10 ms·

Typhoon Haiyan kills 10,000 in Philippines

307 points by r0h1n 13y ago

rdl 13y ago
I still don't get why the US Navy hasn't put an LHD or equivalent amphibious group into the relief effort -- it would be a great humanitarian thing, plus a show of strength for one of our key Pacific allies after the "pivot to Asia" -- a pretty clear implication that if we can put a battalion ashore to help hours after a hurricane, we can do similar things during a conflict. Extra points due to the huge number of USN sailors who come from the Philippines. It would be a super-cheap way to build US credibility in the region, help people, and deter future conflict.
- ck2 13y ago
  Plus it would help solve the military "boredom" problem: http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2013/11/after-war-budget-cuts-top-brass-worry-troops-are-bored/73478/ http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2013/11/after-war-budget-cut...
- gexla 13y ago
  I imagine they will. About the time the hurricane was about to hit, Aquino assured the world that the Philippines would be ready and that even one casualty would be too much. Currently there are areas which are completely isolated. After the hurricane passed, there was no way to know the status of these areas. There is no functioning communication for these people. Just yesterday the headlines started out with something like "8 confirmed dead" then it went up to "100 confirmed dead" and of course now the numbers are exploding. Getting a solid grasp on the level of destruction and which areas need the most help takes time. I'm seeing that the Philippines is starting to put out the call for help. I imagine that call will be answered.
  - phreanix 13y ago
    I too was shocked. I went to work and the official number was below 100, I was floored to say the least to come home and discover the revised figure. It is absolutely insane, although in retrospect, I had hoped the country would be somewhat be better prepared and avoid such a huge number of lives lost, yet a small part of me expected it. I mean, one of, if not THE strongest storm in history? Hitting the south of the country? Sigh.
- steve19 13y ago
  It does not make sense for the government/Navy to have disaster relief ships on high alert (like the Marines are for example). The cost of maintaining that high alert status is high and the money would be much better spent nearly providing a lot more (but a little less timely) aid and support. I am sure the Navy will help, just maybe not today or tomorrow.
  - rdl 13y ago
    Right now the problem actually seems to be logistics. You can use the Marines as first responders -- what you need are helicopters and landing craft, fuel, power, comms, food, and water, which are exactly what a combat force uses in an assault as well. By downloading weapons, they could take extra supplies for civilians, and their own support. The deterrence point of doing it instantly is that you can show just how fast and how hard an amphibious force can deploy. That's pretty much the only value of an amphibious force like the doctrinal mission of the Marines anymore; they'll never do an opposed amphibious landing with a long lead up, due to ATGMs/etc. being so effective. One of the best things the US Military has ever done for our national security in the war on terror was helping out pretty substantially after the Kashmir 2005 earthquake -- there were helicopters in the air hours after it hit, from the US and UK forces in Afghanistan.
  - albertyw 13y ago
    Maybe not on high alert continuously, but with satellites now, they must have seen this hurricane coming for days if not weeks.
- larrys 13y ago
  "it would be a great humanitarian thing, plus a show of strength for one of our key Pacific allies" Are you suggesting that there is excess money for something like this in the Navy budget? There are an unlimited number of things that we could do to make the world better and we can't do all of them. Like in business you have to undertake a cost/benefit analysis and see if it makes sense then to do or not. Not to mention how many people die in this country that would live if that money was spent here?
  - rdl 13y ago
    We do stupid exercises all the time which use more money than altering a patrol to go to the region and offloading water/food/fuel. The funding could be moved from usaid as well. In general we should basically do anything do anything less than billions to win over Vietnam, PI, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and show our alliance with SK, Japan, and Taiwan, and build friendship with China. A billion invested in that probably is 10b in expected savings in avoiding future war.
    - dtl352 13y ago
      That's an Americentric viewpoint. There's no need to "win over" anybody. If the US wants to regain trust and increase soft power, it should be helping based on genuine altruism and mutual respect, not for underlying political motives.
      - mpyne 13y ago
        Don't be silly, even "genuine altruism" is still at best self-serving in the end. "I do this good thing for you because it makes me feel better about my contribution to the world". Likewise when the U.S. engaged in the Marshall Plan way back when, there were very obvious ulterior motives for the U.S. (a bulwark against Communist spread, expansion of the U.S. economy to supply our Western European allies, etc.), but that didn't invalidate the actual physical assistance rendered either.
- mrj 13y ago
  The link says the Marines are deploying from Okinawa.
- AaronIG 13y ago
  They've deployed ships. I took part in the 2008 humanitarian relief det when Typhoon Fengshen hit land, and our response time was about seven hours from the time we got the phone call and had planes and helos on the ground delivering supplies and providing medical care. Those response times are largely based on how quickly we can get supplies from USAID, and receive an actual request for assistance.
- bladegash 13y ago
  Chances are, the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (the USS Essex is an LHD 2) will be responding. One of the main missions of the 31st MEU is humanitarian aid in the event of natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific region. Depending on where all the ships are and what they're currently doing, it shouldn't take too long for them to get there. I was on the 31st MEU back when the cyclones hit in Myanmar, and our response was very quick. Unfortunately, we sat off the coast of Myanmar for about two weeks waiting to help, but the government in Myanmar wouldn't allow us to.
- VLM 13y ago
  Nobody has mentioned Subic Bay Naval base with respect to the politics of sending in the Navy? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Naval_Base_Subic_Bay http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Naval_Base_Subic_Bay The last time we had ships stationed there, admittedly 20 years ago, they were VERY happy to see us go. Yes, strictly humanitarian and all that, but...
  - bladegash 13y ago
    The U.S. Navy makes port call at Subic Bay multiple times per year. I actually made a port call there as recently as 2008. Not to mention: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Enduring_Freedom_%E2%80%93_Philippines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Enduring_Freedom_%E2%... Even though we don't have any "permanent" bases (which is up for discussion) in the Philippines, we still have very strong military ties with them.
ck2 13y ago
US "news" is finally starting to cover this. I mean 10K, that is just beyond devastating, it should be front page news for months. We lost 1800 with Katrina.
- yitchelle 13y ago
  Totally agreed. The US (including the rest of the First world countries) has the means and the ability to do so much in the name of humanitarian efforts. It is sad to see these types of disasters fall by the wayside. Anyone still remember Puerto Rico?
  - jasonlotito 13y ago
    I don't understand what you mean. U.S. offers aid, sends teams to help typhoon-ravaged Philippines http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/09/world/asia/philippines-typhoon-us-assistance/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/09/world/asia/philippines-typhoon... That was also posted Saturday, along with several other stories on US "news" sites, the same date as the Guardian article. So, the US should have reported this earlier? On Friday? Hehehe. And I wouldn't describe this as falling by the wayside. The US is actively doing something. It seems whatever news sources you are reading aren't properly informing you? But no, I understand, it's far easier to bash the US with meaningless slights while at the same time lamenting people focusing on other things. It's almost hypocritical.
  - adolfojp 13y ago
    >Anyone still remember Puerto Rico? As a Puerto Rican in a thread about natural disasters I don't know what you're talking about.
    - freehunter 13y ago
