A. Tropical Storms and Philippines

Question 1

Where are tropical storms called Hurricanes?

Answer 1

When they form over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (Americas)

Question 2

When are tropical storms called Cyclones?

Answer 2

When they form over the Indian Ocean and around Australia

Question 3

When are tropical storms called Typhoons?

Answer 3

When they form around Japan, East Asia and the Philippines

Question 4

Between which latitudes do tropical storms form?

Answer 4

5-30°N, 5-30°S

Question 5

What minimum temperature does an ocean have to reach to form tropical storms?

Answer 5

27°C

Question 6

In which direction do tropical storms rotate north of the Equator?

Answer 6

Anticlockwise

Question 7

In which direction do tropical storms rotate south of the Equator?

Answer 7

Clockwise

Question 8

What is the minimum wind speed required for a tropical storm to be considered a hurricane / cyclone / typhoon?

Answer 8

74 mph

Question 9

What are the primary hazards of a tropical storm?

Answer 9

• High wind speeds (minimum 74mph)
• Storm surge (typically 6 metres)
• High rainfall (average 9 trillon litres per storm)

Question 10

What are the secondary hazards of a tropical storm?

Answer 10

• High wind speeds lead to flying debris
• Heavy rain leads to river flooding and mass movement
• Storm surge can lead to contamination of water sources / soil with saltwater

Question 11

How many people were killed by the October 2012 Hurricane Sandy?

Answer 11

• 250 people killed in 7 countries - 111 in the USA alone
• Outbreak of cholera in Haiti killed over 40 people and infected over 5000 people

Question 12

What were the primary hazards of October 2012 Hurricane Sandy?

Answer 12

• Category 3 Hurricane = wind speeds up to 110 mph
• Storm surge up to 9 metres in Cuba
• Rainfall up to 260mm = flooding across areas affected

Question 13

What were the short-term social impacts of October 2012 Hurricane Sandy?

Answer 13

• Cholera outbreak in Haiti killed 40 people and infected over 5000 people
• Refugee camps in Haiti were flooded
• 10 million people in the USA were left without power

Question 14

What were the short-term environmental impacts of October 2012 Hurricane Sandy?

Answer 14

Key roads and streets were inundated with salt water, contaminating freshwater supplies and leaving roads flooded

Question 15

What were the short-term economic impacts of October 2012 Hurricane Sandy?

Answer 15

• Losses due to damage and closure of businesses totaled over $65 billion
• New York Stock Exchange was closed for two days

Question 16

What were the long-term social impacts of October 2012 Hurricane Sandy?

Answer 16

• Over 70 evacuation shelters were opened in NYC
• 100,000 homes on Long Island were damaged or destroyed

Question 17

What were the long-term environmental impacts of October 2012 Hurricane Sandy?

Answer 17

70-80% of crops in Haiti were washed away - food shortage
Government estimated that ~$24 million would be needed to replace food

Question 18

What were the long-term economic impacts of October 2012 Hurricane Sandy?

Answer 18

US cities such as Atlantic City struggled from lack of tourism and damage after hurricane - 15m piece of boardwalk washed away, many businesses could not reopen after the storm.

Question 19

How many people were killed in the November 2013 Typhoon Haiyan?

Answer 19

Over 6300 killed across the Philippines

Question 20

What were the primary hazards of the November 2013 Typhoon Haiyan?

Answer 20

• Category 5 typhoon = wind speeds up to 195 mph
• Storm surge up to 7.5m high (5m in Tacloban)
• Massively powerful floods

Question 21

What were the short-term social impacts of the November 2013 Typhoon Haiyan?

Answer 21

• Almost all fatalities in Tacloban city
• Powerlines and communications destroyed leaving millions without electricity

Question 22

What were the short-term economic impacts of the November 2013 Typhoon Haiyan?

Answer 22

• 90% of all buildings in Tacloban were destroyed by Typhoon
• Overall cost $12 billion

Question 23

What were the short-term environmental impacts of the November 2013 Typhoon Haiyan?

