Typhoon Haiyan

• Factors making the Philippines vulnerable:

  • Low GDP - 4700
  • 27% live in poverty
  • 4x higher sea level rise
  • Large scale groundwater removal by farmers makes ground sink
• • Category 5 on Saffir Simpson scale
  • 170mph winds
  • 15m waves
• Primary impacts:

  • 6300 dead
  • 30,000 fishing boats destroyed
  • 600,000 homeless
• Secondary impacts:

  • 14 million affected
  • Looting and violence in Tacloban
  • Food and water shortages
• Immediate response:

  • 1200 evacuation centres set up
  • US sent search and rescue aircrafts
  • Red Cross supplied water to over 1 million
• Long-term responses:

  • Build Back Better scheme (better regulations, no-build zones)
  • Oxfam replaced fishing boats
  • WHO provided vaccination schemes
• Long-term responses are more important because they prevent storms from happening again