      Maybe he's remembering the 1918 earthquake? I don't know why the US would fail to help Puerto Rico, it's a US territory.
  - xradionut 13y ago
    We do send what we can. Between government, charities and private donations, there's aid coming from the US. We could send more, but a majority of the population is in debt or living check to check. (You could appeal to the folks that live in 27,000 sq ft houses and spend $300k annually on their electric bills, but they are busy doing more important things.)
gexla 13y ago
Wow, that's an insane death toll. To put this in perspective, last year, another super typhoon, Pablo, killed close to 2000 I believe. The year before that another devastating typhoon, Sendong, killed something like 1200. The Philippines regularly gets hit with 20 typhoons each year and the typhoon season isn't over. Each of the above mentioned typhoons hit in December. This has to be among the deadliest in Philippines history and the season isn't even over yet. I'm located in the southern end of Negros Oriental, which was under warning signal 3 (out of 4) but we were on the edge of the storm. We got off very light. If it weren't for the news, we wouldn't have even thought that we might be affected by a typhoon. Unfortunately, the Philippines isn't like Japan, where the country can mobilize the resources to make the country highly resistant to it's own nemesis of nature, earthquakes. Many of the people here live in bamboo / wooden structures which stand no chance against a strong typhoon. The most vulnerable are also the poorest. In Dumaguete, minimum wage is the equivalent of $6 per day, but that's a well paying job. Most businesses here use loopholes to pay employees half the minimum wage. The people who have lost their entire towns in the Philippines have no resources, nothing to eat and nowhere to go. There is no no longer a functioning economy. All they can do is wait for help. I don't know if this has anything to do with global warning, but in the five years I have lived here, our area has been hit with two devastating typhoons in the past three years. Before that, strong typhoons hitting our area were rare. Though we dodged this bullet, the above mentioned typhoons hit us head on. If this is something that the Philippines can regularly expect due to changes in weather, then large portions of the country could become unlivable without huge changes. This is the sort of area where we could really use some innovation. Typhoons bring a double threat of high winds and floods. Add volcanoes and earthquakes (just a few weeks ago we got hit with a 7.2 earthquake) and the Philippines is among the most dangerous places to live on the planet. We need low cost structures which can shield people from high winds, floods and earthquakes. Sure, we can hide in a shelter, but we can't deal with the possibility of losing our house and possessions every year. Edit: Changed tornado to typhoon.Facepalm Edit2: Recovery also can take a long time in the Philippines. Not far from where I live is an area with temporary structures (basically a squatter area) which was setup to be temporary. A year later and this area is still full. I suppose Katrina was similar with the temporary housing situation, but in this case we are talking a flimsy bamboo / wooden structure with plastic tarps on the sides. These structures could easily get wiped out by one of the 20 yearly typhoons which hit the Philippines every year. Also, the people of New Orleans at least have government safety nets. The mayor of our city, Dumaguete, set aside something like $9,000 as an emergency fund in anticipation of Yolanda. Like I said, not a lot of resources here.
elleferrer 13y ago
U.S. military will support typhoon recovery efforts in various ways. The U.S. military announced that Secretary Chuck Hagel has directed troops to support these humanitarian missions. That includes deploying aircraft for search-and-rescue missions, bringing in aid and providing logistical support. The U.S. force will be led by Marines out of Okinawa, Japan, according to two U.S. military officials. Other military services will participate. http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/09/world/asia/philippines-typhoon-us-assistance/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/09/world/asia/philippines-typhoon...
- rdl 13y ago
  It was clear days before landfall that this was a huge storm; the ships should have already been enroute, and other supplies staged in Guam and Okinawa.
  - elleferrer 13y ago
    I really hope they are better prepared next time, because there will definitely be another super storm typhoon like this. And I hope when they rebuild new structures in these coastal areas, they will be higher and stronger to withstand these things.
    - Hengjie 13y ago
      People there are always prepared, they know that it's typhoon season around this time of the year. But there's only so much preparation you can do with the money they have.
      - rdl 13y ago
        Plus they had an earthquake recently, so some of this was already weakened by that.
  - brown9-2 13y ago
    Wouldn't travelling from Okinawa to Philippines have put those ships in the path of the storm?
carrotsarm 13y ago
This could have clearly been avoided. See what India did with Phalin, with an early warning system and planned evacuation: http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/10/13/india-cyclone-phailin-odisha-andhra-idINDEE99C00C20131013 http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/10/13/india-cyclone-phail... Less than 20 people died.
- amalag 13y ago
  It is a credit to the states that could put 1 million people into shelters for Phalin, but we don't know all the circumstances so we should not unnecessarily criticize.
- ye 13y ago
  Typhoon Haiyan is much bigger and much stronger. The wind was reported at 195 mph with 235 mph gusts. This kind of wind destroys everything on its way, peels asphalt off the roads, removes soil, etc. Phailin maxed out at 160 mph. That's quite a lot of difference.
  - 001sky 13y ago
    The wind was reported at 195 mph with 235 mph gusts That's insane. I'm sure it would rip out most testing equipment. I've seen the damage from similar micro-bursts (<200mph) in the US and nothing is left standing. And I mean nothing alive. Complete devastation. It would look like thos pictures from when the meteor hit Siberian in the early 20th century. A mess of matchsticks. _______ edit: updated info Haiyan attained its peak intensity with ten-minute sustained winds of 235 km/h (145 mph) one-minute sustained winds of 315 km/h (195 mph) and gusts up to 378 km/h (235 mph) Still a record, but the sustained winds are more in the mid 100's rather than approaching 200. Immensely strong peak gusts. 10 minutes of that at peak energy must have seemed like a lifetime. There is no natural shelter in these situations. Truly, truly dangerous. Edit2: like here> http://forums.mammothmountain.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=12869&start=30#p238302 http://forums.mammothmountain.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=12869...
    - gexla 13y ago
elleferrer 13y ago
Right now the important things needed are hospital ships, helicopters, medical supplies, drinking water, food and shelters... I feel so helpless donating just cash, so many lives need to be helped.
- elleferrer 13y ago
  Nearly 480,000 people were displaced and 4.5 million "affected" by the typhoon in 36 provinces, the national disaster agency said, as relief agencies called for food, water, medicines and tarpaulins for the homeless. http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/11/10/philippines-typhoon-haiyan-idINDEE9A802120131110 http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/11/10/philippines-typhoon...
- user24 13y ago
  Regarding 'just cash', I would like to quote the Red Cross: "The best way to help a disaster victim is through a financial donation to the Red Cross. Financial contributions allow the Red Cross to purchase exactly what is needed for the disaster relief operation. Monetary donations also enable the Red Cross to purchase relief supplies close to the disaster site which avoids delays and transportation costs in getting basic necessities to disaster victims. Because the affected area has generally experienced significant economic loss, purchasing relief supplies in or close to the disaster site also helps to stimulate the weakened local economy." http://www.redcross.org/support/donating-fundraising/other-ways-to-give/donating-goods http://www.redcross.org/support/donating-fundraising/other-w...
  - ck2 13y ago
    Do not freaking donate to the Red Cross. Find a local charity. The Red Cross is HORRIBLY inefficient and wasteful. Your money is buying them furniture.
    - user24 13y ago
      Firstly you can't throw claims like that around without a source, secondly I don't think now is the time to make FUD about which charity to donate to, thirdly that's tangential to what I was quoting (that cash is better than goods), and fourthly http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/10/typhoon-haiyan-kills-10000-in-philippines-live-updates#block-527f6de7e4b055987af6768e http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/10/typhoon-haiyan-... edit: fifthly: http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3277#.Un99so05h0Q http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary...
AYBABTME 13y ago
My wife is in Vietnam and I've been worried for days about where the typhoon would go (South or North). Its silly but I'm relieved it's avoiding the South. When I was telling her about the storm, I realized that people are that more exposed to natural disasters since they don't usually store food. At least in her surrounding, people buy food off the market everyday and don't have reserves, leaving them completely exposed to any disaster affecting food supplies.
sandGorgon 13y ago
can someone who is better informed than me compare the typhoon a few weeks back in orissa, India with 12 casualties and this one. note - this isn't a rhetoric. I genuinely want to understand what is the reason for such a massive difference. I have financial interests in that exact part of India and actually have been thinking that the govt is pretty well prepared (given, well that it is India).
- gexla 13y ago
  I mentioned this in another thread, but I will regurgitate it here. I don't consider myself well informed. But I live in the Philippines and I have been in a high wind, light flooding typhoon and a low wind high flooding typhoon. Of the two, the high flooding typhoon caused a lot more damage and loss of life. You can't make apples to apples comparisons on typhoons. Wind speed isn't necessarily the most destructive factor. Wind creates a lot of damage, but its flooding which creates high casualty counts. The devastating tsunamis we have recently seen is a great example of this. From this article. http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/10/21389125-typhoon-haiyan-us-forces-heading-to-storm-devastated-philippine-islands?lite http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/10/21389125-typho... > Most of the deaths appear to have been caused by surging seas that resembled a tsunami, flattening buildings and drowning hundreds, according to Reuters. It's certainly possible that the region you mentioned in India was better prepared, but I'm guessing that the flooding was worse in the 1999 storm. The Philippines typhoon was among the strongest to ever hit hand. It neared the theoretical maximum strength of a typhoon. One of the methods used to measure the strength of a typhoon is the Dvorak scale which goes up to 8. At the peak of the storm, it hit 8 and they could no longer measure it. They could only estimate that it went up to as much as 8.2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_technique http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_technique
  - eru 13y ago
    Why is there a theoretical maximum strength for a typhoon? What limits them?
- nu23 13y ago
  One important thing to note is that cyclone hit Orissa at low tide. Floods, more than wind speed, seem to be the the important factor. There was flooding some time after Phailin in Andhra Pradesh due to heavy rains and the casualty count was much higher than the cyclone itself. That said, the Orissa government did a good job. There was a terrible cyclone ten years ago with huge devastation, and this time they organized mass evacuations. Hope the disaster relief is strong and the Filipinos get all the help that they will be needing.
jedbrown 13y ago
"""It's worth reiterating that for all the obvious destructive power of sustained wind speeds of almost 200mph, it was the associated storm surge – the rush of water into coastal areas – which caused the worst damage in Tacloban, and most likely many of the deaths. The storm surge in Tacloban was estimated at 6m, sweeping away even concrete buildings, and bringing the sort of devastation so reminiscent of the Indian Ocean tsunami.""" The primary constraint seems to be infrastructure to evacuate and shelter people. Reliable forecast of storm surge location and magnitude would save lives by allocating those resources to the correct places. Doing this well involves improved simulation methods, but also designing observational strategies, such as where to make more accurate measurements of bathymetry (one of the leading sources of uncertainty in storm surge and tsunami prediction). Disclaimer: I work in a related field and have colleagues that develop methods for storm surge forecast.
- john2x 13y ago
  I've heard stories about some families who live in concrete houses decided not to evacuate, confident in being safe from the wind, only to drown in their own homes. :(
- phreanix 13y ago
  What would you suggest is a good system/set-up that would have made a difference here?
  - tomrod 13y ago
    It's hard to say. You need large hurricane-proofed buildings in the higher barangays. As a person intimately familiar with the Tacloban/Leyte area, that's hard to accomplish since the area is so low-lying where it hit hardest. The three biggest needs to prevent a large death-toll from something like this: 1. Education regarding effects of disasters (e.g. what a storm surge is, what areas are likely to be affected by landslides, etc.) 2. Basic first aid medication (having seen my fair share of misadventure in the Philippines, I can confidently say that a subsidized boy scout-style training program would work wonders there) 3. Instructions for putting together 72-hour crash bags, which should be kept in convenient locations (this is a good idea generally -- no matter where one lives a calamity could occur, and having copies of important documents/candles/matches/clean water can make a huge difference).
atmosx 13y ago
Cheap, easy-to-assemble, open source technologies that will help communities to protect themselves will really change the world :-(
- TylerE 13y ago
  Unless you can open source a few billion cubic meters of concrete it would have done fuck all.
  - mistermann 13y ago
    Assuming concrete is the only solution to the problem.
    - TylerE 13y ago
      When the problem is essentially damming a 100-mile wide river, yea, it's pretty much the only solution. Again, the damage here was the tsunami-scale storm surge, not so much the wind.
garg 13y ago
News reports before the typhoon hit said 4000 people had been evacuated. Why only 4000? Lack of resources? Now that the typhoon has devastated the philippines, the international community is sending aid, money, resources. Why can't the same be done before a disaster like this hits? I'm sure the millions pouring in now could have gone a long way to evacuate people or set up shelters, dams, pumps, before it killed 10,000+ And for the financially minded bureaucrat, I'd guess preventive measures would possibly cost less as well.
- phreanix 13y ago
  I've actually read about over a million people evacuated and in shelters. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/08/typhoon-haiyan-batters-philippines http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/08/typhoon-haiyan-... Sadly, it seems international aid is more efficient at post-event response. The government tried to mobilize as well as it was able, but that will never be enough. (See: Katrina, japan earthquake/tsunami). I still have friends I haven't heard from, and have friends who haven't heard from their family. The days of shocked reflection after disasters are always filled with what-ifs and fruitless hindsight. I agree with rdl above that innovations have to be made but most importantly a plan for better wealth creation for the country's poorest who are often the hardest hit. In these modern times, it shouldn't take 10,000 lives to spur that on.
- aestra 13y ago
  It is a human problem. Humans live in areas where the scientific community knows certain disasters will eventually hit, sometime. It is hard to convince someone to allocate $100 now to save $1000 later, because it is later. You don't see the result now and might not in your lifetime and the prospect of "it probably won't happen" is easy to justify. and yes prevention costs less almost always.
emanuelsaringan 13y ago
I'll just leave this here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzxTXk1JCFw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzxTXk1JCFw To Americans: Is this even legit?
- herbig 13y ago
  no
- SilverSurfer972 13y ago
  The data is there, everybody and check it and get its own conclusions. The one I get is disturbing
phektus 13y ago
I came from the capital. My family lives beside Laguna lake in Taguig. Whenever there's a storm my village gets flooded (mainly due to poor flood control) and everything becomes hard in terms of dealing with your daily business. Obviously nothing in comparison to what Haiyan did to Tacloban city, but the panic induced by the thunder, the cold feeling from the rain, plus the fear of losing a lot from the waters and looters is still deeply etched in my brain. Now I'm based in another country but I have lots of relatives in the area that was in the path of the storm. Also, this estimate came from just one area (although the worst hit). We are a hardy people but to get this every year coupled with the stress of knowing your officials are stealing a fair bit of what could have been used to help... well, kind of pulls you down.
- mattquiros 13y ago
  What's worse is that these disasters have been happening regularly since 2009, when Typhoon Ketsana (known locally as Ondoy) struck the capital. What has the government done to really damage-proof the Philippines since? It was obvious right then that something like that would happen every year, and it did, yet there doesn't seem to be a concrete, long-term plan of action from the government.
  - anigbrowl 13y ago
    Well, I was impressed to see they evacuated a large number of people this time, which hasn't always been the case. that doesn't sem like much but bear mind that the Philippines is a poor country, and second that it's essentially an archipelago made out of hundreds of small inhabited islands with fairly low average elevation (IIRC it's actually a few thousand islands, but not all of them are inhabited). I'm not sure there's a whole lot you can do to 'damage proof' territory like this, other than simply abandoning outlying parts of it and hoping they act as a sea wall (and with a ~90m population, you also have the problem of where to put those people). Their options really are limited, especially in the face of record breaking weather events. Consider that if this storm had hit the Maldives it would almost certainly have wiped out the entire country, permanently.
austenallred 13y ago
If you are trying to find someone in the Philippines in the aftermath of the typhoon, you can try using one of these sources: PeopleLocator (https://pl.nlm.nih.gov/ https://pl.nlm.nih.gov/) Google PersonFinder (http://google.org/personfinder/2013-yolanda/query?role=seek http://google.org/personfinder/2013-yolanda/query?role=seek) alternate source for Google PersonFinder (http://google.org/personfinder/global/home.html http://google.org/personfinder/global/home.html) Red Cross request for help restoring contact (http://familylinks.icrc.org/en/pages/home.aspx http://familylinks.icrc.org/en/pages/home.aspx) If you would like to donate, here are some organizations that could use your help: Red Cross Philippines (http://www.redcross.org.ph/donate http://www.redcross.org.ph/donate) via Paypal Ayala Foundation's 'Laging Handa Fund' (Always Ready), overseas donors can use this online portal(http://feedthehungryphil.org/ayala-foundation-inc/ http://feedthehungryphil.org/ayala-foundation-inc/) for donations GlobalGiving.com(http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/philippines-disaster-response/ http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/philippines-disaster-re...). Credit and debit card donations accepted. Save the Children (http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.8856103/k.9BA3/Typhoon_Haiyan.htm http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.885610...). Save the Children has a team on the ground in Tacloban working to respond to this emergency. Now, unfortunately we wait for lack of sanitation, clean water and associated disease to take their much higher toll. The situation report has the following information: 2,055,630 families or 9,497,847 persons were affected. The number of confirmed casualties is still low, at 229. This number will inevitably increase drastically when response efforts proceed and communication lines are repaired. The number of damaged houses is currently at 19,551 (13,191 have been totally destroyed) A state of calamity has been declared in the province of Antique, as well as in Janiuay and Dumangas in the province of Iloilo Flooding, landslides, and fallen trees blocked several roads, but most are now passable thanks to ongoing clearing operations *Several networks are still down but are in the process of being restored
- shivaas 13y ago
  We at Remitly are pitching in by waiving all fees for donations sent to the Red Cross. Please spread the word and donate via www.remitly.com directly to Red Cross Philippines. We have pre-filled all their bank info etc for your convenience.
Udo 13y ago
Does anyone know if Batangas (more specifically: Nasugbu) was hit badly?
- aangeles 13y ago
  It wasn't hit badly
  - Udo 13y ago
    Are you there right now?
    - aangeles 13y ago
      Im from neighboring provice of laguna and i think storm signal for batangas only reach signal no. 2
      - Udo 13y ago
        Laguna was signal #1, right? I hope everything is OK where you are. My brother and his family live in Nasugbu, I haven't been able to get in touch for a few days - but then again they might be traveling right now so nobody knows if they were even home.
gesman 13y ago
I donated a bit to: https://www.wfp.org/donate/typhoon https://www.wfp.org/donate/typhoon This thing needs lots of help now.
frakkingcylons 13y ago
The Boston Globe has a great series of photographs of the aftermath: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2013/11/typhoon_haiyan.html http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2013/11/typhoon_haiyan.html
pajop 13y ago
Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation is accepting donations via http://brickbybrick.pdrf.org/yolanda http://brickbybrick.pdrf.org/yolanda here's the rest of the info on how you can help: http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/issues/disasters/43300-reliefph-victims-typhoon-yolanda-help http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/issues/disasters/43300-relief...
clockwerx 13y ago
For those looking to help, if you know the area or are an experienced mapper, http://tasks.hotosm.org http://tasks.hotosm.org
lazylizard 13y ago
how about a humblebundle/indieroyale/indiegala/gog Haiyan bundle?
oakaz 13y ago
How can we help this disaster as software engineers? Any ideas?
- DanBC 13y ago
  Long term: Have a look at websites like this, and see if you can make them better. http://reliefweb.int/ http://reliefweb.int/ Better means lots of things, but "easier to use with very low or intermittent bandwidth"; "easier to use for an international audience" etc. Take the most important Wikipedia articles (where "importance" is about STEM education) and polish them into the very best they can be, with clear easy to understand text and nice examples and best diagrams. Translate these to different languages. (Whatever is used in areas that need them, so I guess Spanish, French, Portuguese, and whatever.) This might require a form from WP. Investigate charities that do good work. Donate to those charities. Good work means different things to different people, but probably includes "doesn't spend too much of its funds on luxury offices and big wages" and "makes a change, doesn't just continue cycles of deprivation". Research and promote low power computing. Most people have huge computers for what they actually do. Really, using social media, watching a few cat videos, and writing the occasional letter do not need gigabytes of RAM and 3 GHz quad core processors. Help with low resource Open Source projects. Never mind LXDE and XFCE, most people would be fine with JWM or IceWM. Moving people from 100 Watt desktop machines to 8 W arm (or similar) nettops would be useful for climate change. There's bound to be some interesting but difficult to access research work around distribution - distribution of money and resources within organisations and from those orgs to the places where they're needed. Stuff crossing boundaries is an opportunity for loss. Those boundaries include geographical borders but also include regulatory boundaries for organisations. Visualisations of the journey of a donated dollar through the bureaucracies to the final endpoint would be fascinating, and possibly enraging, for many people. Vote for people who don't do stupid things to developing nations. Be careful when donating hardware to charity recycling. Often anything usable is sold off, with the junk being sent to places like the e-waste dump in Agbogbloshie, Accra, Ghana. Here's a programme and a clip about that dump. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sch78 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sch78) (http://videobam.com/rcEUM http://videobam.com/rcEUM)
  - 13y ago
frank_boyd 13y ago
And we all knew for a very long time now that this kind of disaster is due to climate change. And we all don't seem to care at all. At least not enough to changer our patterns of consumption.
kimonos 13y ago
I am from Negros Occidental, Philippines and we were spared from the destruction of Haiyan. But me and my family are continually praying for more help for the victims especially for those who lost their families. We are also thankful for people from other nations who extended their help. Filipinos will stand up and rise again! God bless us all!

