THE pandemic was, by far, the main cause of the Filipinos’ feeling most unsafe in 2021, according to the latest report released by Lloyd’s Register Foundation (LRF) and Gallup.
In the report, 33 percent of Filipinos said they felt most unsafe due to Covid-19. Filipinos who named Covid-19 as the greatest threat to their safety was only second to Malaysia, where 34 percent of residents named the virus as the source of danger for them.
Myanmar and Indonesia were the only countries in Southeast Asia with less than 10 percent of respondents identifying Covid-19 as the greatest threat to their security.
“In seven countries in Southeastern Asia, where the Delta variant was surging during the survey period, more than 10 percent named Covid-19 as their greatest threat, with this figure rising to one-third in Malaysia (34 percent) and the Philippines (33 percent),” the report stated.
LRF and Gallup said data collection in most Southeastern Asian countries occurred in late summer and early autumn of 2021.
They added that the fear of many Southeast Asian peoples from Covid-19 was due in part with the region’s previous experience with the deadly 2002-2004 SARS outbreak.
Apart from Covid-19, some 14 percent of Filipinos felt unsafe because of transportation; 12 percent, climate; 11 percent, crime/violence/terrorism; and 10 percent, health.
Other threats to Filipino’s safety, albeit to a significantly lesser degree, were financial and economic risks at 1 percent; and work, zero percent.
In terms of experiencing serious harm, the data showed 62 percent of respondents said they or someone they knew were exposed to serious harm because of severe weather.
This was followed by road or traffic accidents, with 50 percent saying they or someone they knew experienced serious harm because of this in the past two years.
Other risks were mental health at 37 percent; eating food, 35 percent; drinking water, 30 percent; work, 29 percent; and violent crime, 26 percent.
The 2021 World Risk Poll asked nearly 126,000 people in 121 countries and territories about their experiences with disasters related to natural hazards such as floods, droughts or cyclones. In the Philippines, there were 1,000 respondents.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes