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Dramatic decadal increase in the number of storms in the Philippines. From 56 to 67 to 91! The rising impacts of climate change? Long-term planning needed as agencies respond! More at ow.ly -
Thin Lei Win, Thomson Reuters Foundation’s Southeast Asia correspondent, reports from the ground in Tacloban, capital of the Leyte province that was hardest hit by Typhoon Haiyan -
My goodness, it was a good decision; it’s fair to say it saved
Alfredo Arquillano, former mayor of San Francisco, Cebu Province, commenting on the decision to evacuate the entire island of Tulang Diyot ahead of Typhoon Haiyan.
everyone’s life. There is not one house left standing on the island, everything
was wiped out.
Following on from my previous post, here is a story about a community where intensive preparation for disasters paid off.
The prompt evacuation of 1,000 people from a tiny island that had all 500 houses destroyed by Haiyan saved the entire population, according to Arquillano, a long-time champion for disaster risk reduction.
He says residents of Tulang Diyot, an island off San Fransisco, should now be permanently relocated and helped to rebuild their livelihoods as fishermen and farmers somewhere safer.
San Francisco is recognised as a role model by the U.N.’s disaster risk reduction agency (UNISDR). Read the full interview here. -
These
people live in small and isolated communities. Their grasp of what a storm
surge means is limited.These are the words of World Vision communications officer Cecil Laguardia
We mentioned earlier this week that people were not prepared for the wall of seawater that crashed inland partly because they did not know the term “storm surge” - used in weather warnings ahead of Typhoon Haiyan - could mean a tsunami-like wave.
They expected strong winds and rain, not a massive tidal wave. Many survivors are now calling it “a tsunami”. This may not be correct, but it is a word they understand the implications of.A tsunami is generated by an undersea earthquake, whereas a storm surge is caused by extremely strong winds. If forecasters had used the phrase "tsunami-like", most people would have understood the gravity.
This article by Devex again spells out the need for very clear communication ahead of typhoons.
“I don’t think there was lack of information and update from the government, it’s just that down to the grassroots level, they don’t know what a storm surge really is,” said Oscar Lizardo, weather and disasters expert at the Philippine Department of Science and Technology.
No one expected the storm surge to be as dramatic as it was, but it seems likely that clearer warnings in everyday language could have saved lives. -
Carrying few possessions and clutching bottles of coveted water, thousands of survivors leave the devastated island of Leyte to reach Cebu, one week after super typhoon Haiyan ravaged the central Philippines
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Typhoon Haiyan may have damaged Tacloban’s infrastructure beyond recognition, but it strengthened the people’s will
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by MatEick via twitter 11/15/2013 9:33:58 AM -
Thomson Reuters Foundation hosted a live online debate with aid agencies on Thursday about challenges of relief efforts in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan. Here are some quotes from the discussion: www.trust.org
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What challenges does typhoon Haiyan pose for aid agencies? Find the answers from six aid agency experts: www.trust.org
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Some good reporting on #Ushahidi #Crisismapping - Remote Mappers Enable Relief to Reach Filipino Typhoon Victims j.mp/1hGraY7by TechChange via twitter 11/14/2013 3:09:21 PM -
A U.S. aircraft carrier "strike group" started unloading food and water to the typhoon-ravaged central Philippines on Thursday. The nuclear-powered USS George Washington aircraft carrier and four accompanying ships arrived off wind-swept eastern Samar province, carrying 5,000 crew and more than 80 aircraft, after what strike force commander Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery called a "high-speed transit" from Hong Kong.
"One of the best capabilities the strike group brings is our 21 helicopters," Montgomery said in a statement. "These helicopters represent a good deal of lift to move emergency supplies around."
Read more in Reuters latest update
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Looking forward to discussing GOAL's response to the situation in the Philippines today at 1200 -
Looking forward to our live online debate "Typhoon Haiyan - the aid challenge" today:
Join aid agencies working in the Philippines for an online debate hosted by Thomson Reuters Foundation’s AlertNet on Thursday Nov 14 at 1200 GMT (0700 EST, 2000 PHT) on the challenges of delivering aid to survivors of Typhoon Haiyan.