307 points by r0h1n 13y ago

rdl 13y ago

I still don't get why the US Navy hasn't put an LHD or equivalent amphibious group into the relief effort -- it would be a great humanitarian thing, plus a show of strength for one of our key Pacific allies after the "pivot to Asia" -- a pretty clear implication that if we can put a battalion ashore to help hours after a hurricane, we can do similar things during a conflict. Extra points due to the huge number of USN sailors who come from the Philippines. It would be a super-cheap way to build US credibility in the region, help people, and deter future conflict.

ck2 13y ago
Plus it would help solve the military "boredom" problem: http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2013/11/after-war-budget-cuts-top-brass-worry-troops-are-bored/73478/ http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2013/11/after-war-budget-cut...
gexla 13y ago
I imagine they will. About the time the hurricane was about to hit, Aquino assured the world that the Philippines would be ready and that even one casualty would be too much. Currently there are areas which are completely isolated. After the hurricane passed, there was no way to know the status of these areas. There is no functioning communication for these people. Just yesterday the headlines started out with something like "8 confirmed dead" then it went up to "100 confirmed dead" and of course now the numbers are exploding. Getting a solid grasp on the level of destruction and which areas need the most help takes time. I'm seeing that the Philippines is starting to put out the call for help. I imagine that call will be answered.
- phreanix 13y ago
  I too was shocked. I went to work and the official number was below 100, I was floored to say the least to come home and discover the revised figure. It is absolutely insane, although in retrospect, I had hoped the country would be somewhat be better prepared and avoid such a huge number of lives lost, yet a small part of me expected it. I mean, one of, if not THE strongest storm in history? Hitting the south of the country? Sigh.
steve19 13y ago
It does not make sense for the government/Navy to have disaster relief ships on high alert (like the Marines are for example). The cost of maintaining that high alert status is high and the money would be much better spent nearly providing a lot more (but a little less timely) aid and support. I am sure the Navy will help, just maybe not today or tomorrow.
- rdl 13y ago
  Right now the problem actually seems to be logistics. You can use the Marines as first responders -- what you need are helicopters and landing craft, fuel, power, comms, food, and water, which are exactly what a combat force uses in an assault as well. By downloading weapons, they could take extra supplies for civilians, and their own support. The deterrence point of doing it instantly is that you can show just how fast and how hard an amphibious force can deploy. That's pretty much the only value of an amphibious force like the doctrinal mission of the Marines anymore; they'll never do an opposed amphibious landing with a long lead up, due to ATGMs/etc. being so effective. One of the best things the US Military has ever done for our national security in the war on terror was helping out pretty substantially after the Kashmir 2005 earthquake -- there were helicopters in the air hours after it hit, from the US and UK forces in Afghanistan.
- albertyw 13y ago
  Maybe not on high alert continuously, but with satellites now, they must have seen this hurricane coming for days if not weeks.
larrys 13y ago
"it would be a great humanitarian thing, plus a show of strength for one of our key Pacific allies" Are you suggesting that there is excess money for something like this in the Navy budget? There are an unlimited number of things that we could do to make the world better and we can't do all of them. Like in business you have to undertake a cost/benefit analysis and see if it makes sense then to do or not. Not to mention how many people die in this country that would live if that money was spent here?
- rdl 13y ago
  We do stupid exercises all the time which use more money than altering a patrol to go to the region and offloading water/food/fuel. The funding could be moved from usaid as well. In general we should basically do anything do anything less than billions to win over Vietnam, PI, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and show our alliance with SK, Japan, and Taiwan, and build friendship with China. A billion invested in that probably is 10b in expected savings in avoiding future war.
  - dtl352 13y ago
    That's an Americentric viewpoint. There's no need to "win over" anybody. If the US wants to regain trust and increase soft power, it should be helping based on genuine altruism and mutual respect, not for underlying political motives.
    - mpyne 13y ago
      Don't be silly, even "genuine altruism" is still at best self-serving in the end. "I do this good thing for you because it makes me feel better about my contribution to the world". Likewise when the U.S. engaged in the Marshall Plan way back when, there were very obvious ulterior motives for the U.S. (a bulwark against Communist spread, expansion of the U.S. economy to supply our Western European allies, etc.), but that didn't invalidate the actual physical assistance rendered either.
mrj 13y ago
The link says the Marines are deploying from Okinawa.
AaronIG 13y ago
They've deployed ships. I took part in the 2008 humanitarian relief det when Typhoon Fengshen hit land, and our response time was about seven hours from the time we got the phone call and had planes and helos on the ground delivering supplies and providing medical care. Those response times are largely based on how quickly we can get supplies from USAID, and receive an actual request for assistance.
bladegash 13y ago
Chances are, the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (the USS Essex is an LHD 2) will be responding. One of the main missions of the 31st MEU is humanitarian aid in the event of natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific region. Depending on where all the ships are and what they're currently doing, it shouldn't take too long for them to get there. I was on the 31st MEU back when the cyclones hit in Myanmar, and our response was very quick. Unfortunately, we sat off the coast of Myanmar for about two weeks waiting to help, but the government in Myanmar wouldn't allow us to.
VLM 13y ago
Nobody has mentioned Subic Bay Naval base with respect to the politics of sending in the Navy? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Naval_Base_Subic_Bay http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Naval_Base_Subic_Bay The last time we had ships stationed there, admittedly 20 years ago, they were VERY happy to see us go. Yes, strictly humanitarian and all that, but...
- bladegash 13y ago
  The U.S. Navy makes port call at Subic Bay multiple times per year. I actually made a port call there as recently as 2008. Not to mention: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Enduring_Freedom_%E2%80%93_Philippines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Enduring_Freedom_%E2%... Even though we don't have any "permanent" bases (which is up for discussion) in the Philippines, we still have very strong military ties with them.

ck2 13y ago

US "news" is finally starting to cover this. I mean 10K, that is just beyond devastating, it should be front page news for months. We lost 1800 with Katrina.

yitchelle 13y ago
Totally agreed. The US (including the rest of the First world countries) has the means and the ability to do so much in the name of humanitarian efforts. It is sad to see these types of disasters fall by the wayside. Anyone still remember Puerto Rico?
- jasonlotito 13y ago
  I don't understand what you mean. U.S. offers aid, sends teams to help typhoon-ravaged Philippines http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/09/world/asia/philippines-typhoon-us-assistance/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/09/world/asia/philippines-typhoon... That was also posted Saturday, along with several other stories on US "news" sites, the same date as the Guardian article. So, the US should have reported this earlier? On Friday? Hehehe. And I wouldn't describe this as falling by the wayside. The US is actively doing something. It seems whatever news sources you are reading aren't properly informing you? But no, I understand, it's far easier to bash the US with meaningless slights while at the same time lamenting people focusing on other things. It's almost hypocritical.
- adolfojp 13y ago
  >Anyone still remember Puerto Rico? As a Puerto Rican in a thread about natural disasters I don't know what you're talking about.
  - freehunter 13y ago
    Maybe he's remembering the 1918 earthquake? I don't know why the US would fail to help Puerto Rico, it's a US territory.
- xradionut 13y ago
  We do send what we can. Between government, charities and private donations, there's aid coming from the US. We could send more, but a majority of the population is in debt or living check to check. (You could appeal to the folks that live in 27,000 sq ft houses and spend $300k annually on their electric bills, but they are busy doing more important things.)

