Natural disasters occur in the planet from time to time. One of the greatest natural hazards that places on Earth can experience is the typhoon. A typhoon is a dangerous natural disaster which could bring great amount of devastation. In 2013, the Philippines experienced a major disaster due to the typhoon named Haiyan, based on its international name, which is considered as one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded. The purpose of this research paper is to discuss the hazard and impact of the typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. This paper also opts to analyze the mitigation strategy and the recovery of the Philippines after the wreckage left by the typhoon.
It was November 8, 2013 when one of the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded hit the Visayas region of the Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan devastated portions of the South East Asia, including the Philippines, and was considered as the deadliest typhoon of the country. The typhoon Haiyan has killed at least 6,300 and affected almost 13 million people in the Visayas region of the Philippines. During the time of the typhoon, a Public Storm Warning Signal (PSWS) No. 4 was raised by the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) in most areas of the Visayas Region. This public storm warning signal given is the highest storm signal designation in Philippines. This storm signal affected other areas of the Philippines. In order to help the Filipinos affected by the typhoon, the President of the Philippines ordered the nation’s military to arrange helicopters and planes to fly over for surveillance on these affected regions. However, with Haiyan’s movement at great speeds, it devastated more than 60 major cities in the Philippines.
Other regions of Asia, particularly the Southern China region, were also affected by typhoon Haiyan. For the Southern China region, people of Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan were warned by the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters. All fishing vessels were commanded to return into their respective ports in November 9 as a response to emergency raised by the government. For Vietnam, the Prime minister of the country initiated the maximum state of preparedness by sending warnings to approximately 85, 000 sailing ships. These ships were mandated to navigate away from dangerous waters. Almost 200,000 people were evacuated in Northern provinces while 600,000 people were evacuated across southern and central provinces. Vietnam also sent requests to Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and China to help fishermen needing immediate rescue. All residents of Con Co were relocated to underground living quarters with sufficient supplies for a number of days.
More specifically, the Typhoon Haiyan was given the local name of typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines. Recalling the timeline of events when typhoon Haiyan was causing wreckage, it caused shattering destruction all throughout the country. The most affected area by this catastrophe is the islands of Leyte where towns and cities experienced a storm surge. With the destruction that was caused by the typhoon, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) confirmed the fatalities across the country. Table 1 shows the casualties and damages caused by Haiyan in the Philippines. This data and statistics were gathered by the NDRRMC.
Table1: Casualties and Damages Caused by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines
Source: National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) – data as of 17 April, 2014
A total of 36,050 casualties were reported by the NDRRMC based on the data as of April 7, 2014. On the other hand, Red Cross Philippines also reported a different set of statistics based on the data they gathered. They reported that there were almost 65,500 people listed missing in the Google Person Finder. These data gathered by NDRRMC and Red Cross Philippines only shows how devastating the typhoon Haiyan during that time.
During the typhoon, storm surges were experienced in a lot of places in the Visayan region. In the Samar and Leyte areas, PAGASA reported measurements of 5–6 meter (15–19 ft.) waves due to the storm surge. A 5.2 m (17 ft.) storm surge destroyed the terminal building of Tacloban airport reaching up to its second story. The typhoon Haiyan made its first landfall in Guiuan, Eastern Samar. All the buildings in the municipality underwent fractional damage and were crushed. The damages were assessed by the Philippine Air Force on November 10, 2013. Many structures were devastated; broken cars were piled up and trees were knocked by the storm surge in Tacloban. Figures 1 and 2 are devastating sights of the aftermath of the typhoon Haiyan in the Tacloban region.
Figure 1: A devastating sight of one of the districts in Tacloban.
