The 7 worst natural calamities to hit PHL in 2013

 

 

 

 

"Successive and overlapping."

 

This was how Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. described the disasters that shook the country in 2013. 

 

Without a doubt, super typhoon Yolanda tops this list as the biggest calamity of the year and may even go down in history as the Philippines’ worst natural disaster. It is also the strongest typhoon in recorded history worldwide ever to make landfall, and one of the strongest typhoons ever studied.

 

Second on the list is Typhoon Santi (Nari), which tore into the country’s northeast coast mid-October, affecting northern and central Luzon. It was not as widely reported like super typhoon Yolanda because the Bohol earthquake—which is also in this list, at number five—eclipsed it.

 

Coming in third on the list is typhoon Labuyo. Both Santi and Labuyo wreaked havoc on the country's agriculture and infrastructure sectors.

 

However, Labuyo was overshadowed by typhoon Maring, which is fourth on the list. Maring affected the National Capital Region, Calabarzon, and some parts of Central Luzon.

 

Altough earthquakes are nothing new in the Philippines, the Bohol quake was certainly the most devastating one in living memory, damaging dozens of ancient heritage structures and even the famous Chocolate Hills.

 

October proved to be the most unlucky month of the year, as yet another natural calamity hit the Philippines: typhoon Vinta battered Northern Luzon just as Filipinos everywhere were preparing for All Soul's Day.

 

Also on the list is typhoon Odette, which was the strongest typhoon to hit the country next to Yolanda, although it only hit the northernmost part of the Philippines. — TJD, GMA News