gexla 13y ago

Wow, that's an insane death toll. To put this in perspective, last year, another super typhoon, Pablo, killed close to 2000 I believe. The year before that another devastating typhoon, Sendong, killed something like 1200. The Philippines regularly gets hit with 20 typhoons each year and the typhoon season isn't over. Each of the above mentioned typhoons hit in December. This has to be among the deadliest in Philippines history and the season isn't even over yet. I'm located in the southern end of Negros Oriental, which was under warning signal 3 (out of 4) but we were on the edge of the storm. We got off very light. If it weren't for the news, we wouldn't have even thought that we might be affected by a typhoon. Unfortunately, the Philippines isn't like Japan, where the country can mobilize the resources to make the country highly resistant to it's own nemesis of nature, earthquakes. Many of the people here live in bamboo / wooden structures which stand no chance against a strong typhoon. The most vulnerable are also the poorest. In Dumaguete, minimum wage is the equivalent of $6 per day, but that's a well paying job. Most businesses here use loopholes to pay employees half the minimum wage. The people who have lost their entire towns in the Philippines have no resources, nothing to eat and nowhere to go. There is no no longer a functioning economy. All they can do is wait for help. I don't know if this has anything to do with global warning, but in the five years I have lived here, our area has been hit with two devastating typhoons in the past three years. Before that, strong typhoons hitting our area were rare. Though we dodged this bullet, the above mentioned typhoons hit us head on. If this is something that the Philippines can regularly expect due to changes in weather, then large portions of the country could become unlivable without huge changes. This is the sort of area where we could really use some innovation. Typhoons bring a double threat of high winds and floods. Add volcanoes and earthquakes (just a few weeks ago we got hit with a 7.2 earthquake) and the Philippines is among the most dangerous places to live on the planet. We need low cost structures which can shield people from high winds, floods and earthquakes. Sure, we can hide in a shelter, but we can't deal with the possibility of losing our house and possessions every year. Edit: Changed tornado to typhoon.Facepalm Edit2: Recovery also can take a long time in the Philippines. Not far from where I live is an area with temporary structures (basically a squatter area) which was setup to be temporary. A year later and this area is still full. I suppose Katrina was similar with the temporary housing situation, but in this case we are talking a flimsy bamboo / wooden structure with plastic tarps on the sides. These structures could easily get wiped out by one of the 20 yearly typhoons which hit the Philippines every year. Also, the people of New Orleans at least have government safety nets. The mayor of our city, Dumaguete, set aside something like $9,000 as an emergency fund in anticipation of Yolanda. Like I said, not a lot of resources here.

elleferrer 13y ago

U.S. military will support typhoon recovery efforts in various ways. The U.S. military announced that Secretary Chuck Hagel has directed troops to support these humanitarian missions. That includes deploying aircraft for search-and-rescue missions, bringing in aid and providing logistical support. The U.S. force will be led by Marines out of Okinawa, Japan, according to two U.S. military officials. Other military services will participate. http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/09/world/asia/philippines-typhoon-us-assistance/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/09/world/asia/philippines-typhoon...

rdl 13y ago
It was clear days before landfall that this was a huge storm; the ships should have already been enroute, and other supplies staged in Guam and Okinawa.
- elleferrer 13y ago
  I really hope they are better prepared next time, because there will definitely be another super storm typhoon like this. And I hope when they rebuild new structures in these coastal areas, they will be higher and stronger to withstand these things.
  - Hengjie 13y ago
    People there are always prepared, they know that it's typhoon season around this time of the year. But there's only so much preparation you can do with the money they have.
    - rdl 13y ago
      Plus they had an earthquake recently, so some of this was already weakened by that.
- brown9-2 13y ago
  Wouldn't travelling from Okinawa to Philippines have put those ships in the path of the storm?

carrotsarm 13y ago

This could have clearly been avoided. See what India did with Phalin, with an early warning system and planned evacuation: http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/10/13/india-cyclone-phailin-odisha-andhra-idINDEE99C00C20131013 http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/10/13/india-cyclone-phail... Less than 20 people died.

amalag 13y ago
It is a credit to the states that could put 1 million people into shelters for Phalin, but we don't know all the circumstances so we should not unnecessarily criticize.
ye 13y ago
Typhoon Haiyan is much bigger and much stronger. The wind was reported at 195 mph with 235 mph gusts. This kind of wind destroys everything on its way, peels asphalt off the roads, removes soil, etc. Phailin maxed out at 160 mph. That's quite a lot of difference.
- 001sky 13y ago
  The wind was reported at 195 mph with 235 mph gusts That's insane. I'm sure it would rip out most testing equipment. I've seen the damage from similar micro-bursts (<200mph) in the US and nothing is left standing. And I mean nothing alive. Complete devastation. It would look like thos pictures from when the meteor hit Siberian in the early 20th century. A mess of matchsticks. _______ edit: updated info Haiyan attained its peak intensity with ten-minute sustained winds of 235 km/h (145 mph) one-minute sustained winds of 315 km/h (195 mph) and gusts up to 378 km/h (235 mph) Still a record, but the sustained winds are more in the mid 100's rather than approaching 200. Immensely strong peak gusts. 10 minutes of that at peak energy must have seemed like a lifetime. There is no natural shelter in these situations. Truly, truly dangerous. Edit2: like here> http://forums.mammothmountain.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=12869&start=30#p238302 http://forums.mammothmountain.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=12869...
  - gexla 13y ago

elleferrer 13y ago

Right now the important things needed are hospital ships, helicopters, medical supplies, drinking water, food and shelters... I feel so helpless donating just cash, so many lives need to be helped.

elleferrer 13y ago
Nearly 480,000 people were displaced and 4.5 million "affected" by the typhoon in 36 provinces, the national disaster agency said, as relief agencies called for food, water, medicines and tarpaulins for the homeless. http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/11/10/philippines-typhoon-haiyan-idINDEE9A802120131110 http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/11/10/philippines-typhoon...
user24 13y ago
Regarding 'just cash', I would like to quote the Red Cross: "The best way to help a disaster victim is through a financial donation to the Red Cross. Financial contributions allow the Red Cross to purchase exactly what is needed for the disaster relief operation. Monetary donations also enable the Red Cross to purchase relief supplies close to the disaster site which avoids delays and transportation costs in getting basic necessities to disaster victims. Because the affected area has generally experienced significant economic loss, purchasing relief supplies in or close to the disaster site also helps to stimulate the weakened local economy." http://www.redcross.org/support/donating-fundraising/other-ways-to-give/donating-goods http://www.redcross.org/support/donating-fundraising/other-w...
- ck2 13y ago
  Do not freaking donate to the Red Cross. Find a local charity. The Red Cross is HORRIBLY inefficient and wasteful. Your money is buying them furniture.
  - user24 13y ago
    Firstly you can't throw claims like that around without a source, secondly I don't think now is the time to make FUD about which charity to donate to, thirdly that's tangential to what I was quoting (that cash is better than goods), and fourthly http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/10/typhoon-haiyan-kills-10000-in-philippines-live-updates#block-527f6de7e4b055987af6768e http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/10/typhoon-haiyan-... edit: fifthly: http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3277#.Un99so05h0Q http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary...

