The article “How is Climate Change Affecting the Philippines?” talks about the effects of recent climate change in Philippines. The article first starts by showing data on an increase of typhoons in the country. Five of the ten worst typhoons in Philippines’ history happened after 2006. The worst one, Typhoon Yolanda, occurred in 2013 and killed more than 6,000, causing severe damages to the country. So the question that should be asked is: Why are the numbers of typhoons in Philippines increasing so much in the past few years? The answer to that question is climate change. One of the effects of climate change that is happening in our planet is an increase of tropical storms. Scientists also say that two other factors, geography and development in Philippines, are other reasons for such devastating consequences in the country.

The increase of ocean’s surface temperature leads to more heat released in the atmosphere. Due to this, more frequent and stronger storms are expected to happen. This is even more intense in the western Pacific Ocean, where Philippines is located at. This is why its geography is considered one of the factors for the occurrence of this natural disaster. Regarding development, Philippines is still lacking preparation to deal with these types of situation. Factors such as evacuation plan, early warning systems, and shelters would be critical in assisting the population when a typhoon is approaching.

Due to these factors, Philippines was ranked in 2013 as the number one country most affected by climate change by the “Global Climate Risk Index”. The expectations for the upcoming years are even worst, so the country needs to prepare itself by creating assisting action plans to the population in order to try to decrease the devastating effects these typhoons have on the country.

Reference: http://ecowatch.com/2016/01/22/climate-change-affecting-the-philippines/