On the panel:
- Raul Rodriguez, head of disaster response at Plan International
- Joe Lowry, senior spokesman, International Organisation for Migration
- Patrick Fuller, Asia-Pacific spokesman for IFRC (Red Cross) in Asia-Pacific- Alan Glasgow, Haiyan response team leader, Goal- Kirsten Mildren, regional information officer Asia Pacific, UN OCHA
- Abigail Fabian, ChildFund International
Send your questions via Twitter #haiyanaid or go here to post a comment directly -
The humanitarian devastation in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines shows just how overstretched the global humanitarian community is, John Ging, director of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said Wednesday.
“One of the biggest constraints that we have is that we can’t fill the warehouses in anticipation of these disasters because we’re overstretched worldwide,” Ging told CNN’s Fred Pleitgen.
“There are children starving in the Sahel; you look at Syria every day,” he said. “We are chronically underfunded as a humanitarian community, and then when these natural disasters hit us suddenly, we don’t also have the logistical or the supplies to hand.” -
Typhoon Haiyan exposes fundamental constraints of humanitarian relief, U.N. official John Ging tells CNN t.co
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The inequality of #climate change: It will hit the world’s poorest people the hardest economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/12/the… @nyteconomix @nytimes #COP19by Oxfam America via twitter 11/13/2013 7:10:18 PM -
REUTERS PICTURE: Civilians displaced by Typhoon Haiyan board a U.S. Marine Corps KC-130 at Tacloban Air Base before being transported to Manila November 13, 2013. More than 30 countries have pledged aid, but distribution of relief goods has been hampered by impassable roads and rudderless towns that have lost leaders and emergency workers. REUTERS/Lance Cpl. Anne K. Henry/U.S. Marine Corps/Handout
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'The next two or three weeks are vital': how we're helping survivors of #Haiyan begin to rebuild their lives > bit.ly/1bDA5Cvby savechildrenuk via twitter 11/13/2013 7:03:24 PM -
Before and after satellite imagery from the Leyte province, Philippines #Haiyan , #YolandaPH link.reuters.com/wer64vby Reuters Graphics via twitter 11/13/2013 7:03:00 PM -
Join aid agencies working in the Philippines for an online debate hosted by Thomson Reuters Foundation’s AlertNet tomorrow, Thursday Nov 14 at 1200 GMT (0700 EST, 2000 PHT) on the challenges of delivering aid to survivors of Typhoon Haiyan. Send your questions via Twitter #haiyanaid or go directly to our liveblog to post a comment.
Our confirmed experts are:
• Raul Rodriguez, head of disaster response at Plan International
• Abigail Fabian, ChildFund International
• Joe Lowry, senior spokesman, International Organisation for Migration
Help promote it via Twitter with this suggested tweet:
Join live Q+A with aid agencies on Typhoon #Haiyan challenges.Thur Nov 14 at 1200 GMT.Send questions via #haiyanaid or ow.ly -
The following is a portion of a statement from Philippine President Benigno Aquino, released today on the official site of the Philippines government:
"In the aftermath of supertyphoon Haiyan (Yolanda) there are many reasons to grieve. Over the past few days, however, the Filipino people have seen many reasons to be grateful as well. Filipinos at home and abroad have, once more, come together to render aid and assistance to hard-hit areas.
The thought that the community of nations stands in solidarity with our nation has also greatly eased our burdens. On behalf of the Filipino people, I thank the governments and peoples of so many nations—28 as of last count—as well as the donor organizations, who have pledged or already provided assistance, whether technical, financial, or in kind, for the relief and rebuilding efforts that we are undertaking in Leyte, Samar, and other provinces devastated by Haiyan."
Click here to read the full statement. -
Thomson Reuters Foundation correspondent Thin Lei Win reports from #Tacloban , Philippines: Damage from #TyphoonHaiyan “worse than World War II” -town's mayor
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In just 24 hours, an appeal by Britain’s Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) to help survivors of the Philippines typhoon has raised £13 million ($20.7 million), the coalition of British charities said www.trust.org
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The advance party of the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) loads a C177 Globemaster bound for Hawaii at Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Ontario on November 11, 2013 as Canada awaits recommendations from the Interdepartmental Strategic Support Team (ISST) and Humanitarian Assistance Reconnaissance Team (HART) on how best to assist the people of the Philippines. Picture taken November 11, 2013. REUTERS/Levarre McDonald/8 Wing Imaging/Handout
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REUTERS VIDEO: Five days after a monster Typhoon ravaged the Philippines, aid is finally trickling in but desperate survivors struggle to find food and shelter. Mana Rabiee reports. -
For those looking to provide aid to Haiyan victims, The Daily Dot compiled a useful guide to the resources available through Google, Tumblr, Reddit and more. Click here to check it out.
