Typhoon Haiyan: Philippines declares state of calamity

[webfact]

Typhoon Haiyan: Philippines declares state of calamity

MANILA: - Philippine President Benigno Aquino has declared a state of national calamity to speed relief efforts for victims of Typhoon Haiyan.

In a statement, he said the two worst affected provinces, Leyte and Samar, had suffered massive destruction and loss of life.

Thousands of survivors are still desperately waiting for the aid effort to reach them.

At least 10,000 people are feared to have been killed.

Tacloban is one of the worst affected cities. The BBC's Jon Donnison, who is there, says there does not yet seem to be an effective operation to get help to those in need.

This is expected to change over the next few days, he says.

Full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24901993


-- BBC 2013-11-12

[Scott]

I work with a number of Filipinos and several of them have had family members killed in the storm. Quite a number have family members who are missing.

Very sad.

[boomerangutang]

The photos of devastation are riveting. It brings to mind a story I read, years ago, of a guy who resided on the Florida coast. He built a house with strong corner posts, but the walls were weakly secured - intentionally. The idea was: if a very strong wind or tsunami came along, it would push down the walls, but leave the posts standing - and facilitate building a new structure. Of course, a lot more could be said about peoples'/pets' well-being and furniture/appliances, but as far as re-building, it's an interesting concept.

In the example mentioned above, the guy had a stout 2nd story where people and prized possessions would be safer.

[Scott]

Off-topic post removed.

[BudRight]

The photos of devastation are riveting. It brings to mind a story I read, years ago, of a guy who resided on the Florida coast. He built a house with strong corner posts, but the walls were weakly secured - intentionally. The idea was: if a very strong wind or tsunami came along, it would push down the walls, but leave the posts standing - and facilitate building a new structure. Of course, a lot more could be said about peoples'/pets' well-being and furniture/appliances, but as far as re-building, it's an interesting concept.

In the example mentioned above, the guy had a stout 2nd story where people and prized possessions would be safer.

I was in Belize a dozen years ago after a hurricane had wiped out the town of Placencia. The locals and expats there told me they were going to rebuild - out of solid concrete.

[canman]

Such a sad loss of life. I to know many filipinos who have lost family members. It's hard to know what to say to people who have lost so much. One guy said to me last night "we filipinos are like bamboo, you can bend us but you cannot break us."

[NeverSure]

The photos of devastation are riveting. It brings to mind a story I read, years ago, of a guy who resided on the Florida coast. He built a house with strong corner posts, but the walls were weakly secured - intentionally. The idea was: if a very strong wind or tsunami came along, it would push down the walls, but leave the posts standing - and facilitate building a new structure. Of course, a lot more could be said about peoples'/pets' well-being and furniture/appliances, but as far as re-building, it's an interesting concept.

In the example mentioned above, the guy had a stout 2nd story where people and prized possessions would be safer.

I was in Belize a dozen years ago after a hurricane had wiped out the town of Placencia. The locals and expats there told me they were going to rebuild - out of solid concrete.

That's a good idea. They also need to be out of the zone for a possible storm surge. The wind is bad enough, but it's the incoming water that gets most people.

I feel sick and helpless about this. It's terrible what those people are going through right now.

[puukao]

The next time you are about to get upset over something or at someone, take a deep breath and think of this tragedy. Positive thoughts, enjoy life; it's really short.

[tropo]

The photos of devastation are riveting. It brings to mind a story I read, years ago, of a guy who resided on the Florida coast. He built a house with strong corner posts, but the walls were weakly secured - intentionally. The idea was: if a very strong wind or tsunami came along, it would push down the walls, but leave the posts standing - and facilitate building a new structure. Of course, a lot more could be said about peoples'/pets' well-being and furniture/appliances, but as far as re-building, it's an interesting concept.

In the example mentioned above, the guy had a stout 2nd story where people and prized possessions would be safer.

I was in Belize a dozen years ago after a hurricane had wiped out the town of Placencia. The locals and expats there told me they were going to rebuild - out of solid concrete.

That's a good idea. They also need to be out of the zone for a possible storm surge. The wind is bad enough, but it's the incoming water that gets most people.

I feel sick and helpless about this. It's terrible what those people are going through right now.

Sometimes a bigger one will come along with unknown consequences. As a typhoon this strong had never made landfall in the Philippines before, they didn't know what to expect. I'm also shocked by the destruction of the storm surge, but these unexpected disasters do happen occasionally. eg. Tsunami - Indian Ocean 2005, Tsunami - Japan 2011.... and now this typhoon - the danger had not been predicted in each of these events. No one knew. The whole world learns from these events.

