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What are hurricanes, typhoons and tropical cyclones?

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Satellite Images - before and after the storm

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Satellite Images - before and after the storm

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Coastal towns across the central Philippines have been left devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, which brought gusts of wind of up to 275 km/h (170 mph) and waves as high as 15m (45ft).

Satellite and aerial images of before and after the storm show the extent of the damage in the country's low-lying areas, such as Tacloban on Leyte Island and Guiuan, in Eastern Samar province.

Satellite image slideshow

Tacloban and surrounding area in detail

Four days after Typhoon Haiyan hit, survivors in the devastated city of Tacloban are still desperate for help. The city's airport - a key regional transport hub - has been severely damaged, meaning the arrival of planes carrying aid had been delayed.

The city's airport buildings were smashed, trees uprooted and vehicles overturned by vicious winds. However, a limited number of planes are now landing, bringing much-needed supplies.

In Tacloban itself, the largest city on Leyte Island, thousands of people are thought to have died. Survivors have been sifting through the wreckage of their homes in a desperate hunt for provisions and belongings.

Anibong town near Tacloban city

Further along the coast from Tacloban, cargo ships ploughed into the coastline at Anibong town. The UN says people are now desperate for help.

Guiuan town and coastal areas

Guiuan was among the first areas hit by the typhoon. Many of the area's buildings have been reduced to piles of debris and locals say much of the town has been destroyed. Some aid has begun to arrive, with residents of Victory Island, off Guiuan, receiving food supplies from a military helicopter.

However, large-scale assistance has yet to reach Guiuan, a town of 40,000 people. Residents have been forced to scavenge for the food, water and medicine they need.

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Typhoon Haiyan: Before and after the storm

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Coastal towns across the central Philippines have been left devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, which brought gusts of wind of up to 275 km/h (170 mph) and waves as high as 15m (45ft). Satellite and aerial images of before and after the storm show the extent of the damage in the country's low-lying areas, such as Tacloban on Leyte Island and Guiuan, in Eastern Samar province.

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Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated the Philippines in November, is one of the strongest storms ever recorded at landfall. So how did this typhoon come about?

Tropical storms (hurricanes, cyclones or typhoons, depending which part of the world you're in) can only occur when conditions are just right. These are the ingredients of a typhoon:

1. Warm ocean water (at least 27C to a depth of 50m)
2. At least 5 degrees/ 500km away from the equator where Corioli's force is strong enough to cause rotation (hurricanes rotate ACW in the northern hemisphere and CW in the south)
3. An unstable/steep lapse rate (the change in temperature with height) to encourage convection
4. Low vertical wind shear (the change in wind speed with height), which could prevent convection and disrupt the structure of the storm
5. High humidity in the mid-troposphere (about 5km up)
6. A tropical/easterly wave/disturbance (an area of low pressure with clouds and thunderstorms, around 100 develop every year but only 10 meet the right conditions to turn into a hurricane).

Even when all these conditions are met, a hurricane may still not develop. However, if it does, this is what happens:

But why was Typhoon Haiyan so devastating, what made it one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded?

Well, to start with a single hurricane vary in size and intensity, when they reach land they are often not at their greatest strength (Katrina reached Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale when she passed over the Gulf of Mexico but had fallen to a 3/4 by the time she reached Louisiana). Also, when they reach land and move away from their fuel source of warm water they quickly lose some of their strength.

However, you can see from the image below, it just so happened that when Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines it had reached it's peak intensity: a Category 5 with sustained wind speeds up to 200mph. Haiyan was able to reach this intensity because she formed over a wide expanse of open ocean with perfect hurricane conditions; one is that there was very little wind shear in the area to disrupt the convectional air flows and rotating winds.

The typhoon also had a plentiful supply of warm water, not just within the first 50m, but unusually (some have linked this to anthropogenically influenced climate change) the ocean was warm enough for hurricane formation down to a depth of 100m! Once the storm whipped up the top layer of water there was still a plentiful supply of heat below giving the typhoon more and more energy. Check out the map below:

Not only had this typhoon reached it's full strength when it hit the Leyte and Samar provinces of the Philippines but it brought a huge storm surge with it, which was magnified by a deadly combination of wind direction and coastal topography. Along most of the eastern side of the Philippines the ocean is very deep, making storm surges unlikely as waves need progressively shallow water to build any height. However, the orientation of Haiyan as she hit land meant that north-westerly winds drove the storm surge into San Pedro Bay which, although mostly deep water, becomes much shallower and also narrower to the north. The bay acted liked a giant funnel, causing the tsunami-like surge to reach 5 metres in height.

So far, the death toll is estimated to be over 5000, 600 000 are homeless, while the economic costs to the Philippines range from $5-14 billion. The super-strength and huge size of this storm (estimates of her diameter range from 6-800km) and the devastating surge it brought with it were bound to have a severe and lasting impact. But maybe if the archipelago has been better prepared the damage and loss of life could have been mitigated to some extent. Although some preparations were made (e.g. the evacuation of 1 million people and government announcements telling people to prepare), it was no where near enough. Firstly no one was expecting the storm surge so, for example in Tacloban several thousand people took shelter in a big indoor 'stormproof' stadium. Sure enough, the roof stayed on, but people were killed by the storm surge which flooded through the bottom.

The typhoon also hit one of the poorest regions of the Philippines, where people lived in flimsy make-shift shanty-towns and even properly built structures do not conform to an sort of typhoon proof regulations as they surely should do, being in a high risk area. Low levels of education and a corresponding lack of appropriate language grading by the authorities also meant that despite being warned about an impending storm surge many residents did not realise what this meant so failed to take even simple potentially life saving measures such as going upstairs in the stadium instead of staying on the ground floor until it was too late. On top of all this, the Philippines has a very high population density, over 300 people per square km, compared to around 250 in the UK, putting a huge number of people at risk.

In conclusion, a combination of physical and human factors, summarised below, made Haiyan one of the worst natural disasters we've seen in a long time.

Open ocean with no land masses

Very little wind shear

Very warm water down to 100m

Made landfall at full strength

Funnelling effect in San Pedro Bay

Lack of preparation

High population density

Lets just hope that some lessons are learned for next time. In the mean time, please donate generously to help the survivors. You can do so here.

Finally, check out this page which has some great maps explaining the path and impact of the typhoon as well as some before and after satellite photos:

References
http://www.theweatherprediction.com/tropical/
http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/A15.html
http://agora.ex.nii.ac.jp/digital-typhoon/help/world.html.en#id2
http://www.theweatherprediction.com/tropical/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Haiyan_2013_track.png
http://archives.starbulletin.com/2002/05/19/news/index2.html
http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/11/11/why-was-typhoon-haiyanyolanda-so-powerful-and-is-this-a-trend/
http://www.livescience.com/41025-typhoon-haiyan-most-intense-storm.html
http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21589916-one-strongest-storms-ever-recorded-has-devastated-parts-philippines-and-relief
http://www.dutchwatersector.com/news-events/news/8391-typhoon-haiyan-pushed-devastating-5-m-high-storm-surge-into-tacloban-city-philippines.html
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/11/22/philippines-typhoon-lessons-learned/3664883/
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21589883-responding-disaster-essential-so-preparing-next-stress-test

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What made Typhoon Haiyan so Devastating?

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Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated the Philippines in November, is one of the strongest storms ever recorded at landfall. So how did this typhoon come about? Tropical storms (hurricanes, cyclones or typhoons, depending which part of the world you're in) can only occur when conditions are just right.

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International governments and aid agencies are stepping up efforts to deliver urgent supplies to millions of people in the Philippines, amid criticism of the operation so far.

More than 11 million people have been affected, around 10% of the population, the UN reports.

In some towns and cities, the UN says that as much as 90% of housing has been destroyed.

The UN has issued an appeal for $300m (£190m), and has released $25 million in emergency funds to provide immediate assistance.

As of Thursday the confirmed death toll stands at 2,357, with 3,853 injured, according to the Philippines National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. (NDRRMC).
Slow process
Damage to roads and infrastructure has hindered the distribution of aid, although US, Singaporean and Japanese military C-130 transport aircraft are now landing at Tacloban, one of the worst affected towns.

Two senior UN officials visited Tacloban on Wednesday and identified an urgent need for transport, emergency shelter material, hygiene kits, body bags and the establishment of family tracing service.

A lack of trucks and fuel shortage is severely hampering the response, the UN says, with people from remote areas forced to walk several kilometres to reach aid distribution points.

In Tacloban, bodies remain unrecovered on the streets, the UN reports.

There have also been accounts of people digging up underground pipes in a desperate search for drinking water.

Around 25 humanitarian organisations are operating in and around Tacloban, including international response teams, NGOs, the Red Cross and other UN teams.

French-Belgian and Israeli field hospitals have been set up.

The Philippines Red Cross is delivering basic food aid, which includes rice, canned goods, sugar, salt, cooking oil.

The Philippines Red Cross "Survival Tips"

If your house was destroyed, make sure that it is already safe and stable when you enter

Beware of dangerous animals such as snakes that may have entered your house

Watch out for live wires or outlet immersed in water.

Report damaged electrical cables and fallen electric posts to the authorities.

Do not let water accumulate in tyres, cans or pots to avoid creating a favourable condition for mosquito breeding.

Water and sewerage systems have been destroyed in many areas, and the UN has identified an urgent need for mobile water treatment units, generators and emergency latrines.

Although all regional airports have now reopened, Tacloban remains closed to civilian flights, the NDRRMC reports.

The Philippines Government has established additional aid distribution points in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, and Ormoc City, Leyte.

International effort

The US aircraft carrier George Washington and its escort ships have arrived off the Philippines coast.

Aid at a glance

Asian Development Bank: $500m emergency loans and $23m in grants

Australia: A$30m ($28m) package, including medical staff, shelter materials, water containers and hygiene kits

China: 10m yuan ($1.6m; £1m) in relief goods plus $200,000 (£120,000) from government and Red Cross

European Commission: $11m

Indonesia: Logistical aid including aircraft, food, generators and medicine

Israel: 148-person team, including search, rescue and medical services; field hospital with 100 tonnes of aid

Japan: $10m, including tents and blankets. Pledged up to 1,000 soldiers, 25-person medical team already sent

South Korea: $5m plus a 40-strong medical team

UAE: $10m in humanitarian aid

US: $20m in humanitarian aid, 90 marines, aircraft carrier plus logistics support

UK: $16m (£10m) package including emergency shelter, water and household items

Donate to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC)
In pictures: Aid ramps up Typhoon Haiyan: Aid in numbers Q&A: Haiyan disaster management
The carrier's fleet of helicopters is desperately needed to expand search and rescue operations, and deliver aid to inaccessible areas.

A hospital ship, USNS Mercy, has also been activated and could reach the Philippines in December.

Britain has despatched the helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious from the Gulf.

It is expected to arrive in 10 days time and will relieve the destroyer HMS Daring, itself en route and due to arrive on Saturday.

The British government has also sent 8,836 shelter kits from Dubai on a chartered aircraft, which landed at the main aid distribution hub in Cebu on Wednesday.

Each kit consists of plastic sheeting and rope to provide temporary shelter for a family of five.

Several more UK-funded aid flights are expected to arrive in the next few days.

Japan is preparing to send up to 1,000 troops as well as naval vessels and aircraft.

Double blow

When the typhoon struck, the region was still reeling from the Bohol earthquake in October. More than 17,300 people were already receiving food aid from the World Food Programme as a result of the quake.

British charity ShelterBox, which provides emergency shelter and non-food supplies for families affected by disasters, was already in the region working with affected families.