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Good reporting on Haiyan from around the web:
The New Yorker: When Haiyan struck
The New York Times: Typhoon Haiyan's wrath, day by day
The Guardian: Eight die in food stampede amid desperate wait for aid
National Geographic: Five reasons the Philippines is so disaster prone -
From Reuters TV: Philippine security forces exchanged fire on Wednesday with armed men amid widespread looting of shops and warehouses for food, water and other supplies in the aftermath of super typhoon Haiyan, local television reported.
The firefight occurred in the village of Abucay, part of worst-hit Tacloban in Leyte province, said ANC Television. Military officials were unable to immediately confirm the fighting.
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A photo that illustrates why it is so hard to reach survivors: it shows the devastation near Roxas City on Panay Island, courtesy of ChildFund International. ChildFund is in Ormoc on Leyte Island and reports 90 percent devastation.
Erwin Galido, ChildFund’s emergency team leader, said: “There is loss of life and some looting. Food will run out here in three days. If aid doesn’t reach here very soon, people will become desperate and the situation will deteriorate.”
Read more www.trust.org -
by NBC Nightly News via twitter 11/12/2013 9:41:35 PM -
Haiti, Philippines hardest hit by weather extremes in 2012: study
Haiti, the Philippines and Pakistan were hardest hit by weather disasters in 2012, a report issued at U.N. climate talks on Tuesday showed, as the death toll mounted from the latest typhoon to devastate the Philippines.
Germanwatch, a think-tank partly funded by the German government, said poor nations had suffered most from extreme weather in the past two decades, and worldwide, extreme weather had killed 530,000 people and caused damage of more than $2.5 trillion.
"The unfolding human tragedy caused by super typhoon Haiyan will only be captured in future reports," said Soenke Kreft, a co-author of the report issued on the sidelines of November 11-22 talks among almost 200 nations trying to reach a deal by 2015 to slow global warming.
Click here to continue reading at Reuters. -
REUTERS PICTURE: Operation USA warehouse manager Bruce Brinker walks through a warehouse filled with relief shipment boxes to be sent to the Philippines for victims of Typhoon Haiyan, from Wilmington, California November 12, 2013. The death toll from Typhoon Haiyan's rampage through the Philippines is closer to 2,000 or 2,500 than the 10,000 previously estimated, President Benigno Aquino said on Tuesday as U.S. and British warships headed toward his nation to help with relief efforts. REUTERS/Jonathan Alcorn
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Opinion: The global poor bear the deadly brunt of climate change [The Nation]
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REUTERS PICTURE: Children help to carry pails of drinking water as they walk past a graffiti calling for help after Typhoon Haiyan devastated Tacloban city, central Philippines November 12, 2013. Rescue workers tried to reach towns and villages in the central Philippines on Tuesday that were cut off by the powerful typhoon, fearing the estimated death toll of 10,000 could jump sharply, as relief efforts intensified with the help of U.S. military. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco
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Millions of families have had their lives torn apart by Typhoon Haiyan. They have lost
everything and desperately need help now," said UN Under-Secretary-General
for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos."I am concerned that there are thousands of people who need help that we have not
been able to reach. The scale of the destruction is shocking. We must make
every effort to reach people."Amos arrived in the Philippines today and will travel to Tacloban tomorrow, a UN statement said. -
Disaster and poverty: the case of Haiyan
As relief efforts continue in the central Philippines, some are questioning the extent to which poverty played a role in typhoon Haiyan’s widespread destruction.
It’s an issue that Margareta Wahlström, the head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, addressed in a written statement in a UN press release today:There is an urgent need to revisit the links between disasters and poverty. It is clear that education, early warnings, urban planning and building codes are key issues for renewed consideration in a world where all bets are off in terms of disaster impacts. Typhoon Haiyan is a major setback for those of us who thought that the world was becoming more successful in reducing loss of life from major weather events.
Wahlström's comment echoes an interesting piece of analysis yesterday from Washington Post foreign affairs blogger Max Fisher:One of clearest explanations for the Philippines' unpreparedness may, sadly, also be one of the most difficult to address: its poverty. The country is ranked 165th in the world by GDP per capita, just below the Republic of Congo. One result is that many homes are modestly constructed of light materials like wood.