There are very old trees that have been uprooted all over the island. Some of these trees are hundreds of years old, indicating that this is the biggest storm for as long as people can remember. There's old buildings which have withstood 100's of years of typhoons which came down on Friday. I saw in a video today showing huge electric pylons were flattened. I saw a report that 2 months is a conservative estimate for full power restoration in some areas.

Looking back, there was a strong typhoon (Ruping) which came through the same area on November 12, 1990. These typhoons are nothing new, but the ferocity of this one was unprecedented.

Does anyone build houses to withstand 300 km/h winds?

Edited November 12, 2013 by tropo

[Trentham]

Does anybody know what Thailand is doing to help the Filipinos???

[tropo]

The Mayor of Davao (Duterte) went to Tacloban to help as best he could, going with a team of people.

Here's what he said about the state of calamity (Translation from Tagalog/Cebuano - emphasis added):

THERE IS NO TACLOBAN CITY RIGHT NOW - A very sad statement of the Mayor Duterte after he visited and experienced Tacloban City .

DUTERTE: (translation by Milk Tea)
I want to talk to you all... *CURSE WORD* I think God was somewhere else when the typhoon hit... The dead are lining the streets, even until now.

The people have no electricity, no food, no water, all their dead are on the streets, the survivors are looking up at the heavens...

I really do not know; The President has been there. Mar Roxas was there. I would suggest that, this is only a suggestion, I do not mean to [...] STATE OF CALAMITY is not enough, there has to be a STATE OF EMERGENCY because there is no local government functioning. Those that they depend on, the police, the army, and even the social workers of the government, all of them are victims, all of them are dead. Even the police and the army there are dead.

So there is no city government functioning. I am not implying anything, but as a Filipino I have to say something. All the dead are along the streets.... *CURSE WORD* .... I do not mean to be... but, God must have been somewhere else. Or that he forgot that there is a planet called Earth.

I don't know whether to cry. I cannot shout in anger, because you cannot be mad at anybody there. A lot of people in Davao are giving out names for me to check ... but, THERE IS NO BARANGAY THERE. No [office] is moving; The people seem like zombies walking, asking for food,... *CURSE WORD* What is this life...

Police, in uniform, dead. It means, all people cannot do their jobs because they are all victims. ... YOU HAVE TO HELP. They don't know [the gravity]. Filipinos are dead, you have to [send help]. Even just food.

I feel so sorry for them, even if they wanted to retreat and take shelter. I took off in the helicopter, Tacloban is a plateau! Even the countryside is flat, so even if the people run for 50 kilometeres, they have no place to [be safe]. It's all flat. They have nowhere to go.

The people that I sent out the other night arrived at Tacloban just this afternoon because they had to negotiate their way; Our 911 have complete equipment; I think we were the first, but I'm not saying we were the only one who's helping. But the [rescue team] we sent is only good for 3-4 days, before they will wear out. There is no clear means of getting food there, no toilets, so I expect my men to want to go back.

I need people who know how to handle the dead. There are so many; No one is ready to speak out... They are decaying. Remember: Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday; So my decision was right, when I observed what was happening from the TV, I told the Davaoenos, "WE HAVE TO HELP; NO MATTER WHAT, NO MATTER HOW LITTLE, WE HAVE TO HELP"

Edited November 12, 2013 by tropo

[tropo]

Bodies everywhere, many now beyond recognition. The bodies are lined up for a mass burial today if they cannot be identified - last chance for relatives to find their lost family members.

This is quite a bit different to proceedings in Phuket back in 2005.

http://n5e.interaksyon.com/videos/D28F81A4B2E34C1/mass-burial-sa-tacloban-isasagawa-ngayong-araw

... and nothing like what happened in Ormoc City in 1991 when 5000 were killed in flash floods and landslides. They dumped thousands of decaying bodies straight into mass graves.

There were many people angry over how the dead were handled back then, but not much has changed. They just don't have the facilities to be able to store and identify the dead.

Here's some rare footage of mass burials after the 1991 floods in Ormoc City.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6yII4ZR05k

Edited November 12, 2013 by tropo

[chuckd]

The following link tells of some help already going there. The Ospreys will help immensely with the delivery of much neded relief supplies to remote areas. I also just watched on CNN a KC-130 landing at some airport there.

The US is also sending the George Washington carrier battle group there to help out with the disaster.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

U.S. Marines Helping Philippines Deal With Typhoon Disaster

November 11, 2013 - 4:34 AM

By Patrick Goodenough

(CNSNews.com) – A team of U.S. Marines has arrived in the Philippines to join search and rescue and humanitarian aid efforts in the aftermath of the typhoon that devastated parts of the archipelago before heading for Vietnam where it made landfall, slightly weakened, on Monday.

