Typhoon Haiyan

TYPHOON

#YOLANDAPH NOVEMBER 2013

HOW DID IT HAPPEN? uper typhoon Yolanda (International Codename: Haiyan) was one of the strongest tropical cyclones to make landfall in recorded history.

It struck the Philippines on November 8, 2013 and dissipated early morning on November 9 on a path towards Southeast Asia. The supertyphoon barreled a n d c a u s e d c a t a s t r o p h i c destruction through most of Visayas, particularly Leyte and Eastern Samar. An estimated 1.47 million families have been affected and 44/81 provinces in the Philippines were hit. The US Navy and Air Force's Joint Typhoon Warning Center, in its Super Typhoon 31W Warning No. 19, said Yolanda has maximum sustained winds of 315 kph (170 knots) and gusts reaching 380 kph (205 knots). It is considered a Category 5 level storm on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.

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For comparison, super typhoon Pablo only carried 259 kph sustained winds and 314 kph gusts when it hit Mindanao in December 2012 while tropical storm Ondoy carried 167 kph sustained winds and 204 kph gusts when it struck Semptember 2009.

Yolanda, which is moving west-northwest at 39 kph, was first spotted 170 km east-southeast of Guiuan, Eastern Samar. State weather bureau Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) placed 20 areas on Yolanda's path under public storm warning signal number 4.

It is also known that Yolanda carried estimated rainfall from 10 mm to 30 mm per hour (heavy to intense) within its 600 km diameter.

DIAZ, STRONTIUM 23 #YOLANDAPH | PAGE 1

THE SCIENCE BEHIND IT

uper typhoon Yolanda (International Codename: Haiyan) originated from an area of low pressure several hundred kilometers east-southeast of Pohnpei, an island in

the Federated States of Micronesia on November 2, 2013. It then moved to a region favoring tropical cyclogenesis (the development and strengthening of a tropical cyclone) further developing into a tropical depression the following day. After becoming a tropical storm and attaining the naime Haiyan on November 4, it began a period of rapid intensification bringing it to be a Category 5-equivalent super typhoon on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.

The Hong Kong Observatory put the storm's maximum ten-minute sustained winds

at 275 kph prior to landfall in the Philippines, while the China Meteorological Administration estimated the maximum two-minute sustained winds at the time to be around 280 kph unofficially making Haiyan the strongest tropical cyclone ever observed based on wind speed (several others have recorded lower central pressure readings). On November 8, the eye of the cyclone made its first landfall in the Philippines at Guiuan, Eastern Samar.

With its first landfall also came a slight degradation of the storm’s structure,

nonetheless remaining an exceptionally powerful super typhoon when it struck Tolosa, Leyte a few hours after. It made four additional landfalls as it traversed through Visayas.

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YOLANDA: A DISASTER ccording to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red

Crescent Societies (IFRC), a disaster is a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community or society and causes human, material, and economic or environmental losses that exceed the community’s or society’s ability to cope using its own resources.

S u p e r t y p h o o n Y o l a n d a (International Codename: Haiyan) is considered a disaster as it has an estimated 2.86 billion USD or P128 billion cost of damage. The international community has pledged to assist the Philippines as it struggles to address the devastation caused by the super typhoon.

The government has also created a website where they post all the international aid they received for the victims of Yolanda in order to promote transparency. This is known as FAiTH or the Foreign Aid Transparency Hub.

A total of approximately 343 million USD or P15 billion worth of aid has been pledged. In this, we can see the world coming together as one to help bring upon the rise of the Philippines from the disaster that is Yolanda, despite all the catastrophic impacts it has caused.

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ITS IMPACTS


1 Lost of loved ones. 6300 were considered dead, 28 689 injured, and 1 061 missing.

2 Heavy rainfall and storm surges. In Surigao City, 281.9 mm of rainfall was recorded, much of which fell in under 12 hours. Storm surges were also recorded in many places. In the island of Leyte and Samar, PAGASA measured 5–6 meter (15–19 ft) waves and In Tacloban, Leyte, the terminal building of Tacloban Airport was destroyed by a 5.2 m storm surge up to the height of the second level. Along the airport, a storm surge of 4 m was estimated.

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ITS IMPACTS


3 Heavy and widespread flooding leading to destruction of property (buildings, land areas, roads, etc.) Trees knocked over or broken and cars piled up.

4 Widespread power interruptions, landslides, and flash floods.

(Two weeks before super typhoon Yolanda struck, Cebu and Bohol have been greatly affected by a 7.2

magnitude earthquake which has henceforth caused greater destruction in these areas.)