ShelterBox provides families with a plastic box which contains a variety of items.

What's in a ShelterBox box?

ShelterBox volunteer Mark Dyer weathered the storm on Bohol Island.

"When we knew the typhoon was coming, we advised people to lower the tents before the storm. So we are now going back to help people put these tents back up, so they will at least have places to live for the next few weeks."

As well as a tent - designed to withstand extremes of wind, rain and cold - ShelterBox boxes include water purification equipment, blankets, cooking implements and solar-powered lighting and activity packs for children.

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International governments and aid agencies are stepping up efforts to deliver urgent supplies to millions of people in the Philippines, amid criticism of the operation so far. More than 11 million people have been affected, around 10% of the population, the UN reports.

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The Philippines consists of a group of islands in the South China Sea. The country regularly suffers from large typhoons that move in from the south west every year during the tropical storm season. This case study is about Typhoon Haiyan, which is unofficially the fourth most intense tropical cyclone ever observed.

Facts about the Philippines & UK (from CIA Fact book 2014)

The Philippines sits in an area of seasonally warm ocean water (sea temperatures over 27°C) and has enough Coriolis Force to create rotating winds over the ocean's surface.
Sea-level rise is happening globally but is particularly affecting the Philippines. It is caused by global warming and has gone up by about 20cm since 1900. These sea level rises create larger storm surges.
Use of groundwater has caused parts of the country to sink.
The worst affected city, Tacloban, is at the end of a bay that funnelled water from the storm surge.

NASA image of Typhoon Haiyan
By NASA, LAADS Web

Timeline of development;
* 2nd November 2013 - Typhoon Haiyan starts as an area of low pressure several hundred kilometers east-southeast of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia.
* 3rd November - moves west and develops into a tropical depression
* 4th November - Haiyan becomes a tropical storm
* 5th November - the system began a period of rapid intensification that brought it to typhoon intensity.
* 7th November - Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in Guiuan, Eastern Samar
* 10th to 11th of November - Haiyan reaches Vietnam and weakens in intensity
Impacts
Quick facts according to the Disasters and Emergency Committee of the UK
* Typhoon Haiyan - known locally as Yolanda - hit eastern Samar Island at 8.40pm GMT on 7 November 2013 (4.40am 8th November local time).
* It caused a storm surge - a wall of water - that was 25 feet high in some areas, including in the town of Tacloban.
* Over 14 million people were affected across 46 provinces.
* The city of Tacloban, home to more than 220,000 people, suffered more loss of life than any other area of the Philippines.
* Five million people saw their homes severely damaged or destroyed (550,000 houses destroyed and an additional 580,000 houses were severely damaged).

Devastation in Tacloban
By Trocaire from Ireland (DSC_0749)

Typhoon Haiyan is one of the most devastating storms of recent history. It killed approximately 7400 people (6,340 confirmed, 1,061 missing) and affected 9 million people. Immediately after the storm the Philippines faced a humanitarian crisis after the Visayas Islands in the central part of the country had 1.9 million homeless and more than 6,000,000 displaced.
The economy was affected, with estimated losses at $2.9billion with much of this in agriculture. The major rice and sugar producing areas for the Philippines were destroyed. A total of 131,611 tons of rice was lost (Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)), together with much of the coconut crop which is nearly half the Philippines agricultural exports (the country is the world's biggest producer of coconut oil). 5.9 million Workers lost income sources according to USAID. Tacloban airport terminal building was also completely destroyed by a 5m storm surge.
The United Nations feared the possibility of the spread of disease is high due to the lack of food, water, shelter, and medication. In addition, casualties were reported as a result of the lack of aid in affected areas. Socially people were affected; they became refugees in lass affected areas and migrated there. Also, fishing communities were affected with the storm destroying boats and associated equipment.
The natural environment was also affected, with loss of forests, trees and widespread flooding. Local ecosystems were also affected by sewage leaking from overwhelmed sewage systems and oil leaks. A lack of sanitation in days following the event also leads to a higher level of pollution.

Management & responses
The government was criticised for its slow response to this event. However, the Philippines formally declared "A State of National Calamity" and asked for international help; one day after the Haiyan hit the country. A week after the typhoon had struck President Benigno Aquino was under growing pressure to speed up the distribution of networks or food, water and medicine to desperate survivors and to get paralysed local governments functioning. However, the storm damaged infrastructure making response difficult. For example, the Tacloban city government was decimated, with just 70 workers in the immediate days after the disaster compared to 2,500 normally. Many were killed, injured, lost family or were simply too traumatised to work.

By December, water tanks had been installed by charities like Oxfam but not in all areas.
6 Months later, many people still had limited access to shelter and water. NGOs like the International Red cross were trying to provide adequate settlements, fresh water access and access to jobs/livelihood.
The Philippines authorities have invested in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA). They spent $624m on this in 2011 - two per cent of the national budget and 0.28 per cent of GDP - while at least five per cent of a local authority's revenue is set aside for its Local Disaster Risk Reduction Management Fund

NEXT TOPIC - UK Weather hazards

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The Philippines consists of a group of islands in the South China Sea. The country regularly suffers from large typhoons that move in from the south west every year during the tropical storm season. This case study is about Typhoon Haiyan, which is unofficially the fourth most intense tropical cyclone ever observed.

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The strongest tropical storms are called hurricanes , or tropical cyclones . The different names all mean the same thing, but are used in different parts of the world. If these huge storms start in the Atlantic off the west coast of Africa, they are called hurricanes.

In an average year over a dozen hurricanes form over the Atlantic Ocean and head westwards towards the Caribbean, the east coast of Central America and the southern USA (Florida in particular). Hurricanes may last as long as a month and although they travel very slowly - usually at about 24 km/h (15 mph) - wind speeds can reach over 120 km/h (75 mph).

How hurricanes form

Hurricanes need a lot of heat to form and a sea surface temperature of at least 26°C, which is why they usually occur over tropical seas. They also need to be between 5 and 20° north or south of the Equator. It works like this:

1. When this warm and wet air rises, it condenses to form towering clouds, heavy rainfall. It also creates a low pressure zone near the surface of the water.

2. Rising warm air causes the pressure to decrease at higher altitudes. Warm air is under a higher pressure than cold air, so moves towards the 'space' occupied by the colder, lower pressure, air. So the low pressure 'sucks in' air from the warm surroundings, which then also rises. A continuous upflow of warm and wet air continues to create clouds and rain.

3. Air that surrounds the low pressure zone at the centre flows in a spiral at very high speeds - anti-clockwise in the northern hemisphere - at speeds of around 120 km/h (75 mph).

4. Air is ejected at the top of the storm - which can be 15km high - and falls to the outside of the storm, out and over the top, away from the eye of the storm. As this happens, it reduces the mass of air over the 'eye of the storm' - causing the wind speed to increase further. Some ejected air also cools and dries, and sinks through the eye of the storm, adding to the low pressure at the centre.

5. The faster the winds blow, the lower the air pressure in the centre, and so the cycle continues. The hurricane grows stronger and stronger.

6. Seen from above, hurricanes are huge circular bodies of thick cloud around 450 km (300 miles) wide. The cloud brings heavy rain, thunder and lightning.

7. In the centre is the eye of the hurricane, about 45 km across (30 miles) across. Often there will be no clouds in the eye. Seen from below it will seem calmer, with a circle of blue sky above. The eye is formed because this is the only part of the hurricane where cold air is descending.

8. In the northern hemisphere, the prevailing easterly tropical winds tend to steer hurricanes toward land - although their course is unpredictable. As hurricanes move inshore, their power gradually reduces because their energy comes from sucking up moist sea air.

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Hurricanes - Tropical storms - GCSE Geography Revision - BBC Bitesize

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The strongest tropical storms are called hurricanes , or tropical cyclones . The different names all mean the same thing, but are used in different parts of the world. If these huge storms start in the Atlantic off the west coast of Africa, they are called hurricanes.

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Tropical storms

What they are
Where they are found
The Saffir-Simpson Scale
How they form
Further things to do/find out more
What they are
A tropical storm is an intense low pressure weather system, that can last for days to weeks within the Tropical regions of our planet.
Where they occur

They are known by many names, including hurricanes (North America), cyclones (India) and typhoons (Japan and East Asia).They all occur in a band that lies roughly between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn and despite varying wind speeds are ferocious storms. Some storms can form just outside of the tropics, but in general the distribution (location) of these storms is controlled by the places where sea temperatures rise above 27 °C.

The highest number of storms does not occur in the Atlantic close to the USA, but in the North Pacific affecting countries such as the Philippines and Japan. This is despite the fact that in the UK we only really get to hear about tropical storms affecting the USA. The most affected area being South East Asia receives an average of 26 storms per year. The least affected area is India where there is an average of 2 tropical storms per year.

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The Saffir-Simpson scale

Tropical storms are defined by their wind speeds and the potential damage they can cause, using what is known as the Saffir Simpson scale. Many tropical storms form between the tropics, some develop into tropical depressions but not many actually develop into full blown hurricanes/cyclones/typhoons.

Wind speeds are used to decide what category of storm a tropical storm is, over 120Kph or 74 mile per hour is needed for a category 1 hurricane , Over 250Kph or 149 miles per hour is the worst hurricane, a category 5 which would cause extreme damage. Watch an animation of the Saffir-Simpson scale in action.

The 2 cases studies on this site, Hurricane Floyd and the Orissa Cyclone, were the worst category of hurricane, category 5, with wind speeds over 155 miles per hour.
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How Tropical storms form;

Tropical storms form whenever sea temperatures rise above 27 °C. The suns heat passes through our atmosphere and warms the ocean water throughout the summer. Because the sea is constantly moving and heat is redistributed to deeper parts of the ocean this takes quite some time (this is why hurricanes occur in late summer - when sea temperature is at its highest).
This causes the seas temperature to rise to 27°C and above, which encourages evaporation and the rising of air and water vapour up through the atmosphere in thermals (find out more from USA Today.com).
As these thermals rise the temperature drops (approximately 1°C per 100m) causing the water vapour to condense into droplets. This helps to form huge cumulonimbus clouds. Latent heat is released during condensation fuelling the storm further. Eventually these droplets will collide with one another, become bigger and fall as rain.
Because the air has risen in the centre of this storm, an area of low atmospheric pressure exists at the surface. The Earth's atmosphere acts to balance this out as air rushes from surrounding high pressure areas to the centre of the storm. This creates the high winds in the storm, and the lower the pressure gets in the centre of the storm relative to the pressure surrounding the storm, the stronger the winds will become.
The whole storm slowly migrates across oceans towards land, and because of the Earths rotation or spin (known as theCoriolis force or effect(click here to see an animation)), the whole storm starts to spiral around a central more calm point, known as the eye.
As tropical storms pass over land the lose their source of energy, and the die out. You can seean animated guide to this process at the BBC.
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Things to do/find out more

1. Describe the global distribution of tropical storms using the map below (from the Earth Observatory)
2. Why do Tropical storms occur in these locations?

3. Q uizzes on Hurricanes
4. Watch Hurricane movies from NASA

5. Try a quiz from CBBC

6. A quiz from the Red Cross

7. Hurricanes key words match up

Internet Geography's pages on tropical storms

Track hurricanes from 2004 and 2005
The BBCs animated guide to Hurricane Katrina
YouTube Videos

The Saffir-Simpson scale explained, with fantastic graphics Fantastic animation on Hurricane tracks across the globe Sentimental footage of Hurricane Katrina

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Tropical storms What they are Where they are found The Saffir-Simpson Scale How they form Further things to do/find out more What they are A tropical storm is an intense low pressure weather system, that can last for days to weeks within the Tropical regions of our planet.