The Marines will use MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, which have vertical takeoff and landing and short takeoff and landing capabilities. The airport in Tacloban, the capital of Leyte island where some Philippine officials estimate as many as 10,000 people may be dead, is not yet able to accommodate large planes.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/us-marines-helping-philippines-deal-typhoon-disaster#sthash.yGbGp5h5.dpuf

[boomerangutang]

How much warning was given - particularly for residents to go to higher ground?

Do such people heed such warnings? or do they think, "oh well, others can flee, but I'll tough it out."

In HK, there's a typhoon shelter, which is like a concrete bunker with provisions. Are there any such shelters along that coast? Doubtful.

[tropo]

How much warning was given - particularly for residents to go to higher ground?

Do such people heed such warnings? or do they think, "oh well, others can flee, but I'll tough it out."

In HK, there's a typhoon shelter, which is like a concrete bunker with provisions. Are there any such shelters along that coast? Doubtful.

They had sufficient warning. No, they don't have shelters.Why would they? Even an evacuation shelter collapsed in Palo killing some people inside (not sure how many).

Bear in mind that the Philippines gets dozens of typhoons per year. They are pretty used to typhoons. Most older residents have lived through many. I believe this wholesale storm surge destruction is a brand new experience, so the lack of preparation is hardly surprising. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have stayed in their houses if they knew what to expect.

The whole world will learn from this catastrophe... just as they did from the Japan and Indian Ocean earthquakes/tsunamis. Unfortunately these lessons are extremely costly.

Just as it is with earthquakes.... for example, people maybe prepared for the 9.0 and then one day the 9.2 comes along and wipes them out. Nature is brutal. Nature is unpredictable. There's no rules. Another violent typhoon could come along the same path next week and then another the week after. In typhoon zones it all comes down to luck - and then one day your luck runs out.

To be honest, I've always had the idea of one day being wiped out by a typhoon in the back of my head.... that one day just happened. I'm not happy about it, but I'm also not surprised. It's pretty bad luck that the one that did hit me was the strongest on record.

Edited November 12, 2013 by tropo

[Chicog]

660,000 homeless now according to Sky News.

Official death toll around the 2,000 mark.

Edited November 12, 2013 by Chicog

[F430murci]

How much warning was given - particularly for residents to go to higher ground?

Do such people heed such warnings? or do they think, "oh well, others can flee, but I'll tough it out."

In HK, there's a typhoon shelter, which is like a concrete bunker with provisions. Are there any such shelters along that coast? Doubtful.

I have read the warnings were actually pretty good. There was some articulation that the JMA advisory of lower wind speed resulted in some on higher ground not evacuating only to be over taken by the huge surge and strong winds. I, howver, am not sure how one prepares for such a storm. There may be certain degrees of natural complacency after going through normal strength typhoons year after year.

Tacloban is bad, real bad, but the brunt of the storm leveled, deforested and debarked trees left standing in commuters such as Guiaun. Apparently, even the evacuation centers in Guiaun crumbled.

Land friction somewhat weakened the storm by the time it was directly over Talcoban.

[tropo]

660,000 homeless now according to Sky News.

Official death toll around the 2,000 mark.

Yeah, I believe low "official" figures are one of the reasons for the super slow initial disaster response. Seriously, the day after the typhoon the international media were spouting "3 casualties" all over the world while I was watching videos showing dead bodies all over the place. How can the international community take this disaster seriously when the media are telling the whole world about 3 official deaths.

I was puzzling over these low "official figures" when I could count more cadavers on photos and video readily available on the www. The day after that the "official" figure jumped to 33.

The whole concept of "official figures" should be dropped in the reporting of this event. With no communication or the ability to even get to some very badly affected isolated towns and villages the concept of "official" numbers is absurd and serves to make light of this disaster. Stick with the 10,000 rough estimate, which I believe will be low, then we get a better picture of the true scale of this calamity.

At least if they're going to use 2000 as an "official death toll", then add the statement that it is likely to go as high as 10,000 when all are accounted for.

[tropo]

Land friction somewhat weakened the storm by the time it was directly over Talcoban.

I don't believe there was any weakening of the typhoon going through Guiuan. That is an extremely narrow strip of land. I had the Hong Kong Observatory tracking record, but it's no longer up. The eye didn't pass over land as it passed south of Guiuan. The constant wind speeds at landfall in Tolosa were estimated at 250 km/h. It slowed down to 230 km/h at the centre of Leyte after it crossed a low mountain range and took care of our house on the other side.

Here's a more informal tracking record but you can see that the eye clearly misses Guiuan and remains over water,

Edited November 12, 2013 by tropo

[tropo]

Where is the food?