For more reading on this topic, also check out Guardian Assistant Editor Simon Tisdall's report. -
The latest from Reuters: President Aquino said in an interview on Tuesday that the death toll from the Philippines typhoon closer to 2,000 or 2,500, not 10,000 people.
Aquino added that there was possible "emotional drama involved" in earlier estimate of 10,000 deaths, and that the Philippine government still has to contact about 29 municipalities to get death toll numbers. -
Could China's meagre aid to the Philippines dent its image? China's government has promised $100,000 in aid to Manila, along with another $100,000 through the Chinese Red Cross - far less than pledged by other economic heavyweights.
The United States is providing $20 million and sending an aircraft carrier with about 5,000 sailors and more than 80 aircraft. Japan has offered $10 million and is sending an emergency relief team, while Australia has donated $9.6 million. China is a growing investor in Southeast Asia, where it is vying with the United States and Japan for influence. But its assertiveness in pressing its claim to the disputed South China Sea has strained ties with the Philippines.
"The Chinese leadership has missed an opportunity to show its magnanimity," says Joseph Cheng, a political science professor at the City University of Hong Kong who focuses on China's ties with Southeast Asia. "While still offering aid to the typhoon victims, it certainly reflects the unsatisfactory state of relations (with Manila)."
Even China's state-run Global Times newspaper, known for its nationalistic editorial views, expressed concern. "China, as a responsible power, should participate in relief operations to assist a disaster-stricken neighbouring country, no matter whether it's friendly or not," the paper said in a commentary. "China's international image is of vital importance to its interests. If it snubs Manila this time, China will suffer great losses."
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said China would consider more aid as the situation developed, but did not say why Beijing had offered less than other countries. -
At U.N. climate talks in Warsaw, Kelly Dent, Oxfam’s climate change spokesperson, comments on how the Philippines typhooon should spur negotiators and their governments into action:
“Oxfam and other agencies are right now working hard to get aid such as clean water and sanitation to communities in the Philippines that have been devastated by the typhoon.
“Governments are also providing much needed assistance to the relief efforts but this does not absolve them from their responsibilities to work just as urgently here at the Climate Change talks in Warsaw to take appropriate action.
“They must agree an international mechanism on loss and damage which addresses the impacts of climate change such as loss of life or nations. Rich countries must also spell out how they plan to deliver the promised $100 billion a year by 2020 for climate finance and right here, right now commit money to help poor countries cope with the impacts of climate change.
“It is totally unacceptable for governments to ignore this tragic wake-up call - without such urgency and concrete action to drive down emissions and provide climate finance more countries like the Philippines will face the devastating consequences of extreme weather events in the years to come." -
This Reuters graphic maps major storms that have passed through the Philippines since 2010. The red line shows Haiyan's path.
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Representative Eliot Engel, ranking minority member and senior Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the following statement today on Haiyan's destruction in the Philippines:
I offer my deepest condolences to the people of the Philippines who are struggling with the devastating aftermath of typhoon Haiyan. The Philippines has been one of our closest allies and the U.S. stands ready to assist President Aquino and the people of the Philippines with humanitarian relief efforts. Our thoughts and prayers go out to loved ones who were lost or are suffering from this horrific storm.
Source: Committee on Foreign Affairs - Democrats -
Latest images by Oxfam's staff in the Philippines, documenting devastation caused by typhoon #Haiyan . bit.ly/1aR3dcPby Oxfam GB via twitter 11/12/2013 3:05:45 PM -
REUTERS PICTURE: The Maceda family talks about their loss in their makeshift home at Tacloban City Convention Center, which has become a homeless shelter after the Super typhoon Haiyan battered Tacloban city in central Philippines November 12, 2013. Two children from the Maceda family aged 12 and eight had perished. Philippine officials have been overwhelmed by Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest on record, which tore through the central Philippines on Friday and flattened Tacloban, coastal capital of Leyte province where officials fear 10,000 people died, many drowning in a tsunami-like wall of seawater. REUTERS/Edgar Su
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Head's up: UNICEF's Director of Emergencies will begin a Reddit "AMA" question-and-answer session momentarily (at 10 AM, EST). Click here to join.
As tensions over aid rise, Venezuelan troops fire on villagers, kill two
KUMARAKAPAY, Venezuela/CUCUTA, Colombia Venezuelan soldiers opened fire on indigenous people near the border with Brazil on Friday, killing two, as President Nicolas Maduro sought to block U.S.-backed efforts to bring aid into his economically devastated nation. | Video