Answer 23

• Over 600,000 hectares of farmland affected
• Roads blocked by debris and falling trees made aid more difficult to distribute

Question 24

What were the long-term social impacts of the November 2013 Typhoon Haiyan?

Answer 24

• Rice prices rose by 11.9% after 2014 and there was fighting over food / supplies
• 5 million homes destroyed / made uninhabitable

Question 25

What were the long-term economic impacts of the November 2013 Typhoon Haiyan?

Answer 25

• 3/4 of farmers and fishermen left without income
• Key infrastructure destroyed leading to slower recovery

Question 26

What were the long-term environmental impacts of the November 2013 Typhoon Haiyan?

Answer 26

• Oil barge left stranded at Estancia leaked 800,000 litres of oil, contaminating the sea and mangroves 10km inland
• Destruction of 1.1 million tonnes of crops and $53 million worth of rice and seeds led to food shortage in the Phillippines

Question 27

How did prediction and warning increase preparedness for October 2012 Hurricane Sandy?

Answer 27

Satellite monitoring allowed the hurricane to be predicted a week before landfall in the USA - gave time to evacuate

Question 28

How did community evacuation increase preparedness for October 2012 Hurricane Sandy?

Answer 28

• More than a million people were evacuated - Red Cross sheltered over 11,000 people across 16 states
• Residents from barrier islands in New Jersey had to evacuate
• 70 evacuation shelters opened in NYC

Question 29

Why was Haiti’s response to the October 2012 Hurricane Sandy limited?

Answer 29

Haiti had already used much of its emergency supplies to recover from the August 2012 Hurricane Isaac, and was still recovering from the 2010 earthquake.

Question 30

How did governments / NGOs respond to the October 2012 Hurricane Sandy?

Answer 30

• The UN and World Food Programme pledged humanitarian aid to 500,000 people in Cuba
• US Senate approved an emergency relief package of $60 billion
• US House of Representatives approved an emergency package of $9 billion

A number of organisations contributed to relief effort:

• NBC = £23m,
• Disney ABC = $17 million,
• News Corporation = $1m

Guernsey donated £25,000 to ActionAid UK’s Haiti appeal

Question 31

How did NYC recover from the October 2012 Hurricane Sandy?

Answer 31

• 40,000 people in NYC had to be rehoused due to low temperatures following Hurricane Sandy- no electricity / heating.
• A $648 million housing recovery programme in NYC was established to help homeowners with the cost of repairs
• NYC committed more than $1 billion in response and recovery schemes - 14,000 insurance claims made
• NYC offered $20 million in loans/grants to businesses

Question 32

How was land use planning limited as a mitigation strategy in New Jersey?

Answer 32

Land use planning was difficult to implement because of New Jersey’s tourism industry - $40bn industry employing 500,000 people

New Jersey is also further North than the typical hurricane zone

Question 33

Which hazard resistant design building features were implemented as mitigation after Hurricane Sandy?

Answer 33

Hazard resistant design features:

• Elevated buildings
• Monolithic dome structures
• Strengthened windows / doors

Question 34

What were the key features of the response to the November 2013 Typhoon Haiyan?

Answer 34

• Huge fundraising appeal raised $799 million (not nearly enough to cover $8 billion in damages)
• Emergency response coordinated by UN and WHO
• Social media e.g. Google Person Finder used to locate family / friends
• International aid offered by US aircraft carrier George Washington

Question 35

How was the response to November 2013 Typhoon Haiyan limited?

Answer 35

• Damage to infrastructure such as Tacloban Airport made rescue difficult and distribution of aid challenging
• Only 20% of people who needed aid within the first 10 days recieved it

Question 36

How did a lack of security limit the response to the November 2013 Typhoon Haiyan?

Answer 36

• Residents of Tacloban still didn’t have clean water / sanitation 5 days after storm, leading to riots and looting - government criticised for slow response
• Security was so poor that aid agencies delayed going in with supplies - aid didn’t reach Tacloban until 7 days after typhoon
• Only 1/13 police reported for duty during the Typhoon - looting meant that many were reluctant to leave their homes

Question 37

What features defined the recovery from November 2013 Typhoon Haiyan?