Nearly 5 days since the typhoon hit, and areas just south of Tacloban have not seen a scrap of food aid:

Video (English):

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/video/nation/regions/11/12/13/watch-scenes-destruction-palo-leyte

[tropo]

That's more like it. I like this guy...Duterte, the mayor from Davao has come all the way to Tacloban to help out.

"shoot anyone who would dare loot the supplies" he said.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/video/nation/regions/11/12/13/duterte-orders-security-shoot-looters

[tropo]

5 days in and people are crying out for food and water.

WHERE IS THE AID?????

Residents of Isabel, Leyte screaming for food. This is not far from Ormoc. There are so many communities more isolated that we haven't heard from yet.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/video/nation/regions/11/12/13/residents-cry-beg-food-isabel-leyte

[Scott]

Tropo, thank you for your updates and my sincere condolences for your situation. This is such a devastating disaster and so massive it's hard to comprehend. On my staff several people have lost family and others have family members who are missing.

[tropo]

Tropo, thank you for your updates and my sincere condolences for your situation. This is such a devastating disaster and so massive it's hard to comprehend. On my staff several people have lost family and others have family members who are missing.

Thanks! We have yet to hear anything else from our family apart from the text message we received 2 days ago.

My wife just woke me up with some news she just received from someone in our area, Kananga, just 25km north of Ormoc City. I'm officially very angry and very upset over what I heard. Despite the countless millions in foreign aid we keep hearing about, not a single scrap of food aid or drinking water has reached the town.

We are at exactly 5 days since the typhoon hit at about 7am on Friday, November 8.

There is some market food available to people with cash, but the vast majority of people living in this area, approximately 50,000, haven't eaten or had clean water for 5 days. There are some ATM's open in Ormoc City, but only people with cash are able to get food. Some cash transfer services are running (Cebuana, LBC) and Mercury Drug store is open.

So here's how I see the situation on the ground in Leyte.... No one is getting food aid and fresh water outside Tacloban City. I haven't seen any sign of it in Ormoc City, a city of near 200,000 people. Millions of people haven't eaten anything or had fresh water for 5 days. Basically, apart from a lucky few, no one is eating.

We are at a critical time right now. People are going to start dying in large numbers if they are not already. People will be drinking dirty water from streams to stay alive. How many people are or will die of disease and infections? There will most definitely be many injured people developing infections from wounds they sustained during the storm.

WHERE IS THE FOOD. WHERE IS THE FOREIGN AID?????

If we don't see any aid getting through very soon the number of people dying will eclipse the people who number died in the storm 5 days ago.

I'm only focusing on the island of Leyte right now. Samar could be worse as it is more isolated... then there's Northern Cebu, Bantayan and northern Panay and other small islands to consider.

Our town has clear road access now, and it has seen no food aid. We are lucky to have road access now, but most of the island does not have road access and are cut off from the outside world. I can't imagine the state of affairs deeper into the interior of Leyte and in the isolated northern and western towns and villages from where I have seen absolutely no reports. Even places just 4km south of Tacloban City have seen no aid.

It's extremely sad to be talking like this, but I fear we are about to see deaths from starvation and disease on an unprecedented scale among the SURVIVORS of this storm. This death toll could eclipse the number killed in the storm.

Edited November 13, 2013 by tropo

[Scott]

A post discussing Philippine politics has been deleted. Let's stick to the topic of the Typhoon. There will be other threads where an analysis of the politics in the country are more appropriate.

[pmugghc]

From what I've heard the supplies are coming in to Tacloban. But the bottleneck is the transportation to the affected villages and towns. The Marine's Ospreys and the helicopters on USS George Washington can help. The carrier can generate some 1.5M L drinking water per day

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[pmugghc]

Western Samar is mostly OK, but no power from Calbayog to Tacloban. Some damage to houses.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[tropo]

Western Samar is mostly OK, but no power from Calbayog to Tacloban. Some damage to houses.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Thanks for the update. Apart from one video I saw of Catbalogan, there hasn't been any report from Western Samar.

Catbalogan is the capital of Samar and exactly 60 km (straight distance) north from Tacloban.... and 70 km north from the path of Yolanda (the eye).

[pmugghc]

The BDO ATM in Calbayog seems to be working

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[tropo]

The BDO ATM in Calbayog seems to be working

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I believe that area hasn't been seriously affected, although I haven't seen evidence to confirm this yet. Even Catbalogan (much closer to the typhoon path) has functioning banks judging by a video I saw on Monday. Either way, it's impossible to get there by road from the western side of Leyte because the main road between Ormoc City and Tacloban is still cut.