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Millions of people have been affected by the typhoon which swept through the Philippines with winds gusting up to 270km/h. Parts of the low-lying islands were completely flattened and many hundreds of thousands of people are now homeless.
Path of the typhoon

The map below shows the path of the storm through the Philippines. The worst-affected islands include Leyte and Cebu.

Relief Web has produced estimates of the numbers of people affected in each province. It says Tacloban City in Leyte province has been devastated, with most houses destroyed. In total, 670,000 people are said to have been displaced - about 55% of them are living in evacuation centres.

But with roads blocked and poor communications, a complete picture of how many people have been affected may not emerge for some time.

Height of the the storm surge

The strong winds whipped up by Typhoon Haiyan also contributed to a storm surge, which sent a wall of water crashing through some low-lying areas. The storm surge reached its height at the city of Tacloban.

Although official calculations by the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) put the height of the storm surge in Tacloban at 2.3m, local conditions will have meant the actual level was far higher.

The city is located at the head of a bay which faced directly towards the oncoming typhoon and the arrival of the storm surge coincided with a high tide forcing the water levels up to about 5m.

Tacloban devastation

The typhoon and storm surge has destroyed much of Tacloban, flattening buildings and leaving many of the 220,000 population homeless. Piles of debris are now hampering relief efforts and people are desperate for food and shelter.

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Aid efforts in the Philippines have been hampered by bad weather. Millions of people have been affected and relief workers are struggling to get supplies into the worst-hit areas.

The exact number of dead is still unknown - but it is believed more than 10,000 residents died in the city of Tacloban alone.

Jon Donnison reports from the city where hardly a single building has been left standing.

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Much of Tacloban was devastated by the typhoon and resulting storm surge. Roads in and out of the city have been blocked by people trying to get in to find relatives and friends and people desperate to get out. Officials say the death toll may rise even further than the current 10,000 estimate as the full scale of the devastation becomes clear. Most of those who died are thought to have drowned or been crushed by collapsing buildings.

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Hundreds of people have gathered at Tacloban airport some are desperate for food and water, while others are trying to get a flight out. The airport partially reopened on Monday 11 November, three days after the typhoon, but only for flights carrying relief supplies and equipment. The airport has also become a makeshift morgue for the growing number of bodies.

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The city's sports stadium withstood the force of the storm and thousands of people have now taken up temporary residence there. There have been reports of people attacking trucks loaded with food, tents and water, as supplies of food and medicine in the city run low. Severed roads and communications have hampered relief efforts.

The city lies on the easterly island of Leyte and caught the full force of the typhoon with winds approaching 310km/h (195mph).

The spit of land on which Tacloban airport is located and the downtown areas are the parts of the city that have been worst-affected.

Once the relief effort is completed, rebuilding Tacloban could take many years.

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Millions of people have been affected by the typhoon which swept through the Philippines with winds gusting up to 270km/h. Parts of the low-lying islands were completely flattened and many hundreds of thousands of people are now homeless. The map below shows the path of the storm through the Philippines.

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Some communities still vulnerable to typhoons

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Some communities still vulnerable to typhoons

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The scale of destruction after Haiyan has led to a call for more typhoon-proof architecture, but many residents are still living in temporary housing.

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MANILA: More than 360,000 homes were left destroyed in Eastern Visayas in 2013 as a result of Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest tropical cyclones to hit the country. The area was the worst hit by Typhoon Haiyan, with more than 95 per cent of its population living beside the sea or near bodies of water before the typhoon.

The scale of destruction has led to a call for typhoon-proof architecture and more resilient communities. The Philippines' precarious position in the Pacific also means it is first in line to receive more than 20 typhoons each year.

But the government has so far failed to meet many of its targets in typhoon-proofing the areas.

The government had initially set a target of moving communities 150 metres above sea level and aimed to build structures able to withstand wind speeds of up to 300km per hour.

As of late last year, only 10 per cent of permanent housing has been completed, leaving thousands still living in temporary bunkhouses across the city.

Data from the National Housing Authority showed that as of September 2015, more than half of the US$12.8 billion earmarked for housing projects had yet to be used.

In Tacloban, there are 21 resettlement sites. Almost 14,500 housing units had been targeted to be built on these sites, but today, only 660 units - less than 5 per cent - have been completed.

Many in the city are still living in transition. Though permanent homes have been built for them, only half have moved out of their temporary bunkhouses as there is no water and electricity at the new sites.

"Especially now that the climate is humid, most of the people here suffer from pneumonia due to cold winds at night and humid weather in the morning," said Reinfredo Celia, chairman of Barangay 97.

"Our house here is okay because we have water and electricity but it is better if we're living in permanent housing, so we could start anew."

Yet the new permanent homes have their own problems.

"Here, we're far from the sea but we still fear how these houses were built," said Roselyn Pacampara, who moved into a new permanent home after more than two years at a temporary shelter.

"I don't know if the housing standards were met, but I think as an IDP member, it is not. As you can see, the roofs are not okay. If the winds are strong, those will be blown away."

Yet the challenge to building homes in the Philippines lies in the bureaucracy surrounding the process.

"There is no express lane for communities that need response quickly," said Atty Rosalie Taguian, VP for loan processing, Visayas and Mindanao Social Housing Financial Corp.

"The challenge for government is to move faster that assistance is given in a timely manner for those who really need it."

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Philippine communities still vulnerable to typhoons

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The scale of destruction after Haiyan has led to a call for more typhoon-proof architecture, but many residents are still living in temporary housing. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via E-Mail MANILA: More than 360,000 homes were left destroyed in Eastern Visayas in 2013 as a result of Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest tropical cyclones to hit the country.

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The health challenge left in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan is vast and daunting.

As well as clearing dead bodies and responding to the immediate injuries and trauma, there are many "regular" health needs to be met.

It's expected that 12,000 babies will be born this month in the affected areas.

People with illnesses such as diabetes or heart disease will need to get their regular medication, even though many transport routes have been destroyed.

With tens of thousands of people now homeless, there is mounting concern that crowded living conditions and contaminated drinking water could lead to outbreaks of infectious diseases.

As yet more heart breaking stories and images continue to pour out of the worst hit areas of the Philippines, desperately needed food and medical aid struggle to get in.

A family in Tacloban scoop up dirty water from a well using a long wooden stick attached to a small plastic container. They then strain it through a bright yellow t-shirt as a way of filtering it. The harmful bacteria will simply slip through the fibres. The family probably know this. But what choice do they have.

The main concern with dirty drinking water is the high risk of diarrhoeal disease. Children are most vulnerable. They can lose fluid quickly, become dehydrated and die as a result. The World Health Organisation has sent enough diarrhoea kits to treat 3000 people. They'll need many many more.

Four completely self-sufficient field hospitals from countries including Israel and Norway have landed in the Philippines, but are still waiting for flights and boats to get them to the worst hit areas.

WHO says everyone is working around the clock to get help to those who need it. But they admit it's an enormous challenge, which will continue for many weeks.

The peak danger period for this is between 10 days and one month after the event, according to the World Health Organization.

Unsafe food and a lack of access to safe water, lack of facilities for personal hygiene and safe sanitation arrangements all create a breading ground for infections, such as cholera.

With another tropical storm expected to hit the Philippines later this week, the need for shelter, safe water and sanitation is critical.

Basic needs

WHO is working with other humanitarian organisations to secure urgently needed water purification tablets.

Special diarrhoeal disease kits with medicines and supplies to treat 3,000 cases of acute diarrhoea are also en route - contaminated water is a frequent cause of diarrhoea.

Medicines and supplies to cover the basic health needs of 120,000 people for a month have been deployed.

And work has begun to strengthen an early warning system that can rapidly detect disease outbreaks and other public health threats.

WHO says the next steps will be critical.

It is how the survivors, rather than the dead, are managed that determines if and when an epidemic may occur. There has never been a documented case of an epidemic occurring after a natural disaster that could be traced to exposure to dead bodies.

Providing the most basic of needs - safe food, clean water, medicine and shelter - is what will make the difference now.

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The health challenge left in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan is vast and daunting. As well as clearing dead bodies and responding to the immediate injuries and trauma, there are many "regular" health needs to be met. It's expected that 12,000 babies will be born this month in the affected areas.

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BEFORE THE CRISIS The country is made up of over 7,000 islands. The economy of the Philippines is one of the biggest emerging markets in the world but many parts of the country remain very poor. An average of 20 major storms hit the Philippines a year - Haiyan was the 25th tropical storm to enter Filipino waters in 2013.

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Editor's note: Numbers are changing daily as more reports of affected and displaced are verified by the Philippines government. We will update the information below accordingly. Our sources are UN OCHA and the Philippines government.

On November 8, 2013, Super Typhoon Haiyan cut a devastating path across the central Philippines. More than 16 million people were affected across the Visayas region, where the storm is known as Yolanda.

Mercy Corps' emergency team is working to rush supplies like clean water, food packages, blankets and hygiene kits to survivors.
You can help by donating to our Humanitarian Response Fund ▸
Here are some key facts about the tragic situation in the Philippines right now:

Super Typhoon Haiyan

Storm strength: Equivalent of Category 5, the highest - and the strongest tropical cyclone to ever make landfall

Sustained wind speed at landfall: 195 miles per hour - breaking the previous highest record of 190 mph

Wind gusts: Up to 235 miles per hour

Surge in sea level during the storm: 13 feet

Impact

World Health Organisation disaster classification: Category 3, the highest - on par with the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the Haiti earthquake in 2010

People affected: More than 16 million

Death toll: More than 6,000

People injured: More than 27,000

People displaced: 4.1 million

People in need of food: 2.5 million

Amount of area destroyed in the storm's path: 70 to 80 percent

Homes damaged or destroyed: 1.2 million - over half of which were completely destroyed

Amount of homes lost in hardest-hit areas: 90 percent

Most immediate threats to survivors (in order of urgency): Lack of safe drinking water, no shelter, untreated injuries and illnesses, insufficient food, lack of sanitation and personal hygiene items, lack of household supplies like fuel

The Philippines

Population: 98 million

Population living on less than $2 per day: 2 in 5

Number of babies to be born in typhoon-affected areas this month: 12,000

Share of roads that are paved: 22.2 percent

Global rank on infrastructure quality in 2009: 94

Global rank on infrastructure quality in 2011: 113

Emergency response

Members of Mercy Corps' emergency team: Experts in water, sanitation, logistics and distribution

Number of disasters our team has responded to since 2007: 23

Our immediate priorities: Food, water, hygiene and temporary shelter

Source of emergency relief supplies: Local wholesalers and vendors, to support the recovery of the local economy

When a larger permanent team is likely to be in place: December, with a focus on recovery and long-term rebuilding

Our early recovery efforts: Providing shelters materials and cash to rebuild; giving children a safe space to recover from trauma; pursuing larger-scale water and sanitation solutions

How you can help

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Quick facts: What you need to know about Super Typhoon Haiyan

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Editor's note: Numbers are changing daily as more reports of affected and displaced are verified by the Philippines government. We will update the information below accordingly. Our sources are UN OCHA and the Philippines government. On November 8, 2013, Super Typhoon Haiyan cut a devastating path across the central Philippines.

