There is one angle about typhoons that I will write about today: its
impact on the region’s economy.
The aggregate effect of all the typhoons affecting the region in a
year is not currently the subject of any concerted data–gathering
activity. There are always reports of the damage to crops and infrastructure
but there seems to be no regular aggregation or summing up of the
economic effects every year. If such data were to be gathered, what
will be its economic importance? For one, farmers have to produce
as much as they can while the weather is conducive to planting in
anticipation of the coming of a typhoon. Also, it can be the basis
of determining how large our reserve stocks of rice should be.
Even without the data, we all know that typhoons have a substantial
impact on the economy because of its effects on lowering harvests
that in turn means a reduction in agricultural production. As a testimony
to our resiliency, after a typhoon, there is always an effort to recover
from the damage.
Our farmers are used to this weather. Perhaps, this is one reason
they grow a lot of rootcrops to ensure there is food for them even
if rice and coconut production suffer from the effects of typhoons.
As to fishermen, one way of looking at this situation is that typhoons
give them a couple of days rest. Once they can go fishing, the price
of fish is high so they can recover “lost income”. (Of
course, since they live near the seashore, they have to be concerned
about their safety).
The damage caused by a typhoon is, quite obviously, proportional to
the ferocity of its winds. Relative to other typhoons, typhoon “Caloy”
did not do a lot of damage in Eastern Visayas largely because it just
skimmed the eastern fringes of the region although its winds and rains
were spread all over the area. Its economic impact is not expected
to be considerable.
Typhoons are a part of our lives. We just have to be ready when they
come. Such readiness is shown by the farming systems used and by the
ability of our economy to recover no matter how strong a typhoon is.