Typhoon Haiyan
On November 9 of 2013, Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines devastating
many people. The Typhoon moved across the Philippines with winds of 190 miles
per hour and walls of water as high as 20 feet wiped away everything in its path.
Seawater along with debris filled the islands of the Philippines. Where there were
homes, stores and buildings they were swept away by forceful waters of the
typhoon. On record, the latest typhoon was the worst in the Philippines and the
worlds strongest.
Typhoon Haiyan killed more than an estimation of 10,000 people. The people
killed are believed to have been swept away by the water or under mounds of trash
and debris. Villages were completely destroyed. More than 700,000 people were
evacuated from their homes and to higher ground. People were sent to evacuation
centers, schools, churches and more safely built buildings. Some civilians refused to
evacuate their homes because they didn’t feel that the storm would be as traumatic
as it proved to be. They thought that the ensuing storm would be similar to ones
that usually occur during the year.
People that survived the Typhoon described the sounds of the winds as
sounding louder than sirens. Because of warnings and weather forecasts the
government had people evacuate hours before the storm occurred which made a big
difference in the number of deaths. If you were to imagine Hurricane Katrina that
occurred in New Orleans in 2005 being three times worst than it was, then maybe
one can imagine the force of the typhoon in the Philippines.
After the storm swept through the Philippines on Friday November 9th and
10th it headed to Vietnam on Monday, but not making such a bad impact because it
had lost much of its force. The worst of the storm was on an island province of Leyte
in the Philippines. While in Vietnam they were preparing for the storm over the
weekend and had evacuated more than 600,000 people compared to the Philippines
they had more time to evacuate and where not affected as badly. In the Philippines
the aftermath of the storm has been great. There were many hungry people, families
with no homes, no medication and no clothes. Everything from small villages to
cities were destroyed. It was a tragic to see by television houses and clothes piled up
and such tragedy visited on any population.
The American Red Cross and other Aid organizations are trying to do their
best by helping those in need. The force of Typhoon Haiyan was an unusual
weather occurrence for the Philippines but some reporters are questioning whether
a better early warning system and a better plan for evacuation given the difficulty of
the terrain of the archipelago of the Philippines, couldn’t be vastly improved.
Although President Aquino III tried his best to alert the population to the storm,
some are questioning their safeguards. The existence of global warming which
might have caused such a forceful weather system is also being considered.