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The unofficial death toll for Super Typhoon Haiyan is expected to exceed 10,000 people in the Philippines, but the country is no stranger to catastrophic natural disasters.
From earthquakes to volcanic eruptions to previous super typhoons, death tolls following cataclysmic events in the Philippines tend to be high. Here are 5 reasons why:

Located just above the equator, the Philippines faces the western Pacific without much else in the way to take the force of storms before they make landfall. Those warm, equatorial waters power storms, about 20 typhoons a year. (See related, " Typhoon, Hurricane, Cyclone: What's the Difference?")

"It has the warmest ocean temperatures in the world. We call it the warm pool around Indonesia and the Philippines," says atmospheric scientist Colin Price of Israel's Tel Aviv University.

"You need temperatures above 28°C (82.4°F) for typhoons to form. In the western Pacific, the water's normally above 28 degrees," Price says. (Related: " Rising Temperatures May Cause More Katrinas.")

A lot of people live on low-lying coastal islands in the Philippines, with more than 60 percent of the population living in coastal zones, according to World Bank estimates.

Storm surges for landfall of Super Typhoon Haiyan reached 23 feet (7 meters) in some places and were more than 16 feet (5 meters) high.

Those waves rolled over low-lying parts of populated islands such as Leyte, home to the coastal city of Tacloban, where the BBC estimates more than 10,000 people alone died.

In past typhoons, mudslides have killed many storm survivors in the Philippines, notes meteorologist Jeff Masters of the Weather Underground website.

Hillsides denuded of trees have fewer roots to hold them together, which can lead to mudslides when they are hit by sudden huge outbursts of rain.

Deforestation has caused similar problems in places such as Haiti, where mudslides were triggered by rainstorms. The soil clogged waterways, causing stagnation later linked to cholera outbreaks.

On top of everything else, the Philippines rests on the Pacific's earthquake and volcano Ring of Fire.

Driven by the Pacific's Ocean's crust diving underneath the continents, the result is earthquakes and tsunamis striking the Philippines with regularity. A magnitude 7.2 earthquake last month killed 222 people, for example, on the island province of Bohol.

The young, poor population of the Philippines has increasingly shifted to coastal regions, where rapidly constructed housing and inadequate evacuation plans may have played a role in the Haiyan disaster.

Indeed, reports are now emerging that people died in shelters too weak to withstand the storm surge and high winds of the super typhoon.

Over the long term, the Manila Observatory says that the combination of poverty and population shifts puts the Philippines among the Top 10 worldwide nations at risk of coastal flooding.
Jane Lee and Marianne Lavelle assisted with reporting on this story. Follow Dan Vergano on Twitter .

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5 Reasons the Philippines Is So Disaster Prone

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The unofficial death toll for Super Typhoon Haiyan is expected to exceed 10,000 people in the Philippines, but the country is no stranger to catastrophic natural disasters. From earthquakes to volcanic eruptions to previous super typhoons, death tolls following cataclysmic events in the Philippines tend to be high.

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Typhoon Haiyan caused widespread devastation because no one had anticipated the height of the waves or the strength of the storm surge, the UN's head of disaster risk in south-east Asia has admitted.

Jerry Velasquez said: "In the past, early warning systems were based on wind speeds, and then in 2011 this was changed [to take into account waves]. New equipment was put in but there was very little experience on storm surges."

He said the country's 2013 disaster budget, of about $171m (£107m), had been used up on previous weather-related disasters. "The last category 5 typhoon was in 2005, killing 750 people. This one did $12-15bn of damage and will cost 5% of GDP. Only $2bn was insured and 80% of that loss will be born by the poor people."

Velasquez was in London as a German government-funded thinktank Germanwatch released its 2014 vulnerability index. It ranked the Philippines second for weather related loss last year, largely as a result of typhoon Bopha, which killed more than 1,400 people last December. Haiti was the worst affected country in 2012, after taking the full force of hurricane Sandy, even though the damage done when it crossed to the US was far greater in financial terms.

The report says: "Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, was still coping with the aftermath of the earthquake of 2012, it suffered losses of about $7.5m, the equivalent of about 10% of its GDP. The landfall of hurricane Sandy in the US dominated international news in October 2012. Yet, it was Haiti - the poorest country in the western hemisphere - that suffered the greatest losses from the same event."

But the report, launched this week in Warsaw at the UN climate talks, showed the Philippines rising dramatically up the global risk index list, supporting the government's claims that typhoons are becoming stronger. Between 1992 and 2011, the Philippines ranked 14th, but over the past 13 years it has been the seventh worst-hit country behind Honduras, Myanmar, Haiti, Nicaragua, Bangladesh and Vietnam.

According to Velasquez, fewer people are dying worldwide because of climate-related disasters, but far more are exposed than a decade ago, and the economic impact is soaring. "Losses amounted to more than $1.75tn in original values," he said.

Germanwatch calculates that more than 530,000 people have died as a direct result of some 15,000 extreme weather events between 1993 and 2012. The thinktank said: "Eight of the 10 countries most affected by extreme weather between 1993-2012 were developing countries in the low-income or lower middle-income group, while only two were upper middle-income countries."

It added: "In relative terms, poorer developing countries are hit much harder despite the fact that the absolute monetary damages are much higher in richer countries. Loss of life and personal hardship is also much more widespread especially in low-income countries."

The study suggests two groups of vulnerable countries are emerging: those that are continuously affected by extreme events such as Bangladesh, Honduras and Haiti; and others, such Myanmmar and Thailand, which rank high because of exceptional catastrophes.

The report also notes that Fiji and Samoa are often affected by extreme weather because of their exposure to the south Pacific tropical cyclone season. Both islands were hit hard by cyclone Evan, the worst in 20 years, causing damages of 20% of Samoa's GDP. Nigeria was included in the top 10 for 2012 owing to heavy rains, which triggered its worst floods in 50 years and displacing over 2 million people.

"One of the underlying causes of disasters is the pattern of development, which encourages short-term thinking and actually aggravates risk," said Velasquez. "The pace of the creation of exposure to risk has become far greater than the reduction of vulnerability. We are not reducing vulnerability."

The report connects natural disasters to climate change but says it is not possible to attribute disaster to climate change. However, it says there was high confidence that the Middle East's driest winter in more than 1,900 years in 2008, the record-breaking summer heat and drought in the US in 2011, and Europe's hottest summer in more than 500 years in 2003 were all attributable to climate change.

The release of the report coincided with the World Meteorological Organisation's provisional assessment of 2013. "Temperatures so far this year are about the same as the average during 2001 to 2010, which was the warmest decade on record," said the secretary-general, Michel Jarraud. "All of the warmest years have been since 1998 and this year once again continues the underlying, long-term trend. The coldest years now are warmer than the hottest years before 1998."

Jarraud added: "Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases reached new highs in 2012, and we expect them to reach unprecedented levels yet again in 2013. This means that we are committed to a warmer future.

"Surface temperatures are only part of the wider picture of our changing climate. The impact on our water cycle is already becoming apparent - as manifested by droughts, floods and extreme precipitation."

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Philippines rockets up list of countries most vulnerable to disaster

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Typhoon Haiyan caused widespread devastation because no one had anticipated the height of the waves or the strength of the storm surge, the UN's head of disaster risk in south-east Asia has admitted. Jerry Velasquez said: "In the past, early warning systems were based on wind speeds, and then in 2011 this was changed [to take into account waves].

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A rescue operation is under way in the Philippines in the wake of one of the strongest storms ever to hit the country. Typhoon Haiyan left a trail of devastation through the central islands - the city of Tacloban in Leyte province is one of the worst affected areas.

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Aid efforts in the Philippines have been hampered by bad weather. Millions of people have been affected and relief workers are struggling to get supplies into the worst-hit areas.

The exact number of dead is still unknown - but it is believed more than 10,000 residents died in the city of Tacloban alone.

Jon Donnison reports from the city where hardly a single building has been left standing.

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Much of Tacloban was devastated by the typhoon and resulting storm surge. Roads in and out of the city have been blocked by people trying to get in to find relatives and friends and people desperate to get out. Officials say the death toll may rise even further than the current 10,000 estimate as the full scale of the devastation becomes clear. Most of those who died are thought to have drowned or been crushed by collapsing buildings.

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Hundreds of people have gathered at Tacloban airport some are desperate for food and water, while others are trying to get a flight out. The airport partially reopened on Monday 11 November, three days after the typhoon, but only for flights carrying relief supplies and equipment. The airport has also become a makeshift morgue for the growing number of bodies.

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The city's sports stadium withstood the force of the storm and thousands of people have now taken up temporary residence there. There have been reports of people attacking trucks loaded with food, tents and water, as supplies of food and medicine in the city run low. Severed roads and communications have hampered relief efforts.

The true scale of casualties remains unclear. The authorities say at least 10,000 people may have died in the disaster - and according to UN officials about 11 million people have been affected - many have been left homeless.

In Tacloban, a city of more than 220,000 people, the mayor has declared a state of calamity. Many peoples' homes have been destroyed and people are desperate for food and shelter, but debris and continuing bad weather are hampering efforts to distribute aid.

The city lies on the easterly island of Leyte and caught the full force of the typhoon with winds approaching 310km/h (195mph). It was followed by a storm surge which is reported to have reached up to 5m and flattened homes, schools and badly damaged the airport.

Tacloban City elevation

Like many places in the Philippines, much of Tacloban is very low-lying. The spit of land on which the airport is located lies well below five metres. Official figures from the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System suggest the storm surge reached 2.3m in Tacloban, but anecdotal evidence from people on the ground suggests it was much higher.

Tacloban is situated at the head of a bay, directly in line with the approaching typhoon. The winds pushed the water level higher and continued to rise as it was funnelled into the bay between the islands of Leyte and Samar, until it reached an estimated 5m around Tacloban and nearby settlements.

Although the airport was severely damaged, it re-opened three days after the typhoon to allow in the first relief supplies.

US military planes have begun delivering World Food Programme supplies, which are then being taken by helicopter to more remote regions.

Many people have left Tacloban, but for those that remain the main concern is still food and water.

Aid agencies have warned of a deteriorating security situation as people get more desperate. Although a field hospital has been set up, health officials have warned that the worst-affected areas were entering a peak danger period.

With another tropical storm on its way to the Philippines, the need for shelter, safe water and sanitation is essential, if outbreaks of infectious diseases are to be avoided.

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Tacloban: City at the centre of the storm

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A rescue operation is under way in the Philippines in the wake of one of the strongest storms ever to hit the country. Typhoon Haiyan left a trail of devastation through the central islands - the city of Tacloban in Leyte province is one of the worst affected areas.

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Long term effects: the struggle to rebuild

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Long term effects: the struggle to rebuild

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Eighty-two-year-old Aquilina Capampangan sits on the low wall that is all that remains of the home she and her 84-year-old husband Francisco built for themselves 52 years ago.

"Life is so difficult," she says. "If another storm comes, it will be very difficult for us to survive."

Like many others in the small coastal town of Daanbantayan and in the surrounding region - which lay in the path of "super typhoon" Haiyan as it tore across the central Philippines - the elderly couple emerged from a more substantial building in which they sheltered from the storm to find that their home for almost all their married life was a heap of metal sheets and pieces of wood.

At least temporarily, some of these materials have been salvaged and turned into the small one-roomed shack they are now living in, alongside the site of their old home.

I asked about the chances that they would be able to move into something less flimsy and vulnerable. After all, the ambition of all aid operations now after disasters of this kind is to "build back better".

Maybe there should be a new assessment of all the needs as this would bring to the forefront that there is a massive amount of work to be done
Tariq Riebl, Oxfam Emergency Response Manager

They said they would need more wood and more roofing as well as money to pay someone to put up such a building for them. They had received financial help but this had gone on food.

But could other family members help, too?

"They have to take care of their own families," Aquilina said. "We just have to wait patiently."

In and around Daanbantayan, many do seem to accept that for all the damage there has been - to homes, to schools and other public buildings and to fishing boats that are such a vital source of income - a worse fate was endured by those to the east where the typhoon made its landfall and whipped up the storm surge that brought a wall of water inland, particularly in the devastated town of Tacloban.

It was in these more easterly regions that most of the casualties occurred. They now stand, according to government figures, at just over 6,000 dead and nearly 1,800 still missing.

But, as the aid operation moves increasingly from relief to recovery and reconstruction, it is the broader impact across the typhoon's path that defines the enormous challenges that lie ahead.

Fourteen million people were affected altogether - some 40% of them, it is calculated, already living below the poverty line. More people were made homeless by Typhoon Haiyan - known in the Philippines as Typhoon Yolanda - than by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Close to six million workers lost their sources of income, 30,000 boats were destroyed, millions of coconut trees were damaged or flattened and more than 1m tonnes of crops lost.

Long term

The aid agency Oxfam is sufficiently worried about the pace of recovery - and that places like northern Cebu have been overshadowed by the more visibly devastated Tacloban - that it is now putting 200 of its 500 or so emergency workers into its operations in this area.

You certainly have a sense both of the resilience of Filipinos and of the scale of recovery

Oxfam is not alone in its concern that, for now, many people are starting to "build back worse", in a country that on average sees 20 typhoons a year. It believes this is a critical moment in the international response to the disaster and fears that the funding could begin to drop.

Tariq Riebl, Oxfam's Emergency Response Manager, has been in the region since the disaster. He cautions against being over-optimistic because the Philippines has a vibrant civil society with people who are very active in helping themselves in ways not necessarily seen in other countries hit by such disasters.

"Maybe," he says, "there should be a new assessment of all the needs as this would bring to the forefront that there is a massive amount of work to be done and we are not talking about months here. We are talking about years that this is going to take for these areas to recover.

"I hear too many people talk about six months or 12 months. This is not the scale we are looking at. We are looking at three to five years or more."

You certainly have a sense both of the resilience of Filipinos and of the scale of recovery in Daanbantayan.

A short distance back from the shore, I came across one of the local fishermen sorting through the iron sheeting and pieces of wood he was planning to use to start rebuilding his home.

"Only (a typhoon as powerful as) Yolanda could destroy my house," Glenn Rossell told me. He described the moment the typhoon hit: "Ten o'clock in the morning very strong. The sound of the wind is like a fighting cock, very noisy." He mimicked a screeching, howling bird. Three months on, the people around him - who were also trying to save their lives and their property on that fateful day - could laugh now. But the metaphor seemed alarmingly apt.

He said he had three sisters and three daughters, had repaired their homes first and now had no money left to pay a carpenter to help with the rebuilding of his own house.

At a school I visited, they have put up a temporary classroom to replace one that was badly damaged but are still waiting to repair damaged parts of the roof. Other schools had their roofs blown off, too.

For the poor it is hard
Felisa Osabel, Local administrator

Efforts are apparently being stepped up to relocate those who were living within 40m of the shore - on the grounds that they will then be less vulnerable in future typhoons.

But there is a backlash from some local fishermen who say this will discriminate against them.

A local administrator, Felisa Osabel, told me the government needed to resolve the issue and wanted to make progress. But she acknowledged: "For the poor it is hard."

And she undoubtedly spoke for many in this community when she said that from now on "with every single storm we will be afraid, always afraid".

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Typhoon Haiyan survivors struggling to rebuild

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Eighty-two-year-old Aquilina Capampangan sits on the low wall that is all that remains of the home she and her 84-year-old husband Francisco built for themselves 52 years ago. "Life is so difficult," she says. "If another storm comes, it will be very difficult for us to survive."

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MANILA, Philippines - One day in September, a group of Taclobanons and environmentalists foresaw that a super typhoon named Hagibis would wreak havoc in their city in year 2020.

The prediction was for a scenario-building exercise with Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines to help the city assess its disaster-preparedness.

Today, Tacloban is a wasteland where dead bodies rot in open air and survivors struggle to live. Almost all homes and structures are obliterated. Food and water are in scarce supply. Taclobanons never expected the storm to come 7 years early. (READ: Tacloban devastated; at least 100 dead)

There are many reasons why Tacloban was among the cities worst-hit by nightmare-turned-reality Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan). Some of these reasons were predicted by the study that resulted from the scenario-building exercises in Tacloban.

The city's large population, high level of urbanization, location and weak coastal areas all contributed to Tacloban's unique vulnerability, revealed the study.

Entitled "Business Risk Assessment and the Management of Climate Impacts," the study evaluates the vulnerabilities of select Philippine cities to the impacts of climate change which includes extreme weather events like storms.

Tacloban is one of 12 cities assessed by WWF-Philippines and other experts from 2011 to 2013. Initially due for release in December, the launch of the Tacloban assessment was moved to end of December to include an analysis of Yolanda.

The document aims to help local government leaders, city planners and the business sector create strategies to ensure the city's survival and strengthen its economy in the face of disaster.

Monci Hinay, who led the Tacloban assessment team, said the study assessed the city on 3 main variables: its climate or environmental exposure, social economic senstivity, and adaptive capacity.

Climate or environmental exposure considers climate, temperature, and rainfall.

Social economic sensitivity looks at demographics, tourism, export, water, energy, land values, agriculture and fisheries.

Adaptive capacity is measured by crime solution efficiency, local government performance, family savings and city savings.

"It's a year-long project where we look at 20 years of data and use it to forecast 30- to 50-year scenarios. Then we added inputs from local stakeholders through the scenario-building exercise," he explained.

The local stakeholders were composed of local government officials, the private sector, academe and non-government organizations.
1. Location
Geohazard maps of Tacloban already showed how exposed the city was to danger.

"If you look at the geohazard map of Tacloban, only a small part is not red. Red meaning highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. The LGU saw that already," said Hinay.

Tacloban is bound on the east and south by water leading to Leyte Gulf and the Pacific Ocean. In the north and the west, it is bound by mountains. Thus, the city was trapped. In the face of the 15-foot-high storm surge that submerged its coastal communities, Taclobanons could not evacuate further than the mountains.

The same wall blocking their path is a danger spot in itself. Mountains often mean landslides, especially when the winds and rain were as strong as Yolanda's.
2. Land subsidence
Further making Tacloban vulnerable to flooding caused by storm surge is the fact that much of it is below sea level, said Hinay. In many places, there were also cases of land subsidence in which "sea water enters the soil, slowly eating away the coastal areas," explained Hinay.

Land subsidence also happens when humans draw water from the soil for drinking, bathing and other uses. The extraction of water creates spaces between soil particles. When the roof over these spaces cannot support all the intact soil above it, it collapses thereby lowering the level of soil on the surface.

Subsidence lowers the land surface a couple of centimeters every year. The lower the land goes, the more likely it will be inundated when sea levels rise or flooding occurs. Eventually, the land will become so low that flooding will happen even during high tide.
3. Population, urbanization
Tacloban is Eastern Visayas' migratory city, said Hinay.

"Vast lands and good weather create a migratory sink. If you have really good weather and plenty of lands, people will go to your land regardless of the situation. For example in Zamboanga, even if peace and order is bad, they still go."

Tacloban is home to around 200,000 people. A bigger population often equates to more urbanization as more people require more housing, livelihood opportunities, infrastructure and facilities. But it also means more risk.

"It causes concentrated risk. The more people will go to an area, the denser an area is, the more vulnerable to the effects of typhoons," he said.

High population may also mean the pace of urbanization was harder to manage and control. Despite land subsidence and the fact that Tacloban's coastal areas are below sea level, many important buildings were built right by the sea including the city hall, elementary schools, colleges and hospitals.

These could have been used as evacuation centers but because they too were close to the shore, they were among the structures first inundated by the storm surge.

But international disaster experts agree that not even the best prepared countries would have been spared by Yolanda, a storm that literally went off the charts. (READ: Conversations with disaster experts)

"Given the destructive nature with which Haiyan hit the central Philippines even the best-prepared nation would have a hard time bracing itself against the effects of such a storm," Kathryn Hawley, a disaster management expert from Asia Foundation told Rappler's Marites Vitug.

"When we try to prepare for hazard impacts as disaster managers we look to worse case scenarios but hope they never happen... When they do there are so many variables that can crumble the best-laid plans or preparation."
Recommendations
After survival, the focus will be on reconstruction. Hinay said the study also makes recommendations on how Tacloban can better adapt itself to more extreme weather events in the coming years.

One such recommendation is moving development to higher ground.

"Relocate higher. If they want to create coastal redevelopment, they should factor in 3 to 4-meter-high (9.8 to 13 feet) storm surges. Tacloban is one meter below sea level so you have to create coastal redevelopment that is higher than the storm surge," he explained.

He also urged the city to redefine land use based on Yolanda's devastation. Where should residences, schools, hospitals, businesses now be located?

Investing in other sources of energy may also be a good idea, he said. Tacloban's dependence on the power grid left it in the dark when Yolanda destroyed all power lines. Investing in renewable energy may help lessen this potentially fatal dependence.

"If you want your city to be more sustainable, you need renewable energy. It's more competitive, more sustainable. If you get cut off from the grid, at least the community can use renewable energy. We're also looking at resiliency of businesses and government. If there's a brown-out, they can still function and provide much-needed services if they have an alternative source of energy."

Renewable energy sources like solar panels do not need electricity to function. If they are stored in a high area in the city, safe from flooding and storm surges, it can be used to power the community using only energy from the sun.

The complete assessment study will be released end of December, along with assessments of cities Angeles, Batangas and Naga.

WWF-Philippines also made climate change assessments of Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Dagupan, Iloilo, Laoag and Zamboanga from 2011 to 2012. The studies can be viewed here. - Rappler.com

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What made Tacloban so vulnerable to Haiyan?

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MANILA, Philippines - One day in September, a group of Taclobanons and environmentalists foresaw that a super typhoon named Hagibis would wreak havoc in their city in year 2020. The prediction was for a scenario-building exercise with Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines to help the city assess its disaster-preparedness.

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Typhoon Haiyan stronger than Katrina and Sandy combined

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Typhoon Haiyan one of the biggest storms ever

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Actual Video of Storm Surge of Typhoon Haiyan Yolanda in Leyte Philippines

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Take notes whilst watching

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Over one million farmers in the Philippines have been impacted by Typhoon Haiyan according to the UN.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says that hundreds of thousands of hectares of rice have been destroyed.

Coconut plantations which are a big earner of foreign currency were said to be "completely flattened".

Fishing communities have also be severely affected with the storm destroying boats and gear.

The FAO says they have arrived at the figure of farmers affected by looking at the pathway the storm took as it passed across the country and from an analysis of data provided by the government.

"That area is the major rice producing area for the Philippines," FAO's Jeff Tschirley told BBC News.

"They've just finished their harvest and because it is not modernised production, they are still drying it but we suspect there is a lot of rice that is vulnerable to having been impacted by the storms."

Self sufficient

The farmers are also facing into the next planting season with much of their infrastructure such as irrigation equipment affected by the typhoon.

The Philippines has been importing less rice over the past five years, but the storm will have dramatically changed that.

"It will set them back on their goal of self sufficiency but more key is that those livelihoods will be pushed way back until they get restored irrigation infrastructure. That has been severely damaged in most cases," said Mr Tschirley.

As well as rice and sugar cane, the FAO is most concerned about coconut plantations.