Answer 37

• Grants given by Oxfam to help fishermen buy new boats
• Cash for work schemes used to rebuild city

Question 38

What was the ‘Build Back Better’ scheme, and how did it fail as a mitigation strategy?

Answer 38

‘Build Back Better’ is a scheme of rebuilding with storm protection and a 40m no-build zone along the coasts of the Philippines

Arguably not feasible due to Philippines’ low economic status - cities want to develop their coastlines!

Question 39

How was the infrastructre of the Philippines not prepared for November 2013 Typhoon Haiyan?

Answer 39

Not enough storm shelters were available:

• Only 500,000 were able to use them
• Provisions were basic and not well stocked with essentials

Question 40

How was the evacuation for the November 2013 Typhoon Haiyan not enough to prepare for the typhoon?

Answer 40

The path of the typhoon was monitored by satellite and warnings were given, however evacuation orders were not mandatory - many remained in their homes, afraid of looting.

Lives were saved when local officials such as the Mayor of Guiuan urged people to evacuate

Question 41

How many islands make up the Philippines?
And how much coastline?

Answer 41

The Philippines consists of over 7,000 islands with 36,000km of coastline

Question 42

Why are earthquakes and volcanoes prevalent in the Philippines?

Answer 42

Earthquake and volcanoes are prevalent in the Philippines as the country is located on a series of active fault lines due to a destructive plate boundary between the Philippine and Eurasian plate

Question 43

Why are typhoons and cyclones prevalent in the Philippines?

Answer 43

Typhoons and cyclones are prevalent as the Philippines is surrounded by several large bodies of warm water…

• the Philippine Sea
• the Pacific Ocean
• the Celebes Sea
• the South China Sea

… where they can form.

Question 44

Why do river floods occur frequently in the Philippines?

Answer 44

River floods occur frequently in the Phillipines due to the monsoons, created because the temperature of the surrounding oceans enables increased rates of evaporation.

• Annual rainfall is seasonal and ranges from 960mm - 4,000mm per year

These monsoons quickly overwhelm the Philippines rivers, aided by poor drainage systems and deforestation, leading to floods.

Question 45

Why do mass movements occur frequently in the Philippines?

Answer 45

Mass movements occur regularly in the Philippines as the country both has a very steep relief with mountainous terrain, and is located on active fault lines which make it prone to earthquakes.

Question 46

What is sustainable management?

Answer 46

Sustainable management is management of hazards that meets the needs of the present generation without sacrificing the ablility of future generations to meet their own needs.

Question 47

Which social factors make sustainable management in the Philippines more difficult?

(Human Factors)

Answer 47

• Population has grown from 19 million in 1950 to 103 million as of 2018. This pushes people into more vulnerable areas, resulting from more deaths due to a higher population in disaster-prone areas
• Rapid urbanisation has meant that more people live in informal housing, such as 11% of the population in Manila. This means that houses are more prone to collapse and create casualties
• Population distribution is largely coastal and therefore prone to hazards such as typhoons / storm surges

Question 48

How does deforestation make sustainable management in the Philippines more difficult?

(Human Factor)

Answer 48

Deforestation increases flood deaths - only 3% of original forest left!

Question 49

How do economic factors make sustainable management in the Philippines more difficult?

(Human Factors)

Answer 49

• The Philippines is an LIC with a GDP per capita of $2,951. This reduces the capacity to manage hazards due to a lack of finances e.g. to build hazardproof infrastructure, provide hazard education, mitigation disaster kits or respond to disaster quickly.
• The Filipino Government has little reserve capital - high disaster frequency means that the government always has to spend reserves to finance repairs for latest disaster
• Widespread corruption within the Filipino Government
• Lack of access to technology makes monitoring more difficult

Question 50

How many people were killed by the Pinatubo 1991 eruption?

Answer 50

• 847 people were killed by the eruption
• 300 were killed by roofs collapsing under the weight of ash

Question 51

How many people lost their homes during the 1991 Pinatubo eruption?