5 The coming together of the world to help the ones in need. We saw that although the disputes and all that has brought upon chaos in this world, when the disaster that Yolanda is hit the country, different parts of the world all came to our aid. In this, we saw global powers coming together to help the ones in need – this help has greatly helped the Philippines recover.

ITS IMPACTS


HOW WE COULD WE HAVE PREVENTED THIS DISASTER?


here is no real immunity to disasters as we have no control over them, it’s all up to nature. What we can do though is practice

proper disaster management so that we can avoid what had happened in Yolanda.

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Good evacuation plans, environmental planning, and design standards can provide for disaster prevention. Carefully planning things like these out can provide for one’s readiness and also cause safer buildings and sturdier properties that can withstand strong typhoons.

When an upcoming disaster has been spotted, warn the people affected so that they are prepared for what may happen and could ready for possible evacuation when threats of disaster increase. When this happens, immediately evacuate people in threatened locations and facilitate them to an effective rescue and relief rehabilitation. Preparedness is the key for reducing the impact of disasters.

Also, at all times, people should have a stable stock of food and water. Having a flashlight and battery operated radios could help a lot too especially since we never know when a disaster might strike – communication and electricity at times like this are very scarce.

Once emergency needs have been met and the initial crisis is over, the people affected and the communities that support them are still vulnerable. Recovery activities include rebuilding infrastructure, health care and rehabilitation. These should blend with development activities, such as building human resources for health and developing policies and practices to avoid similar situations in future.


Personal NOTE

Yolanda struck the Philippines just a few weeks before Christmas, and we would ask, why now, of all possible times? Why us, of all countries?

We would be lead to think that maybe we are just really unlucky. But as I was making this project, it occurred to me, that although Yolanda had not done us good overall – although it had taken away a lot of people’s lives, ruined lots of properties, made life harder for a lot of us, there is one prevailing thing that we can see from all this: despite all that has been said and done, despite this catastrophic destruction, we were still able to stand up and show the world that the Filipino people may struggle, but we will struggle together and achieve to stand up again from our downfalls.

It has also been seen that although we experienced intense difficulties and although we struggled hard to be able to stand back up, we were not fighting alone. We had the whole world behind our backs supporting us and are in this fight with us. The world came together as one to help the Philippines get back on its feet and recover.

Not only did we get financial help but the Philippine government also devised its own P170.7-billion (3.93 billion USD) master rehabilitation plan for areas hit by Super Typhoon Yolanda. This rehabilitation and recovery plan covers resettlement, infrastructure, livelihood, and social services.

Although Yolanda was indeed, the greatest disaster that ever struck the Philippines, we had seen that it also brought upon the greatest lesson of all: our battles are not fought alone and despite our hardships and feelings of loneliness, we should remember that there will always be people who will support and help us through it all. No man is an island.

REFERENCES: Photos:

•  All photos are not mine and in the case of a photo not linked below, it’s human error. All credits go to the respective owners. :)

•  https://m1.behance.net/rendition/modules/87851555/disp/a4e335c9317b1a44a41c7a9e0634178b.jpg

•  http://www.teamasia.com/images/contents/512/Operation-Tulong-Express-for-Typhoon-Yolanda-victims-01.jpg

•  http://s2.djyimg.com/n3/eet-content/uploads/2013/11/Yolanda-rickshaw-187650077-676x450.jpg

•  http://www.flickr.com/photos/eumetsat/10726056545/in/photostream/ •  http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/5082286-3x2-940x627.jpg •  http://news.xinhuanet.com/photo/2013-11/18/125717706_11n.jpg •  http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71012000/jpg/

_71012274_019923835reut.jpg •  https://www.behance.net/gallery/12120359/Art-For-Typhoon-Haiyan

Data:

•  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Haiyan •  http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/11/07/13/super-typhoon-yolanda-

packing-300-kph-winds-us-military •  http://www.gov.ph/crisis-response/updates-typhoon-yolanda/ •  http://www.rappler.com/nation/special-coverage/weather-alert/

43183-20131108-yolanda-am-update •  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Ketsana •  http://www.ifrc.org/en/what-we-do/disaster-management/about-

disasters/what-is-a-disaster/ •  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/philippines/10440193/

Typhoon-Haiyan-world-sends-relief-to-battered-Philippines.html •  http://www.wcpt.org/disaster-management/what-is-disaster-

management

Typhoon Haiyan

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