Coconuts account for nearly half the Philippines agricultural exports and the country is the world's biggest producer of coconut oil. A smaller typhoon last year destroyed 500,000 tonnes.

"The sugar cane fields can be recovered relatively well even if the harvest is lost," said Jeff Tschirley.

"But numerous coconut plantations have been completely flattened, and with coconuts you are looking at multiple years to recover the productivity."

The FAO is is calling for $24m for immediate interventions in fisheries and agriculture as part of the UN appeal.

Follow Matt on Twitter.

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Over one million farmers in the Philippines have been impacted by Typhoon Haiyan according to the UN. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says that hundreds of thousands of hectares of rice have been destroyed. Coconut plantations which are a big earner of foreign currency were said to be "completely flattened".

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At least 10,000 people are thought to have died in the central Philippine province of Leyte after Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms ever to make landfall, lashed the area, swallowing coastal towns, a senior police official said early on Sunday morning.

At least 10,000 people are thought to have died in the central Philippine province of Leyte after Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms ever to make landfall, lashed the area, swallowing coastal towns, a senior police official said early on Sunday morning.

About 70-80% of the buildings in the area in the path of Haiyan in Leyte province was destroyed, said chief superintendent Elmer Soria. "We had a meeting last night with the governor and the other officials. The governor said based on their estimate, 10,000 died," he said.

Tacloban city administrator Tecson Lim said that the death toll in that city alone "could go up to 10,000". Tacloban is the provincial capital of Leyte, with a population of more than 200,000. The Philippine Red Cross said in Tacloban bodies had been found "piled up around the roads" and in churches. Between 300 and 400 bodies had been recovered, Lim said.

On Samar island, which faces Tacloban, Leo Dacaynos of the provincial disaster office told Associated Press on Sunday 300 people were confirmed dead in Basey town and another 2,000 were missing.

He said the storm surge caused sea waters to rise 20 feet when the typhoon hit. There were still towns on Samar that had not been reached, he said, and appealed for food and water. Power was knocked out and there was no mobile signal, making communication possible only by radio.

Many corpses hung on tree branches, buildings and sidewalks, Associated Press reported.

"On the way to the airport we saw many bodies along the street," said Philippine-born Australian Mila Ward, 53, who was waiting at the Tacloban airport to catch a military flight back to Manila.

"They were covered with just anything tarpaulin, roofing sheets, cardboards," she said. Asked how many, she said, "Well over 100 where we passed."

The super-typhoon made landfall on Samar and Leyte islands in the eastern Visayas at about 4.40am on Friday local time, with winds up to 315km/h (195mph) tearing roofs off buildings, turning roads into rivers full of debris and knocking out electricity pylons.

With many provinces left without power or telecommunications, and airports in the hardest-hit areas, such as Tacloban, in tatters, experts say it is impossible to know the extent of the storm's damage - or deliver badly needed aid.

Roughly 12 hours after the 600km (370-mile)-wide Haiyan blew west towards Vietnam, where it is expected to make landfall early on Sunday, officials and aid workers are only now beginning to piece together details on the number of dead and injured.

Government figures showed that more than 4 million had been directly affected. The World Food Programme has mobilised some $2m (£1.25m) in aid and aims to deliver 40 tonnes of fortified biscuits to victims within the next few days.

Satellite images show normally green patches of vegetation ripped up into brown squares of debris in Tacloban, where local TV channel GMA broadcast images of huge storm surges, flattened buildings and families traipsing through flooded streets with their possessions held high above the water.

The head of the UN Disaster Assessment Co-ordination Team, Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, described "destruction on a massive scale" in the city of 220,000 and said: "The last time I saw something of this scale was in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami. There are cars thrown like tumbleweed and the streets are strewn with debris."

Al-Jazeera correspondent Jamela Alindogan was trapped in her hotel as the eye of the storm passed overhead and ripped the roof off the building. Evoking scenes of chaos as badly hurt victims wandered the streets without medicine, food or water, and doctors at the local hospital attended to the wounded in the dark without electricity or candlelight, she said: "There is no food, not even in the hotels, and there's no water. The situation is really very desperate."

Other sources told of victims trying to climb out from under rubble to find assistance, and mobs rampaging through the streets looking for food, water or medicine, and looting electrical goods and groceries from malls. "Almost all the houses were destroyed," said Major Rey Balido of the Philippines national disaster agency. "Only a few are left standing."

Relatives of those living in the typhoon's path have had no news from their loved ones and are nervously waiting until power is restored to the area. "I spoke to my mother just a few hours before the typhoon made landfall in my city, Tacloban," said taxi driver Sherwin Martinata, 32, in the capital, Manila. "She was saying she was all right but now I have no idea if my family is safe. There is no power, no phones. I can't get through at all. I'm worried, but I'm powerless."

Those living in the hardest-hit areas, such as the eastern Visayas, are among the poorest in the Philippines, say aid agencies, who warn that there will be little or no savings for many of the victims to fall back on - putting an already vulnerable population at even greater risk of future food and job insecurity.

On Bohol island - where a 7.3-magnitude earthquake toppled colonial-era churches and killed some 200 people last month - residents were successfully evacuated ahead of the storm and as a result many lives were probably saved, said Mathias Eick of the European commission's humanitarian aid department (Echo). However, because the island's main power supply comes from neighbouring Leyte, residents are still without electricity or water.

In Tacloban, where many residents live along the coast, the sheer force of the storm was just too much for the buildings to withstand, with evacuation centres such as stadiums and churches later collapsing. "The sheer magnitude and scale of the disaster sort of overpowered all the contingency measures, and we're fearing that we'll be finding more dead bodies in those evacuation centres themselves," said Alwynn Javier of Christian Aid.

Without information on the ground or access to hard-hit areas, aid agencies have been stuck, not knowing how much aid is needed or which areas need it most.

"The only information we have been able to get so far is from the UN and some from the news," said Javier. "We should have good ground reach, but are really impeded by this lack of access because even our partners on the ground have been hit themselves."

Officials and rescue workers hoped that Sunday would see concerted efforts by authorities to set up command centres and rescue groups, which will in turn help bring supplies to those who need them most. But gaining access to those areas will prove hard, said Richard Gordon of the Philippine Red Cross, who added that without bulldozers or tractors to clear paths, volunteers will have to bring cutting equipment to clear uprooted trees and debris.

The Philippines sees roughly 20 typhoons every year, with some more devastating than others. Last year's Typhoon Bopha killed more than 1,100 people and caused over $1bn in damage.

Haiyan - the 25th typhoon to hit the Philippines this year - is expected to make landfall in several provinces in central Vietnam with winds around 220km/h (137mph). More than 450,000 troops have been deployed, as well as 12 planes, 356 ships and thousands of vehicles, in order to mobilise supplies, with more than 300,000 people evacuated in Da Nang and Quang Ngai provinces.

"It may be the strongest storm to hit Vietnam in history," said Vietnam's director of the Central Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting Centre in Bui Minh Tang. Coastal areas should expect to see waves as high as 5-8 meters (16-26ft) and a wind radius up to 500km wide, officials warned.

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Typhoon Haiyan: at least 10,000 reported dead in Philippine province

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At least 10,000 people are thought to have died in the central Philippine province of Leyte after Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms ever to make landfall, lashed the area, swallowing coastal towns, a senior police official said early on Sunday morning.

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The painfully slow pace of relief efforts after the typhoon in the Philippines has let people down, the United Nations aid chief has said, admitting that teams have yet to reach areas with people in desperate need.

The painfully slow pace of relief efforts after the typhoon in the Philippines has let people down, the United Nations aid chief has said, admitting that teams have yet to reach areas with people in desperate need.

Valerie Amos's assessment from the devastated city of Tacloban came as the aid effort rapidly gathered pace, with the US aircraft carrier George Washington and its escort of two cruisers arriving in the disaster zone amid fresh promises of help from other nations. David Cameron said the UK would send its own carrier, HMS Illustrious.

The official death toll from typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Yolanda, stood at 2,357 on Thursday night. But in Tacloban city hall a notice was posted saying 4,000 people had been killed in that city alone, double the previous day's estimate of 2,000, the Reuters news agency reported, while the UN was putting the overall body count for the disaster at 4,460.

On Friday morning the BBC quoted the Philippines interior secretary, Mar Roxas, as saying the official government death toll was 3,422. News emerged that a regional police chief had been removed for giving an initial figure of 10,000 in the typhoon's immediate aftermath - infuriating President Benigno Aquino III, who has played down casualty figures and the desperate, chaotic state of affected communities.

Aid workers estimate the final total will be considerably higher, citing the lack of information from remote areas.

Amos said conditions for survivors were dismal. Many had gone days without food and some were drinking from polluted wells or standing water because they were left with no alternative.

"I do feel that we have let people down because we have not been able to get in more quickly," Amos told reporters.

Of the newly increased flow of aid she said: "It would have been better if it had happened three days ago. We are getting there but it's far too slow." While the delivery of supplies from Cebu and Manila to the disaster zone has improved, many of the goods still appear to be stuck at the three major relief bases in Tacloban, Ormoc and Guiuan.

By late afternoon on Thursday the Philippines navy and air force had transported relief goods across the Visayas island group, which includes the areas of Leyte, Samar and Cebu, officials said.

But further rain has hampered distribution and the refusal of petrol station owners to reopen facilities has led to transport problems and a stark dilemma, according to the mayor of Tacloban, Alfred Romualdez. "The choice is to use the same truck either to distribute food or collect bodies," Romualdez said.

The city's administrator, Tecson Lim, estimated that only a fifth of residents were receiving aid.

Security concerns also prompted some aid organisations to evacuate teams.

Plan International has withdrawn all 15 of its employees - normally permanently based in Tacloban - until security is restored, said a spokesman. A memo was circulating among relief workers advising them not to move around in the city as some UN staff had already been pulled out for security reasons.

On Wednesday stories of heightened violence and tension circulated as eight were killed after stampeding a rice warehouse looking for food.

A Philippine Red Cross convoy was allegedly hijacked by armed men who were reportedly later shot dead by police, and a 13-year-old boy was reportedly knifed in the neck and stomach by unknown men.

Amid unconfirmed stories ranging from the seizure of aid to traffickers targeting women and children by posing as relief workers, officials urged people to stay calm and not believe everything they heard.

"There have been so many reports of looting and rape which have turned out not to be correct," Ricky Caradang, a spokesman for President Aquino, told the local ABS-CBN TV channel.

Father Anton Pascual, who is leading a team for the catholic charity Caritas, said that its religious status had helped it deliver aid to families in remote villages: "We wear our priest collars and we are able to go through," he said.

Officials have pointed to an increased presence of police and military, and the influx of supplies, as a turning point for Tacloban. Roads are gradually being cleared of fallen trees and debris.

Some residents have blamed sheer inefficiency for the relief delays, arguing that a country that suffers an average of 20 typhoons a year should have proper contingency plans.

"I don't think we could have prepared for this," budget secretary Florencio Abad told Reuters, adding that the authorities' response this time was faster than previous disasters.

Even in Tacloban city, supplies had yet to reach the Astrodome, where thousands are sheltering in squalid conditions.

"I wonder when they will bring food here," said Erlinda Rosales, 72. Her family received rations for the first time on Thursday - 3kg of rice and three cans of sardines - but only because her granddaughter had walked to their village council every day.

Some residents have complained of favouritism, suggesting that those with connections to authorities were getting better treatment.

At Tacloban's airport, where thousands waited in their desperation to flee the city, there was also suspicion being voiced by many at the official explanations that airlifts for children, the sick and elderly people came first.

