Section: Causes and Background

Sub-section: Causes of displacement

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Natural disasters are the main cause for displacement in the Philippines

Hundreds of thousands of people are also displaced each year in the country, including in Mindanao, by natural disasters such as tropical cyclones and floods. As of early October 2009, roughly five million people were affected by Tropical Storm Ketsana and Typhoon Parma. Estimates of the number of people displaced stood at 1.6 million, and the government welcomed the mobilisation of international support.

In July 2008, a month before the conflict resumed, Typhoon Frank hit the country, destroying some 300,000 homes and displacing tens of thousands of people. It had had a particularly devastating impact in Mindanao, including on many people who were subsequently forced to seek shelter from the conflict in evacuation centres and host communities.
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