Tropical storm: typhoon Haiyan

• Causes / Background information

  • November 2013
  • It was one of the strongest tropical storms ever recorded
  • By 7 November, Haiyan was labelled a Category 5 storm (Saffir Simpson scale), with estimated wind speeds up to 314 km/hr.
  • Caused by a large depression (low pressure air) over the pacific ocean (ocean temperatures above 27degrees)
• Primary effects

  • Storm surge: A 7.5 m wave reached the coast, and a 5 m surge hit Tacloban City.
  • floods were so powerful that bodies were washed out from graves
  • Tacloban City was by far the worst-hit area. Around 90% of all buildings were destroyed, trees were uprooted or flattened, debris covered the land, electricity supplies were cut and infrastructure and communications destroyed.
  • 5 million people saw their homes destroyed or become uninhabitable
  • 6340 fatalities (estimated), almost all were in Tacloban.
• Secondary effects

  • Also incidents of looting – made worse because only 100 police out of 1300 reported for duty.
  • Amazingly, there were no major outbreaks of disease.
• Immediate response

  • Response was coordinated by the World Health Organisation and the United Nations (UN), and by other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as the Red Cross and the DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee).
  • Five days after the typhoon first struck, residents still had no water or safe shelter.
  • The UN fundraising appeal totalled $788 million, and foreign nations donated $500 million (estimated damage topped $8billion)
  • Satellite images and thermal cameras being used. Social media such as Twitter and Google Person Finder helped people locate their friends and family members.
• Long term response

  • Thousands signed up for ‘cash for work’ schemes, in which people are paid by charities to help rebuild the city.
  • Grants were made for local fishing businesses to buy new boats
  • Oxfam provided rice seed to farmers
  • Tourist resorts were slowly rebuilt
  • Improve satellite and computer monitoring to improve prediction in future.
  • Soft engineering schemes like creating mangrove plantations or tree plantations are being introduced to reduce the impact of waves and to provide windbreaks.
  • government has also worked to improve warning systems and emergency plans