Many Southeast Asian Countries Have Very High Disaster Risk

Many countries in Southeast Asia have a very high disaster risk, and Indonesia is one of them.

This is evident from the World Risk Index released by the German humanitarian organization, Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft, together with the European research institute, Institute of International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict.

The World Risk Index is an index that measures disaster risk due to extreme natural events and the negative impacts of climate change.

This index is compiled from various assessment dimensions summarized in two main pillars, namely:

• Exposure: The frequency and intensity of disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, cyclones, droughts, and sea-level rise in a region, as well as the number of affected populations.
• Vulnerability: How easily a society experiences instability due to disasters, including their capacity to cope with disasters in terms of economic, political, social, and environmental aspects.

These assessment pillars are then formulated into a score on a scale of 0—100 points with the following classifications:

• Very low risk: 0—1.84 points
• Low risk: 1.85—3.20 points
• Medium risk: 3.21—5.87 points
• High risk: 5.88—12.88 points
• Very high risk: 12.89—100 points

Based on this method, 6 Southeast Asian countries fall into the very high disaster risk category in 2025.

Additionally, 2 neighboring countries have high disaster risk, 1 country has low risk, and 2 countries have very low risk. Here are the details:

Very high risk:

• Philippines: 46.56 points
• Indonesia: 39.8 points
• Myanmar: 36.91 points
• Vietnam: 25.92 points
• Thailand: 20.03 points
• Malaysia: 14.28 points

High risk:

• Cambodia: 8.14 points
• Timor Leste: 7.25 points

Low risk:

• Laos: 3 points

Very low risk:

• Brunei Darussalam: 1.31 points
• Singapore: 0.67 points