Typhoon Haiyan Case Study Flashcards
Track of typhoon Haiyan
Hit the side of the Philippines travelling towards Vietnam, progressed close to Tacloban and travelled west, it began to turn north and hit the coast of Vietnam
Characteristics of the typhoon (4 points)
Strongest winds occurred at the point it hit the Philippines, winds reached 314 km/hr, struck on 8/11/2013 in NW Pacific Ocean
Primary effects
90% of Tacloban was destroyed, caused a 5m storm surge, over 6100 people were killed and 29 thousand injured, thousands of acres of farmland were destroyed mainly belonging to subsistence farmers
Secondary effects
Infection and disease spread due to contaminated waters, thousands were displaced and made homeless, bereaved families and many orphaned children left, survivors fought for food and supplies (8 killed), flooding caused landslides, education heavily disrupted and power cut off for months in some areas.
Environmental effect (oil)
The strong winds damaged an oil tanker that caused 800 thousand litres of oil to leak- contaminate fishing waters and destroying 10 hectares of mangroves.
Context of Philippines at the time
Philippines is a poor country and struggled to deal with the huge economic loss caused by the typhoon. Many poor families suffered greatly without support from the government.
Immediate response
The government televised a warning to civilians so they could evacuate and prepare. 800 thousand were evacuated and many found refuge in a stadium in Tacloban but it flooded. Medical supplies were provided by the government, a curfew put in place after 2 days of looting, 1200 evacuation centres for homeless and 1 million food packs distributed.
Long term response
A program launched that paid people to clean up debris in Tacloban, Oxfam replaced fishing boats, Build Back Better was the government’s response which aimed to build reinforced buildings and mangroves were replanted to absorb flooding from storm surges