Answer 51

1 million people

Question 52

How was the 1991 Pinatubo eruption predicted?

Answer 52

3 months before the eruption, lots of SO2 and ash were emitted, and small earthquakes were created

• Seisometers and tilt meters were installed on the volcano and hazard maps were drawn out

Question 53

What mitigation strategies were implemented before the 1991 Pinatubo eruption?

Answer 53

People were evacuated from the area within 10km of the volcano

• This was increased 2 weeks before the eruption to within 20km of the volcano
• This was increased 2 days before the eruption to within 40km

Government provided evacuation camps for evacuees

Question 54

How successful was the management of Pinatubo 1991?

Answer 54

• Effective management and advanced forewarning responsible for saving about 5000 lives
• 20,000 people evacuated from within a 20km radius
• Cost of preparation only US$56 million = still high but far lower than potential damages
• High rate of casualties persisted - 847 killed - but far lower than expected

Question 55

How successful was the management of 2013 Typhoon Haiyan?

Answer 55

Ineffective preparation and poor security increased impacts of disaster:

• Not enough storm shelters were provided, and too few people were evacuated

Lives were saved when local officials such as the Mayor of Guiuan urged people to evacuate

Question 56

Through which scheme does the Philippines National Red Cross (PNRC) encourage community collaboration?

Answer 56

The Integrated Community Disaster Planning Programme

Question 57

Which 6 steps are included in the Philippines National Red Cross (PNRC) ‘s Intergrated Community Disaster Planning Programme?

Answer 57

• Partnership with municipial and provincial government units
• Formation and training of community disaster action teams
• Risk and resource mapping
• Community mitigation measures
• Training and education
• Sustainability

Question 58

Why is partnership with municipial and provincial government units important for the PNRC’s Intergrated Community Disaster Planning Programme?

Answer 58

Partnership with municipial and provincial government units creates preparedness through local planning.

It also allows the PNRC to gain technical and financial support for mitigation measures and ensure the project’s long-term sustainability.

Question 59

Why is the formation and training of community disaster action teams important for the PNRC’s Intergrated Community Disaster Planning Programme?

Answer 59

Community volunteers (the core of the programme) are trained in vulnerability and capacity assesments and disaster management to prepare a disaster action plan

Question 60

Why is risk and resource mapping important for the PNRC’s Intergrated Community Disaster Planning Programme?

Answer 60

This identifies the most important local hazards and which mitigation measures are possible

Question 61

Why are community mitigation measures important for the PNRC’s Intergrated Community Disaster Planning Programme?

Answer 61

Community mitigation measures are initiated by the community based on the disaster action plan, from physical structures (i.e sea walls) to health measures (clean water supplies) to planning tools (evacuation plans)

Question 62

Why is training and education important for the PNRC’s Intergrated Community Disaster Planning Programme?

Answer 62

This allows the training of disaster teams and dissemination of information to the whole community

Question 63

Why is sustainability important for the PNRC’s Intergrated Community Disaster Planning Programme?

Answer 63

Long-term impact of the scheme is only ensured by incorporating the recommendations of community disaster action plans into local government units (LGUs) and their land use planning / annual budgeting.

These LGUs have paid up to 75 per cent of the costs of these mitigation measures, as well as providing specialist equipment and technical design input.

Question 64

How large is the PNRC’s Intergrated Community Disaster Planning Programme?

Answer 64

The PNRC’s Intergrated Community Disaster Planning Programme covers 75 rural communities in 16 municipalities across 5 provinces

Question 65

What are the impacts of the PNRC’s Intergrated Community Disaster Planning Programme?

Answer 65

• From 1995 to 2000, the project directly benefitted 154,700 people.
• During 2000, a typhoon hit a project area on Limasa Island in Southern Leyte province. The community safely evacuated 300 people without injury or loss of life.
• Red Cross hazard mapping has helped to capture local knowledge of natural hazards and transfer this information to municipal planners for incorporation into land use planning.
• Construction of physical mitigation structures by community volunteers has created a sense of solidarity among people that, together, they can reduce vulnerability to disasters.