i) immediate restoration of rural livelihoods; (ii) housing alternatives for informal settlements, and (iii) important role of Local Government Units (LGUs) in implementing the recovery and reconstruction program and future measures to mitigate disaster risk. A number of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) priorities were identified, including: (i) improving flood management in Metro Manila, (ii) improving quality of and access to scientific data for predicting and forecasting disasters, (iii) mainstreaming of DRR into local planning and critical service infrastructure, and (iii) improving access to disaster risk financing.