"If you have a friend or relative in the military, you get priority," complained Violeta Duzar, 57. She and eight relatives, including children, had been waiting there since Sunday.

Around 6,000 people have been evacuated by the Philippines armed forces, a spokesman said, with 4,000 leaving by air and the rest by sea.

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Typhoon Haiyan: frustration at slow pace of relief effort

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The painfully slow pace of relief efforts after the typhoon in the Philippines has let people down, the United Nations aid chief has said, admitting that teams have yet to reach areas with people in desperate need.

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The Eye of the Storm documentary (44mins)

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The Eye of the Storm documentary (44mins)

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Updated May 08, 2014 05:31:47

Typhoon Haiyan, known as Yolanda in the Philippines, was one of the biggest storms ever recorded. In early November 2013, it left a trail of destruction across the Pacific and South-East Asia.

Here's how events unfolded:

November 2, 2013

A low pressure area develops in the Pacific Ocean, east-southeast of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia.

November 3
A tropical storm warning is issued for the Pacific islands of Palau and Micronesia as the Japan Meteorological Association upgrades the system to a tropical depression.

November 4

System is upgraded to a tropical storm and named Haiyan as it intensifies and heads towards Palau. Forecasters say it will then travel towards the Philippines.

November 6

Micronesia
Super Typhoon Haiyan pounds Palau and parts of Micronesia, packing winds of up to 250km/h.
Palau
Palau's northernmost state of Kayangel is in the eye of the typhoon, and received major structural damage.
November 7

The storm enters the Philippines area of responsibility and is assigned the local name of Yolanda.
In a televised address, President Benigno Aquino advises locals to make all possible preparations as mass evacuations are ordered.
November 8
Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda makes landfall at 4.40am local time (2040 UTC), packing sustained winds of up to 315km/h.

Super Typhoon Haiyan is believed to be the most intense storm to ever make landfall.
November 9
Typhoon Haiyan leaves the Philippines, heading towards Vietnam, prompting the evacuation of more than 600,000 people. Haiyan leaves behind a trail of death and destruction in the Philippines, with fears of up to 10,000 people dead.
November 10
A weakened Typhoon Haiyan makes landfall in north-east Vietnam, with winds of 120km/h. International aid begins to trickle in to Philippines as the full scale of the devastation is revealed.
November 11
Haiyan continues to weaken as it crosses into southern China, eventually dissipating over Guanxi. Aid efforts in Philippines focus on Tacloban, which bore the brunt of the storm, with the once vibrant city transformed into a wasteland.
November 12
The Philippines' climate change commissioner breaks down at a UN conference, making an emotional plea for climate action after Typhoon Haiyan devastated his home town.
November 13

Philippines President Benigno Aquino says the death toll from the disaster is likely far lower than initially feared.

November 14
The Philippine government is under growing pressure to speed up its typhoon response, amid reports of hunger and thirst among desperate survivors.
November 15
The UN revises the death toll in the Philippines up to 4,460, as millions of survivors still await aid.
November 16
The first of the dead are taken to a mass grave for burial, as the UN says nearly 12 million people have been affected. A working aid pipeline is now in place to funnel emergency supplies to those left destitute in the ruins of Leyte's Tacloban city.
November 18
Basic services are slowly being restored in the typhoon-devastated city of Tacloban. As hundreds attempt to escape the chaos of Haiyan, many remain determined to pick up the pieces.
November 23
The number of people confirmed dead from Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines passes 5,200, making it one of its deadliest natural disasters.
December 8
One month after the Philippines was struck by Typhoon Haiyan, the worst-hit city of Tacloban still lies in ruins.
First posted May 05, 2014 13:03:47

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Timeline of Typhoon Haiyan's deadly trail

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Updated May 08, 2014 05:31:47 Typhoon Haiyan, known as Yolanda in the Philippines, was one of the biggest storms ever recorded. In early November 2013, it left a trail of destruction across the Pacific and South-East Asia. Here's how events unfolded: A low pressure area develops in the Pacific Ocean, east-southeast of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia.

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In the words of The Economist, it was a "perfect storm in terms of its sheer size, its circular symmetry and the tightness of its eye." The category 5 -- highest level -- super typhoon Haiyan, known as Yolanda to Filipinos, was one of history's strongest recorded typhoons, shattering coastal communities in central Philippine islands of Visayas and completely inundating local government units (LGU) in places such as Tacloban City. The scale of destruction left many authorities, lucky enough to survive the storm's landfall, wondering where to begin, given the almost total destruction in certain areas -- prompting some to go as far as suggesting mass evacuation from severely affected areas.

Initial estimates claimed as high as 10,000 casualties, $14 billion i n total economic damages, and 2.5 million people in urgent need of humanitarian relief. By any measure, this was one of the darkest days in the country's recent memory. Given the sheer extent of devastation, with many surviving victims sharing their harrowing stories of struggle and loss before the local and global media, the whole Philippines has been swept by a wave of sorrow. But perhaps outrage and frustration are also echoing in the chambers of every single Filipino's soul.

In moments of national crisis, the state -- holding monopoly on the legitimate use of force and the collective resources of the society -- is supposed to be the first and ultimate source of refuge, providing relief, rehabilitation, and rule of law in affected areas under its jurisdiction. For many critics, the state fell short of fulfilling its most fundamental responsibilities, since thousands of survivors, reports suggest, struggled with hunger, chaos, and disease days into Haiyan's landfall. As helplessness and despair gripped badly affected communities, the Aquino administration bore the brunt of local and international criticism.

Beyond the frenzy of opprobrium directed at seating officials, however, a more nuanced understanding of the Philippines' structure of governance suggests how a combination of a weak state, long time neglect of basic infrastructure, and chronic underinvestment in the armed forces explains the absence of a swift and effective response to the crisis. And this is why Manila had to rely on the goodwill of dozens of foreign nations as well as international agencies to step up its relief operations in affected areas. But above all, the whole episode has laid bare the injustice of how developing countries have been increasingly footing the bill for climate change.
Aquino's Toughest Test
After years of enjoying consistently high approval ratings, and receiving global acclaim for his anti-corruption agenda that has partly spurred the recent economic uptick in the Philippines, President Benigno Aquino III is facing his moment of truth.

Weeks before Haiyan's landfall, Aquino confronted a spate of corruption scandals, which initially implicated a number of high-profile opposition members, but over time evolved into a wholesale repudiation of the Philippine state's existing fiscal allocation practices as well as accusations of bribery and corruption against Aquino and his allies. Outraged and half-shocked, the Filipino president lashed out at his critics, reiterating his claim to absolute moral integrity and dismissing all accusations as a cynical ploy to undermine ongoing investigations against opposition stalwarts. To put it simply, the Philippine political scene was a total mess. And this perhaps explains why he was quite defensive in his interview with CNN's Christian Amanpour regarding the national government's response to the crisis.

Aquino began by telling Amanpour that "emotional trauma" may have prompted some officials to magnify casualties, which he believed was closer to 2,000-2500 victims rather than the initial 10,000 estimate. He went on defending his government's response, characterizing it as "reassuring" to the vast majority of the affected people, while partially absolving his administration of any blame by arguing how the local governments are primarily responsible for initial relief and disaster response operations. He also emphasized how the national government was responsible for the evacuation of many vulnerable communities (e.g., Cebu and Bohol), which contributed to minimal-to-none casualties in many areas hit by Haiyan.

Aquino's overarching argument was that the national government did the best that it could within the confines of its constitutional responsibility as well as institutional capacity, but the sheer strength of the typhoon was just too overwhelming.

Ahead of the storm's landfall, the government claims to have evacuated up to 800,000 people from vulnerable areas, while constantly issuing warnings to and coordinating efforts with various LGUs, especially in places such as Cebu and Bohol, which were hit by an earthquake earlier this year. On the other hand, the Philippine state, since the 1990s, has been undergoing a process of administrative decentralization in an effort to empower LGUs and enhance their political autonomy, partially clipping the national government's wings and reducing the extent of its jurisdiction outside the National Capital Region (NCR).

But for many critics, the national government should have been even more proactive and vigilant, given the relative underdevelopment of LGUs and precisely because of the rising intensity of natural calamities due to climate change.

The country is no stranger to natural calamities, standing as the third-most vulnerable country to climate change, with an average of 8 to 9 typhoons hitting the Philippines every single year. The government, critics argue, could have undertaken more decisive measures ahead of Haiyan's landfall, knowing how powerful, unpredictable, and disastrous it could get. For instance, it could have (i) implemented mandatory evacuation among most vulnerable areas, especially shantytowns and coastal communities, (ii) built bunker houses to shelter people fleeing the storm, and (iii) utilized advanced technologies to maintain communication with local authorities even when telephone cables and electricity lines are struck down by super typhoons.
Structural Vulnerability
But to better understand the government's relatively week and delayed response to the crisis, one should look at other consequential factors. Despite emerging as one of Asia's economic bright spots, with annual GDP growth hovering around 6-7% in recent years, the Philippines' infrastructure has been i n desperate shape. Outside the industrialized regions in the northern island of Luzon, most communities are yet to enjoy access to reliable electricity, roads, bridges, ports, and other basic infrastructure. In other areas, the existing infrastructure lacks quality, scale, and optimal maintenance, and yet the country has had one of the lowest rates of infrastructure spending in the region.

The development of the infrastructure landscape was initially a cornerstone of Aquino's economic strategy, but a combination of corruption, regulatory uncertainty, and mismanagement has delayed his Private-Public Partnership (PPP) projects, which, at the very earliest, are supposed to come on stream in 2015.

The other chief structural weakness of the Philippine state is its armed forces, especially the Philippine Air Force (PAF), which is yet to refurbish its small fleet of antiquated aircrafts. Lack of strategic foresight, overreliance on external partners, and chronic corruption has deprived the PAF and other branches of the armed forces of much-needed funds to modernize and enhance its capacities.

When Haiyan hit coastal communities and far-flung areas, the infrastructure was easily destroyed, while the PAF only had 3 C-130 aircrafts to dispatch to affected areas. Other areas remained completely inaccessible, since there was hardly any infrastructure to speak of. This proved to be a major setback for relief operations.

So to begin with, the Philippine state, regardless of the political will of its officials in the run up to or the immediate aftermath of a natural calamity, suffered from a profound capacity deficit. And it is far from certain how the Aquino administration -- or the succeeding leaderships for that matter -- is going to redress such inherent maladies in the structure of governance in the country.

But for many, the bigger issue remains to be climate change, and how archipelagic countries such as the Philippines are paying the price for centuries of relentless economic expansion by industrialized countries, compounded by the economic boom among major emerging markets, which have come to rival the U.S. in greenhouse gas emission. And this explains why Philippine climate negotiators were once again in tears this year, pleading global leaders to implement decisive measure to mitigate climate change and assist vulnerable countries such as the Philippines.

Despite the inherent vagaries of climate science, which deals with complex and often unpredictable variables, leading scientists, and IPCC contributors, such as Professor James Hansen of Columbia University and Professor Piers Forster of Leeds University have drawn a connection between climate change and extreme weather events such as Haiyan.
So far, the world's leading polluters have avoided mandatory measures to mitigate the impact of climate change, and it is far from clear whether there will be any concrete climate deal before 2020. Moreover, the proposed $100 billion climate fund, which is supposed to help poorer countries to adapt to climate change, is heavily underfunded.

In the end, it will take a conscientious effort by both the international community, especially great powers, as well as Filipino leaders to prevent such devastating crises and cope with the impact of climate change.

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Philippines' Haiyan Tragedy: What Went Wrong?

