MONTHLY DISASTER REVIEW AND OUTLOOK
SEPTEMBER 2022 | DISASTER MONITORING & ANALYSIS
(DMA) UNIT, AHA CENTRE
GENERAL REVIEW OF SEPTEMBER 2022
For the month of September 2022, a total of 193 disasters or a daily average of 6 disasters were reported. Compared to the previous month (August), this is more than twice as many and 1.5x higher compared to September of the previous year. This is also 3.4x higher than the five-year average (2017-2021) of disaster occurrences for the month of September. September 2022 saw disasters affecting 596 per 100,000 people* and internally displacing 10 per 100,000 people*. From the start of the year 2022, a total of 11.6M persons have been affected by disasters or an average of 42,591 persons in a day. This total is already 1.2M or 11% higher than the same period of the previous year.
The ASEAN Member States that were affected are Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Most of the disasters (68%) occurred in Indonesia but only accounted for 8% of the total reported affected persons for September 2022. Thailand, despite accounting for only 6% of the disaster occurrences for the month, accounted for 73% (2,916,745) of the total reported affected persons for the month. On one hand, the share of disaster occurrences for the other member states are as follows: Cambodia – 3%, Malaysia – 3%, The Philippines 8%, and Viet Nam – 10%. On the other hand, the share of affected persons for the other member states are as follows: Cambodia – 0.001%, Malaysia – 0.0004%, the Philippines – 37%, and Viet Nam – 1.6%.
Most of the disasters that have occurred in September 2022 are floods (63%) and is consistently the most recorded disaster-causing natural hazard for September of the previous year and September on a five-year average (2017-2021). The reported disasters in the region for September 2022 in comparison to the historical data (average for September 2017-2021) indicates that there were about 3.4x more reported disasters; 1.08x less people affected; 2.4x less people internally displaced; 9.8x more houses affected to some extent; 8.5x less lives lost; 12x less people suffering injuries; and lastly, 28x less people that have gone missing. The main drivers of the impacts in the ASEAN region were the monsoon situation in Thailand that have caused widespread flooding as reported by the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) and the impacts of Tropical Cyclone (TC) NORU in the Philippines, Viet Nam, Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Thailand. The tropical cyclone affected multiple member states, but the Philippines’ resources were sufficient, and Viet Nam was able to prepare well. Thailand had requested for relief items in response to TC NORU-associated flooding which has worsened the situation in areas that have long been impacted by the monsoon situation.
Geophysically, 43 significant earthquakes (Magnitude ≥ 5.0) were reported by Indonesia’s Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi dan Geofisika (BMKG), the Philippine Institute for Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD), and the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH) of Myanmar. This emphasizes the importance of disaster preparedness as three ASEAN Member States lie on the “Pacific Ring of Fire,” a zone of active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes.
Mount Semeru, Ili Lewotolok (Alert Level III), and Ibu, Dukono (Alert Level II) in Indonesia and Taal Volcano (lowered to Alert Level 1), Mayon, Mount Kanlaon (Alert Level 1) were reportedly tectonically active (erupting lava or releasing gas or generating seismic activity) throughout the whole of September 2022.
*Computed based on 2020 population data from worldometers.com
SEASONAL OUTLOOK
For the month of September 2022, much of the ASEAN region experienced rainfall more than what is traditionally experienced for the month. Wetter conditions (compared to the average for September 2022) were recorded over Viet Nam and Southern Borneo hence the hydrometeorological-induced disasters in Viet Nam and Indonesia. In contrast, below-average to average rainfall were recorded in Peninsular Malaysia, the Philippines, and Northern Myanmar, northern Lao PDR, northern Sumatra and northern Papua of Indonesia. Despite this, hdyrometeorological hazard-induced disasters still occurred in most of these areas (except northern Myanmar, northern Lao PDR, and northern Papua).
According to the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC), for the October-November-December period much of the ASEAN region will be experiencing above-normal rainfall. Normally, this period is regarded as the disaster season for the region. This is on top of the traditionally wet monsoon seasons in Thailand (May-October), Cambodia (May-October), Lao PDR (May-October), Viet Nam (May-November), the typhoon season in the Philippines (July-October) and the start of the rainy season in Indonesia (November-March). Therefore, the threat of hdyrometeorological hazard-induced disasters is even more likely.
In terms of temperature, below- to near-normal temperatures are favoured for parts of the equatorial region and much of the Mainland Southeast Asia, with above-normal temperature favoured elsewhere which likely means for hotspot activities to generally be subdued for the period.
The qualitative outlook is assessed for the region in general. For specific updates on the national scale, the relevant ASEAN National Meteorological and Hydrological Services should be consulted. More outlook and verification plots, including for tercile and quintile probabilistic forecasts for temperature, are in the “Model products and verification: NCEP, ECMWF, UK Met Office” on the SEA-RCC Network LRF Node webpages.
Sources: ASEAN Disaster Information Network (ADINet), ASEAN Disaster Monitoring and Response System (DMRS), ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC), Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNPB) – Indonesia, Agensi Pengurusan Bencana Negara (NADMA) – Malaysia, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) – Philippines, Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) – Thailand, Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) – TMD, Viet Nam Disaster Management Authority (VNDMA) – Viet Nam, Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi dan Geofisika (BMKG) – Indonesia, Pusat Vulkanologi dan Mitigasi Bencana Geologi (PVMBG) – Indonesia, Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH) – Myanmar, Philippine Institute for Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) – Philippines, Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) – Philippines
Written by : Keith Paolo Landicho, Sadhu Zukhruf Janottama, Lawrence Anthony Dimailig
DISCLAIMER
The AHA Centre’s estimation is based on data and information shared by National Disaster Management Organisations (NDMOs) and other relevant agencies from ASEAN Member States, international organisations, and news agencies. Further information on each recorded significant disaster, description, and detail of data and information are available at: http://adinet.ahacentre.org/reports.