AYBABTME 13y ago

My wife is in Vietnam and I've been worried for days about where the typhoon would go (South or North). Its silly but I'm relieved it's avoiding the South. When I was telling her about the storm, I realized that people are that more exposed to natural disasters since they don't usually store food. At least in her surrounding, people buy food off the market everyday and don't have reserves, leaving them completely exposed to any disaster affecting food supplies.

sandGorgon 13y ago

can someone who is better informed than me compare the typhoon a few weeks back in orissa, India with 12 casualties and this one. note - this isn't a rhetoric. I genuinely want to understand what is the reason for such a massive difference. I have financial interests in that exact part of India and actually have been thinking that the govt is pretty well prepared (given, well that it is India).

gexla 13y ago
I mentioned this in another thread, but I will regurgitate it here. I don't consider myself well informed. But I live in the Philippines and I have been in a high wind, light flooding typhoon and a low wind high flooding typhoon. Of the two, the high flooding typhoon caused a lot more damage and loss of life. You can't make apples to apples comparisons on typhoons. Wind speed isn't necessarily the most destructive factor. Wind creates a lot of damage, but its flooding which creates high casualty counts. The devastating tsunamis we have recently seen is a great example of this. From this article. http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/10/21389125-typhoon-haiyan-us-forces-heading-to-storm-devastated-philippine-islands?lite http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/10/21389125-typho... > Most of the deaths appear to have been caused by surging seas that resembled a tsunami, flattening buildings and drowning hundreds, according to Reuters. It's certainly possible that the region you mentioned in India was better prepared, but I'm guessing that the flooding was worse in the 1999 storm. The Philippines typhoon was among the strongest to ever hit hand. It neared the theoretical maximum strength of a typhoon. One of the methods used to measure the strength of a typhoon is the Dvorak scale which goes up to 8. At the peak of the storm, it hit 8 and they could no longer measure it. They could only estimate that it went up to as much as 8.2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_technique http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_technique
- eru 13y ago
  Why is there a theoretical maximum strength for a typhoon? What limits them?
nu23 13y ago
One important thing to note is that cyclone hit Orissa at low tide. Floods, more than wind speed, seem to be the the important factor. There was flooding some time after Phailin in Andhra Pradesh due to heavy rains and the casualty count was much higher than the cyclone itself. That said, the Orissa government did a good job. There was a terrible cyclone ten years ago with huge devastation, and this time they organized mass evacuations. Hope the disaster relief is strong and the Filipinos get all the help that they will be needing.

jedbrown 13y ago

"""It's worth reiterating that for all the obvious destructive power of sustained wind speeds of almost 200mph, it was the associated storm surge – the rush of water into coastal areas – which caused the worst damage in Tacloban, and most likely many of the deaths. The storm surge in Tacloban was estimated at 6m, sweeping away even concrete buildings, and bringing the sort of devastation so reminiscent of the Indian Ocean tsunami.""" The primary constraint seems to be infrastructure to evacuate and shelter people. Reliable forecast of storm surge location and magnitude would save lives by allocating those resources to the correct places. Doing this well involves improved simulation methods, but also designing observational strategies, such as where to make more accurate measurements of bathymetry (one of the leading sources of uncertainty in storm surge and tsunami prediction). Disclaimer: I work in a related field and have colleagues that develop methods for storm surge forecast.

john2x 13y ago
I've heard stories about some families who live in concrete houses decided not to evacuate, confident in being safe from the wind, only to drown in their own homes. :(
phreanix 13y ago
What would you suggest is a good system/set-up that would have made a difference here?
- tomrod 13y ago
  It's hard to say. You need large hurricane-proofed buildings in the higher barangays. As a person intimately familiar with the Tacloban/Leyte area, that's hard to accomplish since the area is so low-lying where it hit hardest. The three biggest needs to prevent a large death-toll from something like this: 1. Education regarding effects of disasters (e.g. what a storm surge is, what areas are likely to be affected by landslides, etc.) 2. Basic first aid medication (having seen my fair share of misadventure in the Philippines, I can confidently say that a subsidized boy scout-style training program would work wonders there) 3. Instructions for putting together 72-hour crash bags, which should be kept in convenient locations (this is a good idea generally -- no matter where one lives a calamity could occur, and having copies of important documents/candles/matches/clean water can make a huge difference).

atmosx 13y ago

Cheap, easy-to-assemble, open source technologies that will help communities to protect themselves will really change the world :-(

TylerE 13y ago
Unless you can open source a few billion cubic meters of concrete it would have done fuck all.
- mistermann 13y ago
  Assuming concrete is the only solution to the problem.
  - TylerE 13y ago
    When the problem is essentially damming a 100-mile wide river, yea, it's pretty much the only solution. Again, the damage here was the tsunami-scale storm surge, not so much the wind.

garg 13y ago

News reports before the typhoon hit said 4000 people had been evacuated. Why only 4000? Lack of resources? Now that the typhoon has devastated the philippines, the international community is sending aid, money, resources. Why can't the same be done before a disaster like this hits? I'm sure the millions pouring in now could have gone a long way to evacuate people or set up shelters, dams, pumps, before it killed 10,000+ And for the financially minded bureaucrat, I'd guess preventive measures would possibly cost less as well.

phreanix 13y ago
I've actually read about over a million people evacuated and in shelters. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/08/typhoon-haiyan-batters-philippines http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/08/typhoon-haiyan-... Sadly, it seems international aid is more efficient at post-event response. The government tried to mobilize as well as it was able, but that will never be enough. (See: Katrina, japan earthquake/tsunami). I still have friends I haven't heard from, and have friends who haven't heard from their family. The days of shocked reflection after disasters are always filled with what-ifs and fruitless hindsight. I agree with rdl above that innovations have to be made but most importantly a plan for better wealth creation for the country's poorest who are often the hardest hit. In these modern times, it shouldn't take 10,000 lives to spur that on.
aestra 13y ago
It is a human problem. Humans live in areas where the scientific community knows certain disasters will eventually hit, sometime. It is hard to convince someone to allocate $100 now to save $1000 later, because it is later. You don't see the result now and might not in your lifetime and the prospect of "it probably won't happen" is easy to justify. and yes prevention costs less almost always.

emanuelsaringan 13y ago

I'll just leave this here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzxTXk1JCFw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzxTXk1JCFw To Americans: Is this even legit?

herbig 13y ago
no
SilverSurfer972 13y ago
The data is there, everybody and check it and get its own conclusions. The one I get is disturbing

phektus 13y ago

I came from the capital. My family lives beside Laguna lake in Taguig. Whenever there's a storm my village gets flooded (mainly due to poor flood control) and everything becomes hard in terms of dealing with your daily business. Obviously nothing in comparison to what Haiyan did to Tacloban city, but the panic induced by the thunder, the cold feeling from the rain, plus the fear of losing a lot from the waters and looters is still deeply etched in my brain. Now I'm based in another country but I have lots of relatives in the area that was in the path of the storm. Also, this estimate came from just one area (although the worst hit). We are a hardy people but to get this every year coupled with the stress of knowing your officials are stealing a fair bit of what could have been used to help... well, kind of pulls you down.