Source: BBnews.com
Figure 2: The “doomed” airport road. Source:
BBCnews.com
The provinces of Capiz, Iloilo, Palawan, Aklan, Samar, Cebu and Leyte, were put under a state of national calamity. The government used the state funds for rehabilitation and relief operations. The NDRRMC allocated ₱30.6 million (US$700,000) for relief assistance to the affected regions. A combined 18,177 personnel, 44 seagoing vessels, 31 aircraft, 844 vehicles, were deployed for countless operations with the purpose of saving lives. The World Health Organization (WHO) organized the substantial international response to support the Philippine administration to meet the serious requirement for healthcare services across the affected areas. With only 20% of Tacloban’s population receiving aid by November 13, people had to dig up water channels and boil water for them to survive. The slow evacuation process led to the extreme depression of the people. Some of them were able to be transferred to safer areas via C-130 cargo planes. Many of the people thought and even declared that Tacloban is already a dead city. With the chaos ongoing, protection concerns encouraged numerous relief interventions to back out of the operation. Tacloban was named as a “war zone” due to the situation. Due to the chaos in this area, there was a case that even staffs of the United Nations were pulled out for their safety. Fortunately, the government was able to stabilize the situation with the help of law enforcement.
In order for the regions affected to stand up once again from the devastation they experienced, the Philippine government launched an accessible online porch, called the Foreign Aid Transparency Hub (FaiTH) on the 18th of November. FaiTH provided the people a pellucidity view of the assistances and treasuries received by the government from the worldwide community (Larano, n.p.). A lot of people, NGOs, companies, and even celebrities donated in cash and in kind for the Filipino people. The Coca-Cola Company had contributed $2.5 million of their promotion budget to the relief exertions; while FIFA donated $1 million. UNICEF transported hygiene supplies and portable toilets to the county and also raised $34 million to help the four million youngsters affected. Red Cross collected $11 million in aids for the Philippines Relief Fund. The American band Journey donated $350,000 to aid relief efforts in the country as well as One Republic who donated $100,000. MAP International went on with medical relief efforts that provided over $10 million in supplies and medicines to the Philippines. There were also benefit concerts done to raise money; singers included Jessica Sanchez, Pentatonix, A Great Big World, and a lot more. To help in the search for missing persons and damage evaluation of the Tacloban airport, NetHope deployed their team. Figure 3 shows the funding scheme for the aftermath of the typhoon Haiyan. The funds gathered from organization, celebrities, and fundraisers were to be used for the regions affected.
Figure 3: Funding for Typhoon Haiyan.
Source: www.unocha.org/philippines
Based on the qualitative and quantitative data reported in the previous paragraphs, typhoon Haiyan’s destruction has put the Visayas region, especially Leyte, in an unimaginable state of calamity. Additionally, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that many people grieved broken bones, cuts, and wounds, throughout the disaster and others were bruised in flooding that happened after the typhoon Haiyan. The WHO led the largest Health cluster which provided supervision on the donations of healthcare products and equipment as well as medicine. The United Nations on the other hand, began relief operations. However since there were great damages to the buildings and other infrastructures, the distribution of the goods was delayed. The United Nations also did organized and activated a Cluster System which many humanitarian groups work together. These humanitarian groups, both UN and non-UN connected, helped in restoring the shelter, economic, health and nutrition activities in the affected area.
Despite the relief operations and recover plans underway, there were also political issues that arose during the operations done for the Philippines. Both United States and China were assessed in relation to their involvement in politics with the country. The two countries, China and United States have a complicated relationship with the Philippines. United States presently has a communal defense treaty and used to have an inhabiting power with Philippines. On the other hand, China is presently arguing that the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea belongs to them and not the Philippines. China was criticized for its donation of only $100,000 given that it is one of the countries having the largest economy. Many believed that it is China’s purpose to separate Philippines while reinforcing connections with the other countries in Southeast Asia. With all the comments, China later directed its naval hospital ship Peace Ark for catastrophe relief and amplified its donations by US$ 1.64 million in supplies. The United States on the other hand, donated $51.9 million. US also deployed its United States Air Force, United States Marines and United States Navy to help with the humanitarian operations. The action done by the US was interpreted as a sign of good will to help strengthen relationships among nations.
The impact and hazard of the typhoon Haiyan is very devastating. The typhoon killed thousands of lives and resulted to thousands of bodies missing until now. The preparation of the government and the people could be a problem although no one could expect the impact of the storm surge. There could also be a problem with the recovery of the area due to anomalies and dispute regarding the recovery operations. However, people and many organizations are making effort to revive the devastated areas.
Works Cited
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Haiyan: U.S., Britain Send Warships to Philippines as New Weather Disturbance Threatens Relief Operations". 6 November. 2010.
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