Upsurge of hunger noted in areas devastated by ‘Yolanda’

Some 3.90 million families experienced involuntary hunger in the last quarter of 2013, with an upsurge recorded in the disaster-hit Visayas area, according to the latest Social Weather Stations survey. INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Some 3.90 million families experienced involuntary hunger in the last quarter of 2013, with an upsurge recorded in the disaster-hit Visayas area, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.

The survey was conducted from Dec. 11 to 16 and was first published in the BusinessWorld newspaper.

The SWS found 18.1 percent of the respondents said they experienced hunger at least once in the previous three months, slightly higher than 17.9 percent, or 3.85 million, in September.

This resulted in a full-year average of 19.5 percent for 2013, 0.4 percentage point lower than that in 2012.

The SWS also found that overall hunger among self-rated poor had risen to 24.6 percent from 23.2 percent, while it declined to 10.3 percent from 12.5 percent among households under not poor/borderline category.

Overall hunger also increased among self-rated “food-poor” to 30.5 percent from 26.6 percent, but declined among families under not food-poor/borderline category to 9.6 percent from 12.9 percent.

The latest hunger survey follows the release by SWS last week of self-rated poverty in the fourth quarter of 2013 where 55 percent, or 11.8 million Filipino families, claimed to be poor.

In the same survey, the SWS found 41 percent, or 8.8 million families, considered themselves food-poor, up from 37 percent.

It classified experiencing hunger “only once” or “a few times” as “moderate hunger,” while going hungry “often” or “always” was rated as “severe hunger.”

Moderate hunger slightly increased to 15.4 percent in December from September’s 15.3 percent, which led to an average of 15.9 percent in 2013, 0.3 percentage point higher than that in 2012.

Increase in hunger

Severe hunger stood at 2.7 percent, or around 583,000 families, from 2.6 percent, yielding a full-year average of 3.6 percent, or 0.7 percentage point lower than the previous year.

While overall hunger remained unchanged in Metro Manila and fell in Mindanao and the rest of Luzon, it registered a 6.5-percentage point increase in the Visayas following the disasters that devastated the region in the last quarter.

About 726,000 families, or 17.5 percent, in the Visayas experienced hunger, hitting an average of 16.1 percent, up from 14.6 percent in 2012.

A 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Bohol province and nearby provinces on Oct. 15, leaving at least 222 dead. Less than a month after, Super Typhoon Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) barreled through Eastern Visayas, killing more than 6,000 people and causing damage estimated at P36.7 billion.

In Metro Manila, overall hunger stayed at 24.3 percent, while it declined in Mindanao (from 22.3 percent to 19.7 percent) and the rest of Luzon (from 16. 7 percent to 15.7 percent).

The 2013 full-year average results in Metro Manila (from 22.9 percent to 23.5 percent) and the rest of Luzon (from 17.8 percent to 18.3 percent) both slightly increased, while Mindanao posted a 4.2-percentage point decrease, to 22.1 percent.

Moderate hunger, meanwhile, was unchanged in the rest of Luzon (14 percent) but up both in Metro Manila (from 17.7 percent to 18.3 percent) and in the Visayas where it registered a 4.6-percentage point increase (from 9.7 percent to 14.3 percent).

It declined in Mindanao (from 21.3 percent to 17.3 percent), yielding the areas of corresponding averages: 17.8 percent, 14.6 percent, 14.0 percent and 18.8 percent.

Severe hunger fell both in Metro Manila (from 6.7 percent to 6 percent) and in the rest of Luzon (from 2.7 percent to 1.7 percent), while it slightly increased in the Visayas (from 1.3 percent to 3.2 percent) and in Mindanao (from 1 percent to 2.3 percent), leading to averages of 5.7 percent, 3.7 percent, 2.1 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.—Rafael L. Antonio, Inquirer Research