The tropical cyclone, also known as Yolanda, whipped up some of the highest wind speeds ever recorded, with sustained winds near 200 mph and gusts up to 235 mph. Although these numbers may have diminished somewhat as it struck the eastern edge of the Visayas (the group of islands constituting the Philippines’ central region), it still hit with a fury that left the area reeling.

After the storm tore through the region then headed northwest toward Vietnam, the effects became visible: “Corpses hung from trees, were scattered on sidewalks or buried in flattened buildings—some of the 10,000 people believed killed in one Philippine city [Tacloban] alone by ferocious Typhoon Haiyan that washed away homes and buildings with powerful winds and giant waves” (The Associated Press).

Among the most severely affected areas is Leyte Island, site of legendary World War II battles between American and Japanese forces. A BBC correspondent reported from its largest city, Tacloban, home to 200,000: “People say this town was hit by a wall of water when the typhoon hit on…There is the stench of rotting corpses. Driving in from the airport, we saw scores of bodies lying by the roadside. For three days they have been there, with no one to bury them.

“People are desperate for food, clean water and shelter. At the badly battered airport, a makeshift hospital has been set up. We saw two young women giving birth, laid out among the debris.”

While options are limited in the face of a storm such as Haiyan, human decisions also had a bearing on the outcome. The Economist reported, “As Typhoon Haiyan approached, tens of thousands of people in its path followed the ordinary drill: leaving their homes and sheltering in public buildings regarded as being storm-proof. But tens of thousands more clearly failed to follow the drill. People tend to be reluctant to leave their homes or businesses in times of emergency, for fear of looters. Typhoons rarely hit the central and southern Philippines, and people there tend not to take storm warnings as seriously as do the storm-hardened peoples of northern Luzon island.”

The Telegraph quoted David Carden, head of the United Nation’s Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Manila, as saying, “This is every bit as bad as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.”

Those whose lives were spared in the flooding and destructive winds face a more prolonged battle for survival. As the winds and rain abated, the struggle for many in the Visayas had just begun.

Hunger and thirst were an immediate reminder that normal life had been severely disrupted. And though the average family income is perhaps only $3,000 per year, money becomes useless in the face of disaster.

With aid slowed by blocked roads and flattened airports, looting took hold. “‘We’ve been told it’s OK to take food,’ said one man who had just raided the supermarket at a Tacloban shopping mall. ‘It’s really difficult now. We have had death in the family from the storm so we must care for the living and do anything to survive’” (The Telegraph).

Millions of Filipinos were left homeless. Medical care was non-existent, and medicine unavailable. Children, the elderly, and the disabled were left especially vulnerable. One gut-wrenching television interview featured a middle-aged man who, with an expression somewhere between grief and numb resignation, confirmed through a Tagalog translator that he had lost his mother, his wife, and all four of his children.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III considered imposing martial law, but instead chose to declare a state of national calamity.

Comparing this devastating event to 2012’s Hurricane Sandy in the U.S. gives a sense of proportion. Haiyan was stronger than Sandy and 2005’s Hurricane Katrina combined. At one point, its clouds covered all 115,000 square miles of the Philippines, with the most destructive winds near the center of the swirling vortex. Whereas those (still devastating) American storms hit relatively small sections of a large nation with vast resources and a huge GDP, this typhoon slammed into the midsection of a small country largely dependent on foreign aid.

Of course, the most pressing need for the people of the Philippines now is basic sustenance. For many who lived in the direct path of the storm, the best-case scenario is dwelling in temporary housing such as tents for the foreseeable future; subsisting on food aid such as bulk grain and bottled water; and doing whatever one can to avoid the disease outbreaks that always follow large-scale natural disasters.

The paper stated: “The Philippines has suffered from an inexhaustible number of deadly typhoons, earthquakes, volcano eruptions and other natural disasters. This is due to its location along the Ring of Fire, or typhoon belt—a large Pacific Ocean region where many of Earth’s volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

“Annually, approximately 80 typhoons develop above tropical waters, of which 19 enter the Philippine region and six to nine make landfall, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC).

“The Philippines is in fact the country most exposed to tropical storms in the world. Violent tropical storms, such as the latest Haiyan typhoon, can generate 10 times as much energy as the Hiroshima atomic bomb.”

Haiyan is the latest in the “inexhaustible number” of problems. When the typhoon made landfall, the nation was still recovering from a mid-October 7.2-magnitude earthquake in Bohol province in central Philippines. After the temblor, 222 people were dead, 976 injured, and more than 330,000 displaced.

The UN agency reported: “Successive and simultaneous emergencies since August 2013 have stretched the resources of humanitarian responders.Additional funding is urgently needed for timely aid to reach the right people.”

All this before Haiyan had even formed in the Pacific.

Yet other manmade problems beset the nation, which have also added to hunger, homelessness and violent clashes.

The aftermath of Haiyan has also seen rebel attacks, this time from communists who ambushed an aid convoy destined for typhoon survivors in Tacloban.

With widespread poverty, ethnic rivalries, clan violence, and insurgent groups, 

Haiyan has only added fuel to the country’s persistent problems.

When tallying the numbers—10,000-plus dead and rising, millions homeless, entire villages wiped off the map—the human toll can be overwhelming.

An extended quote from the author drives this point home: “With 98 million people vying for space and resources, surviving is part of the daily struggle. However, with thousands dead and millions displaced from their homes, Typhoon Haiyan has left us more vulnerable than ever.”

 

MAP OF TYPHOON'S PATH: