Tropical Storm: Typhoon Haiyan Flashcards
Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines in………………..
and was a category ………… storm on the……………… scale with ……mph winds sustained for at least ………
November 2013
category 5 storm
Saffir-Simpson scale
150mph winds for at least 1 minute
Typhoons need the following conditions to form:
- 27 degree C water
- depth of 70m at least
- a significant Coriolis effect (spin of the Earth) to generate winds
- for this reason they tend to form between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, so between 5-20 degrees North and South of the equator
explain how typhoons form:
- typhoons begin as storms
- a major cell of low pressure forms as winds are drawn in and the system begins to spin in an anti-clockwise way in a westward direction
- the winds rotate around the central eye, where cold air descends
- around the eye, warm, moisture-rich air rises and is picked up by the wind
- the storm gains energy as it passes over warm water, but dissipates on land as it loses its energy
what factors made Typhoon Haiyan so deadly:
as it hit landfall, the small islands of Leyte and Cebu were not large enough to dissipate the storm, and in the shallow sea around the islands, the storm was able to gain more energy and grow even stronger
give evidence for and against he debate whether Typhoon Haiyan was caused by climate change:
- since 1900, sea levels in the Philippines have risen by 30cm against the 19cm global average
- this is due to changing wind patterns
-detailed data from the USA/Caribbean is inconclusive on the link between hurricanes and global warming
evidence for this LIC being very prepared for the storm is:
-two days before the typhoon, PAGASA (Philippines Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration) issued a low level warning that was raised a day later, leading to the deployment of the military in areas predicted to be hard hit, evacuation and the preparation of relief agencies so that they have access to satellite data to better plan their response
the entire island of …………………. was evacuated (……………residents in all)
Tulang Diyot (1000 residents)
the initial death toll was estimated to be ………………. , but in reality this was:
10,000
actual: 6,021
total economic losses amounted to $………..
$13 billion
the immediate government response was……………
this was because :
slow
because resources were stretched due to an earthquake a month earlier which killed 5,000 people and Typhoon Bopha which killed 1,000
an estimated …..% of rural workers affected by typhoons are…………….
90%
small scale farmers
………………. families lost their food source
10,000
the Filipino government is locked in a ………….cycle in which ……% of its expenditure does to ………….
debt repayment cycle
20% of its expenditure goes to debt repayments
The UNOCHA is planning to introduce a ………………. which would allow better coordination between relief agencies through:
UNOCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs)
a Humanitarian Exchange Language, an open source software that allows relief agencies to share data because at present, they cannot due to incompatible systems
the short term, medium and long term responses were:
SHOT TERM:
-survivors had to help themselves, sometimes resorting to looting as government agencies were slow to access affected communities due to debris on roads
-maps of affected areas were updated, with 770,000 edits of the live map in the first 4 days of the event alone
MEDIUM TERM:
-100,000 remained in evacuation centres a month on and 4 million were displaced in temporary homes
-30,000 homes were being rebuilt
LONG TERM:
-a ‘build back safer’ campaign will take 3-4 years to complete
-the governemtn has issued ‘no build, no dwell’ zones with some opposition to locals who rely on coastal areas for their livelihoods (fishing mostly)
