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Remembering Yolanda | November 8, 2013

TYPHOON HAIYAN: A YEAR AFTER

It came and went like scenes in a post-apocalyptic movie.

Damaged infrastructures. Destroyed homes. Roads and bridges impassable. Barangays inundated with water. No food to eat. No water to drink. No electricity to light the way in search of the missing ones. No medicine to counter the sickness setting in. No way of communicating to call for rescue. Looting became the answer to the survivors left in its wake.

A year has gone since the world has born witness to the devastation typhoon Haiyan had wrought as it laid untold number of lives in the Philippines. Locally known as bagyong Yolanda, it was the 23rd tropical cyclone to enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) dating November 6-9, 2013

Government record casualties reaching up to more than 6,000 identified dead and a thousand more missing even as a year has passed as Haiyan plowed through the islands in central Visayas, affecting 44 provinces out of the country’s 81.

With record breaking winds, this has been cited as one of the deadliest and most historic cyclones in history, directly hitting Tacloban City with its full intensity, bringing enormous devastation to lands and lives in the country.

TYPHOON VS HURRICANE

Before you get yourself confused, let’s set things straight by defining the terms ‘typhoon’, ‘hurricane’, and ‘cyclone’.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), these words are all the same weather phenomenon, just different names used depending on where they occur:

Weather Phenomenon

This weather disturbance is associated with heavy rains, strong winds, possible flooding and landslides as well as storm surges along coastal areas.

IN WORLD HISTORY

Countless articles online have consistently detailed the destruction Haiyan left, describing it one of the strongest cyclones in world history.

According to Jeff Masters, Director of Meteorology at Weather Underground, Haiyan may be the strongest tropical cyclone to make landfall, however, in terms of wind speed, it unofficially ranks as the fourth strongest tropical cyclone recorded.

tYPHOON Haiyan

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) estimates Haiyan’s maximum sustained winds at 315 kph and gustiness of up to 378 kph – an equivalent of a category 5 hurricane.

Experts say it is very rare for a tropical cyclone to cross over a landmass at its peak intensity. Haiyan did just that, making it the most powerful typhoon to hit land in history.

PAGASA actual vs forecast track image
PAGASA actual vs forecast track image

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) has closely monitored the movement of typhoon Yolanda resulting to accurate prediction of its track. Bulletins, advisories, and various updates through SMS, and social media platforms has been implemented by the weather bureau even before it threatened the country.

Regardless of the measures taken by the government to lessen the damage, the Philippines had not been anywhere close to being prepared for what actually Haiyan brought.

A DEADLY STORM SURGE

Yolanda, bringing a deluge of torrential rains, gusty winds and a 7-foot storm surge, left entire towns in ruin, drowning thousands of Filipinos in Tacloban City which caught the full force of the typhoon.

Source: PAGASA
Source: PAGASA

2013 Articles and Artworks
Yolanda’s Landfall- Island Facts

A storm surge is defined as an abnormal rise of sea water brought about by a severe storm or a typhoon with strong winds. In an archipelagic country like the Philippines, majority of the population live on coastal areas making them prone to storm surges which has the ability engulf low lying communities and bring massive destruction to lands and lives.

Much of the city and nearby settlements are low lying, sitting less than 16 feet above sea level that when Yolanda passes, it generated a storm surge in its wake, washing away barangays and leaving towns in shambles.

Infrastructures near the coast line were leveled by the storm surge. Homes were completely destroyed. Neighborhoods inundated with water. That when Haiyan left, and the surge has passed, it resulted to a grim scene of dead bodies in the water, in the streets forever caught on tape, in photos and in our memories.

A TIMELINE: FROM MICRONESIA TO CHINA

Going down history as one of the most catastrophic typhoons in the world, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) records show Haiyan had a lifetime of 174 hours or roughly 7.250 days.

[insert typhoon Haiyan track from Micronesia to China]

NOV 2 – JTWC begins to monitor a low pressure area (LPA) east of one of the states in Micronesia.

NOV 3 – JMA classifies the low into a tropical depression.

NOV4 – the name ‘Haiyan’ was assigned as it further intensified into tropical storm category.

NOV 5 – Haiyan, achieving typhoon status, forms an eye.

NOV 6 – JTWC estimates Haiyan into super typhoon status or equivalent to Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
– It passed over the island of Kayangel in Palau.
– PAGASA gives local name of ‘Yolanda’ as it approaches the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR)

NOV 7 – Yolanda enters PAR, prompting PAGASA to issue public storm warning signal #4 in the country on the path of the typhoon.

NOV 8 – Yolanda makes landfall, battering provinces in central Visayas
(Insert infogfx of landfall points)

NOV 9 – Yolanda exits PAR through the West Philippine Sea heading towards Vietnam and southern China.
– Haiyan gradually weakens as cool air joins the circulation.

NOV 10. – Crossing over the Gulf of Tonkin, Haiyan further weakens due to interaction with Hainan Island and Vietnam.
– Haiyan made landfall in Haiphong as a severe tropical storm.

NOV 11. – Haiyan dissipates as it moved Guangxi province in China.

THE WORLD UNITES

The world has monitored – on TV, on the radio, on the internet – as Haiyan lived its course from Micronesia to China. Though we had been warned of its possible impact, it had not been enough to minimize the damages it might have wrought.

It had been a difficult situation to start the rescue and relief operations towards those in the path of the typhoon especially in the remote communities isolated by debris and circumstances.

Appealing to the international community for assistance, the Philippines receive an influx of foreign assistance and aid coming from different countries, organizations and people of goodwill around the world reaching out to the Filipinos.