mattquiros 13y ago
What's worse is that these disasters have been happening regularly since 2009, when Typhoon Ketsana (known locally as Ondoy) struck the capital. What has the government done to really damage-proof the Philippines since? It was obvious right then that something like that would happen every year, and it did, yet there doesn't seem to be a concrete, long-term plan of action from the government.
- anigbrowl 13y ago
  Well, I was impressed to see they evacuated a large number of people this time, which hasn't always been the case. that doesn't sem like much but bear mind that the Philippines is a poor country, and second that it's essentially an archipelago made out of hundreds of small inhabited islands with fairly low average elevation (IIRC it's actually a few thousand islands, but not all of them are inhabited). I'm not sure there's a whole lot you can do to 'damage proof' territory like this, other than simply abandoning outlying parts of it and hoping they act as a sea wall (and with a ~90m population, you also have the problem of where to put those people). Their options really are limited, especially in the face of record breaking weather events. Consider that if this storm had hit the Maldives it would almost certainly have wiped out the entire country, permanently.

austenallred 13y ago

If you are trying to find someone in the Philippines in the aftermath of the typhoon, you can try using one of these sources: PeopleLocator (https://pl.nlm.nih.gov/ https://pl.nlm.nih.gov/) Google PersonFinder (http://google.org/personfinder/2013-yolanda/query?role=seek http://google.org/personfinder/2013-yolanda/query?role=seek) alternate source for Google PersonFinder (http://google.org/personfinder/global/home.html http://google.org/personfinder/global/home.html) Red Cross request for help restoring contact (http://familylinks.icrc.org/en/pages/home.aspx http://familylinks.icrc.org/en/pages/home.aspx) If you would like to donate, here are some organizations that could use your help: Red Cross Philippines (http://www.redcross.org.ph/donate http://www.redcross.org.ph/donate) via Paypal Ayala Foundation's 'Laging Handa Fund' (Always Ready), overseas donors can use this online portal(http://feedthehungryphil.org/ayala-foundation-inc/ http://feedthehungryphil.org/ayala-foundation-inc/) for donations GlobalGiving.com(http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/philippines-disaster-response/ http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/philippines-disaster-re...). Credit and debit card donations accepted. Save the Children (http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.8856103/k.9BA3/Typhoon_Haiyan.htm http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.885610...). Save the Children has a team on the ground in Tacloban working to respond to this emergency. Now, unfortunately we wait for lack of sanitation, clean water and associated disease to take their much higher toll. The situation report has the following information: 2,055,630 families or 9,497,847 persons were affected. The number of confirmed casualties is still low, at 229. This number will inevitably increase drastically when response efforts proceed and communication lines are repaired. The number of damaged houses is currently at 19,551 (13,191 have been totally destroyed) A state of calamity has been declared in the province of Antique, as well as in Janiuay and Dumangas in the province of Iloilo Flooding, landslides, and fallen trees blocked several roads, but most are now passable thanks to ongoing clearing operations *Several networks are still down but are in the process of being restored

shivaas 13y ago
We at Remitly are pitching in by waiving all fees for donations sent to the Red Cross. Please spread the word and donate via www.remitly.com directly to Red Cross Philippines. We have pre-filled all their bank info etc for your convenience.

Udo 13y ago

Does anyone know if Batangas (more specifically: Nasugbu) was hit badly?

aangeles 13y ago
It wasn't hit badly
- Udo 13y ago
  Are you there right now?
  - aangeles 13y ago
    Im from neighboring provice of laguna and i think storm signal for batangas only reach signal no. 2
    - Udo 13y ago
      Laguna was signal #1, right? I hope everything is OK where you are. My brother and his family live in Nasugbu, I haven't been able to get in touch for a few days - but then again they might be traveling right now so nobody knows if they were even home.

gesman 13y ago

I donated a bit to: https://www.wfp.org/donate/typhoon https://www.wfp.org/donate/typhoon This thing needs lots of help now.

frakkingcylons 13y ago

The Boston Globe has a great series of photographs of the aftermath: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2013/11/typhoon_haiyan.html http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2013/11/typhoon_haiyan.html

pajop 13y ago

Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation is accepting donations via http://brickbybrick.pdrf.org/yolanda http://brickbybrick.pdrf.org/yolanda here's the rest of the info on how you can help: http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/issues/disasters/43300-reliefph-victims-typhoon-yolanda-help http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/issues/disasters/43300-relief...

clockwerx 13y ago

For those looking to help, if you know the area or are an experienced mapper, http://tasks.hotosm.org http://tasks.hotosm.org

lazylizard 13y ago

how about a humblebundle/indieroyale/indiegala/gog Haiyan bundle?

oakaz 13y ago

How can we help this disaster as software engineers? Any ideas?

DanBC 13y ago
Long term: Have a look at websites like this, and see if you can make them better. http://reliefweb.int/ http://reliefweb.int/ Better means lots of things, but "easier to use with very low or intermittent bandwidth"; "easier to use for an international audience" etc. Take the most important Wikipedia articles (where "importance" is about STEM education) and polish them into the very best they can be, with clear easy to understand text and nice examples and best diagrams. Translate these to different languages. (Whatever is used in areas that need them, so I guess Spanish, French, Portuguese, and whatever.) This might require a form from WP. Investigate charities that do good work. Donate to those charities. Good work means different things to different people, but probably includes "doesn't spend too much of its funds on luxury offices and big wages" and "makes a change, doesn't just continue cycles of deprivation". Research and promote low power computing. Most people have huge computers for what they actually do. Really, using social media, watching a few cat videos, and writing the occasional letter do not need gigabytes of RAM and 3 GHz quad core processors. Help with low resource Open Source projects. Never mind LXDE and XFCE, most people would be fine with JWM or IceWM. Moving people from 100 Watt desktop machines to 8 W arm (or similar) nettops would be useful for climate change. There's bound to be some interesting but difficult to access research work around distribution - distribution of money and resources within organisations and from those orgs to the places where they're needed. Stuff crossing boundaries is an opportunity for loss. Those boundaries include geographical borders but also include regulatory boundaries for organisations. Visualisations of the journey of a donated dollar through the bureaucracies to the final endpoint would be fascinating, and possibly enraging, for many people. Vote for people who don't do stupid things to developing nations. Be careful when donating hardware to charity recycling. Often anything usable is sold off, with the junk being sent to places like the e-waste dump in Agbogbloshie, Accra, Ghana. Here's a programme and a clip about that dump. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sch78 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sch78) (http://videobam.com/rcEUM http://videobam.com/rcEUM)
- 13y ago

frank_boyd 13y ago

And we all knew for a very long time now that this kind of disaster is due to climate change. And we all don't seem to care at all. At least not enough to changer our patterns of consumption.

kimonos 13y ago

I am from Negros Occidental, Philippines and we were spared from the destruction of Haiyan. But me and my family are continually praying for more help for the victims especially for those who lost their families. We are also thankful for people from other nations who extended their help. Filipinos will stand up and rise again! God bless us all!