TACLOBAN CITY — Eastern Visayas may have got leeway in 2023 in terms of natural disasters, as the absence of strong typhoons in the region last year was seen as an opportunity to build more disaster-resilient communities frequently hit by natural calamities.

The Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council said fewer severe typhoons in 2023 allowed local authorities to save their resources to mitigate the impacts of climate change in the future.

"We are happy to see our DRRM officers in preparatory mode and not in response mode. Our region has been spared by strong typhoons, and this allows us to train, capacitate and organize our response team," said RDRRMC chair and Office of Civil Defense regional director Lord Byron Torrecarion.

To recall, Eastern Visayas is among the areas worst hit by typhoons that form over the Western Pacific Ocean and to date, the most destructive typhoon that made landfall in the region and tested its resiliency and post-disaster recovery was Super typhoon "Yolanda" in 2013.

In 2023, only typhoons "Betty" and "Egay," as well as the shear line, caused flooding in some areas of Leyte and Samar provinces.