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In the words of The Economist, it was a "perfect storm in terms of its sheer size, its circular symmetry and the tightness of its eye." The category 5 -- highest level -- super typhoon Haiyan, known as Yolanda to Filipinos, was one of history's strongest recorded typhoons, shattering coastal communities in central Philippine islands of Visayas and completely inundating local government units (LGU) in places such as Tacloban City.

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TACLOBAN, Philippines -- Has it been a year? Because it feels like yesterday. That day -- November 8, 2013 -- when my crew and I almost died. That day when thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people in the Central Philippines did die. That day when millions lost their homes, lost everything, in fact.

Typhoon Haiyan descended on the region like a giant whirlwind, scooping up objects big and small and blowing them in all directions. Where we were, at a beachfront hotel not far from hard-hit Tacloban City, ceilings caved in and metal sheets flew all around us. We had to duck, run and hide. We protected ourselves with mattresses and pillows; not that they would save us if the whole building crumbled (it felt like it would), but we did what we could with what was available.

And then came the water. It was like the ocean wanted to extend itself far into the country's land mass. In a matter of a few minutes, the raging water was several yards deep and, like a tsunami, slammed into the walls of our hotel. We were able to run up to the second floor, but we felt the ground softening beneath our feet. At that point, all we could do was pray.

The monster storm packed winds more than 185 miles per hour as it made landfall, a clear Category 5, and was one of the most powerful ever recorded. That was clear to us as we endured its onslaught and held on to our lives for hours. Eventually it passed.

We were grateful to have survived, but there was no denying the death and destruction that overwhelmed our nation, which is no stranger to natural disasters.

We walked miles to downtown Tacloban, weaving our way through toppled power lines, fallen trees and bodies. Every few steps, we almost stepped on bodies. There were arms sticking out and legs dangling on windows; the stench of death was almost unbearable. Many who survived were left with almost nothing; no house, no food, no water. There was just rubble.

Little wonder, then, that over the next 24 hours shock and grief turned to desperation, and chaos. People stormed grocery stores, warehouses and even an entire shopping mall. I saw men carrying off case after case of soda and beer, television sets, computers and, of course, food. Rising criminality caused fear, and fear drove thousands of people away from Tacloban.

Today, many of them are back. In downtown Tacloban, there is almost no trace of what happened a year ago. Basic services have long been restored and businesses are back in full swing.

But you don't have to go far to see that there's a lot more work to do. Just on the edge of the city, along the shoreline, entire fishing communities still live in makeshift tents. Residents tell me that when the sun is up, it's hot as an oven. When it rains, water drips in. When it pours the tents shake violently, and they are inevitably reminded of Haiyan.

Their biggest fear is that the ocean -- just a few yards away -- will once again surge into their homes. The storm surge is believed to have caused most of the super typhoon's casualties. If the government was strictly following its own 40-yard no-build rule, all these dwellings would be long gone.

But former Senator Panfilo Lacson, the man tasked with overseeing rebuilding and rehabilitation efforts, tells CBS News that implementing the no-build zone may not be as simple as people think. He says it may not even protect people as much as hoped, as even areas far away from the sea could be vulnerable to other hazards such as landslides and volcanic eruption.

The region's geography has made it incredibly difficult to find relocation sites, so one year on, some 25,000 families still live in tents and thousands more have rebuilt their homes dangerously along the coast.

Even where families have been moved to temporary shelters, it hasn't been without controversy. When the emergency shelters were first handed over, they were small and flimsy and didn't meet international quality standards.

According to Lacson, $19,000 was allocated for each bunkhouse unit. But upon investigation, the value of each unit was found to be only $11,300. The rest of the money would likely have been pocketed by unscrupulous officials or contractors had the anomaly not been uncovered. Renovations have been made since and the United Nations says the shelters are now acceptable.

Despite this, survivors, the local media and the general public continue to question the government's response, in particular the speed of rebuilding and rehabilitation efforts.

The master plan was approved just a few weeks ago by President Benigno Aquino. Again, Lacson defended the government, saying it usually takes one year to get to the rehabilitation phase; the Philippines was ahead of the internationally-accepted timetable, he argued.

Regardless, the survivors of Typhoon Haiyan have shown resilience which has gained them the admiration of the world. And where government assistance isn't available, people have been relying on themselves. They've found work where they can, farmed whatever land is left, and gone back to fishing in the sea.

Then there's the aid that has poured in from all around the world; the silver lining in this otherwise complete human tragedy.

In a world so divided, it's comforting to know that all countries can still come together in the face of one nation's adversity.

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Looking back on the Philippines' darkest day

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TACLOBAN, Philippines -- Has it been a year? Because it feels like yesterday. That day -- November 8, 2013 -- when my crew and I almost died. That day when thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people in the Central Philippines did die. That day when millions lost their homes, lost everything, in fact.

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TACLOBAN, Philippines (Reuters) - Desperation gripped Philippine islands devastated by Typhoon Haiyan as looting turned deadly on Wednesday and survivors panicked over shortages of food, water and medicine, some digging up underground water pipes and smashing them open.

Five days after one of the strongest storms ever recorded slammed into cities and towns in the central Philippines, anger and frustration boiled over on Wednesday as essential supplies dwindled. Some survivors scrawled signs reading "Help us".

Controversy also emerged over the death toll. President Benigno Aquino said local officials had overstated the loss of life, saying it was closer to 2,000 or 2,500 than the 10,000 previously estimated. His comments, however, drew skepticism from some aid workers.

Some areas appeared to teeter near anarchy amid widespread looting of shops and warehouses for food, water and supplies.

There were reports of gunfire between security forces and armed men near a mass grave in worst-hit Tacloban in Leyte province, but city administrator Tecson John Lim denied the clash based on information he had received from the army.

Eight people were crushed to death when looters raided rice stockpiles in a government warehouse in the town of Alangalang, causing a wall to collapse, local authorities said.

Other looters still managed to cart away 33,000 bags of rice weighing 50 kg (110 lb) each, said Orlan Calayag, administrator of the state-run grain agency National Food Authority.

Warehouses owned by food and drinks company Universal Robina Corp and drug company United Laboratories were ransacked in the storm-hit town of Palo in Leyte, along with a rice mill in Jaro, said Alfred Li, head of the Leyte Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Tacloban city administrator Tecson John Lim said 90 percent of the coastal city of 220,000 people had been destroyed, with only 20 percent of residents receiving aid. Houses were now being looted because warehouses were empty, he said.

"The looting is not criminality. It is self-preservation," Lim told Reuters.

Some survivors in Tacloban dug up water pipes in their desperate need for water.

"We don't know if it's safe. We need to boil it. But at least we have something," said Christopher Dorano, 38.

"There have been a lot of people who have died here."

Resident Rachel Garduce said the aid - 3 kg (6 lb) of rice and 1 liter (34 ounces) of water per household a day - was not enough in her ravaged Tacloban neighborhood. Her aunt in Manila, 580 km (360 miles) to the north, was travelling by road and ferry to bring supplies. "We are hoping she won't get hijacked," she said.

Secretary Mar Roxas denied law and order were breaking down. "It is wrong to say there is lawlessness in the city," he told reporters.

THOUSANDS REPORTED MISSING

The government has been overwhelmed by the force of the typhoon, which destroyed large swathes of Leyte province where local officials have said they feared 10,000 people died, many drowning in a tsunami-like surge of seawater.

Aquino, who has been on the defensive over his handling of the disaster, said the government was still gathering information from various storm-struck areas and the death toll may rise. "Ten thousand, I think, is too much," Aquino told CNN in an interview. "There was emotional drama involved with that particular estimate.

Official confirmed deaths stood at 2,275 on Wednesday, with only 84 missing, a figure aid workers consider off the mark.

"At this time it is definitely not 10,000," Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras told a news conference. "There has been a body count based on the dead lying in the streets but we can't be accurate because there is still, some people say, there are people buried in certain areas."

Some aid workers cast doubt over Aquino's estimate.

"Probably it will be higher because numbers are just coming in. Many of the areas we cannot access," Gwendolyn Pang, secretary general of the Philippine Red Cross, told Reuters.

The preliminary number of missing, according to the Red Cross, is 22,000. Pang cautioned that figure could include people who have since been located.

Google, which has set up websites to help people share and look for information about missing persons during catastrophes, currently lists some 65,500 people as missing from the typhoon. The Person Finder website allows anyone to list a person missing and to search the database for names.

But Google staff warned against reading too much into the data, pointing out that a similar website set up after the Japanese tsunami in 2011 listed more than 600,000 names, far higher than the final death toll of nearly 20,000.

CHAOTIC EVACUATION

There are not enough flights from Tacloban airport to cope with the exodus from this stricken town. As darkness fell on Wednesday, Philippine Special Forces held back hundreds of people, many of whom had walked for hours to reach the airport and then waited for days with little or no food or water.

When asked how she and her four children endured three days of waiting in searing heat and torrential downpours, Marivic Badilla, 41, held up a small battered umbrella. "We have been sheltering under this," she said, tears streaming down her face.

Many people complained that military families were given priority to board the C-130 cargo planes out of Tacloban. "If you have a friend or relative in the military, you get priority," said Violeta Duzar, 57, who had waited at the airport since Sunday with eight family members, including children.

"They say 'Fall in line! Fall in line!' and we all line up. Then nothing happens," she said of the soldiers presiding over chaotic scenes.

None of the aid passing through the airport had been distributed to the needy crowd at its gates.

Firming the resolve of those at the airport to get on a flight out are reports and rumors of looting and rape in the ruined city.

"It's the criminals who escaped from the prison. They're raping the women," said Duzar. "Tacloban is a dead city."

Tacloban city administrator Lim said that "less than ten" prisoners escaped from jail after the typhoon struck.

More the 670,000 people have been displaced by the storm and nearly 12 percent of the population directly affected, the United Nations said.

The World Health Organization said teams from Belgium, Japan, Israel and Norway had arrived in the Philippines to set up field hospitals.

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington will arrive later this week, carrying about 5,000 sailors and more than 80 aircraft. It has been joined by four other U.S. Navy ships.

The United States, a close ally and former colonial ruler of the Philippines, has also provided eight C-130 cargo planes for delivering aid, said Cabinet Secretary Almendras.

Rescuers have reached some previously cut off regions, such as Guiuan, a wind-swept city of 40,000 people that was spared the storm surge that washed over Tacloban. Local officials say 85 people were killed in Guiuan, with 24 missing.

The typhoon also leveled Basey, a seaside town in Samar province about 10 km (6 miles) across a bay from Tacloban. Local officials say 80 people were killed there.

The overall financial cost of the destruction was hard to assess. Initial estimates varied widely, with a report from German-based CEDIM Forensic Disaster Analysis putting the total at $8 billion to $19 billion.

Additional reporting by Rosemarie Francisco in Manila, Jeremy Wagstaff in Singapore and Phil Stewart and Susan Heavey in Washington. Writing by Jason Szep. Editing by Dean Yates and Nick Macfie

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medical equipment : supplies and distribution (trbc)

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healthcare equipment and supplies (trbc)

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pharmaceuticals and medical research (trbc)

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wind / hurricanes / typhoons / tornadoes

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cyclical consumer goods and services (trbc)

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Andrew R.C. Marshall and Stuart Grudgings

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Desperate Philippine typhoon survivors loot, dig up water pipes

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TACLOBAN, Philippines (Reuters) - Desperation gripped Philippine islands devastated by Typhoon Haiyan as looting turned deadly on Wednesday and survivors panicked over shortages of food, water and medicine, some digging up underground water pipes and smashing them open.