Down the Path of Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda
Some things go beyond words. At least, beyond mine. So rather than fail miserably to describe the devastation left by Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan, I want to show you its path fantasy-holiday-style, and introduce you to some Filipino bloggers and worthwhile organisations along the way.
Young artist’s impression.
Intended for: Anyone who’s been reading the news lately.
Overview: A rapid flyover, taking in everything we hope will be restored – communications, buildings, bridges, other infrastructure, and a bustling tourism industry. Sadly, the lives of many are gone forever.
Strengths: The community we hope will come back from this disaster. The natural world – alluring yet fiercely destructive.
Foreseeable difficulties and mitigating strategies: I can’t begin to imagine, but experienced organisations such as Doctors Without Borders are on the scene doing the best they can. I like Doctors Without Borders because someone who works in aid once told me (take this as you will) that they do a good job and they know when to bow out, and also because they can use the money elsewhere in the fortunate event of being overwhelmed with donations. Various other organisations are also present.
Update: Givewell also recommends Doctors Without Borders (and uses similar arguments.) Their job is to look into effective aid, so theirs is an opinion to take seriously. The linked article gives six tips on donating to disaster relief.
Estimated Price Bracket: Too much.
Itinerary:
Day One
- Haiyan/Yolanda made landfall on the island of Samar early on Friday morning taking the following approach
Day Two
- By early Saturday, thousands were feared dead in hardest-hit Tacloban.
Day Three
- Fears surrounding the death toll in Tacloban escalated (although the government has since urged against unwarranted speculation). Many more were left without secure access to food, water and shelter. Even the famous San Juanico Bridge was reported as destroyed. UPDATE: the destruction of the bridge was reported in error. The bridge is, in fact, intact and now open again to traffic.
- Google has made this crisis map which shows the path of the typhoon, the areas affected, and posts for evacuation and relief efforts.
- Meanwhile, evacuation and safety measures were in full swing in Hainan and Vietnam.
Day Four
- On Monday, the weakened typhoon officially made landfall in northern Vietnam.
Day Five
- Today, northern Vietnam is facing strong winds and potential flooding as a result of what has now been downgraded to a severe tropical storm.
- The Google crisis map shows the current whereabouts of the storm.
Typhoon 101:
National Geographic gives us a three-minute video intro to weather. Then they tell us how typhoons come about and what’s unusual about Typhoon Yolanda.
From the Blogs:
Charly brings us Lieutenant Colonel Fermin Carangan’s story of survival from the worst-hit area of Tacloban.
Finding Dutchland (in Holland) has a neat summary of events, some links for those checking on family or friends, and one more suggestion of how you can help.
In the Philippines, Vanilla Housewife was ok, and believes those left will heal in the end. She also lists some options for donations. (Thanks, MrsV for the link to Charly’s blog.) Update: she is helping out with a donation drive – and you can help her help.
The Salt of Your Skin was affected by monsoons in the Philippines earlier this year, but managed to avoid this one. Update: she has put up a couple of posts about typhoon relief efforts.
Adrenaline Romance takes us to an area the storm didn’t touch to show us the beauty you can still find in other parts of the country. Update: read also this uplifting post about the ways in which relief is being coordinated.
If you’d like to give a shout out to any other bloggers who’ve spoken about the typhoon or live in the region, please feel free to leave a link in the comments.
Hello Bronwyn Joy,
Thank you so much for adding a link to our blog. We also went to Malapascua (an island at the northern part of Cebu) for a relief operation and medical mission. The island suffered much, but we were able to help in our own small way.
Typhoon Yolanda was devastating, but it also awoke the world’s sense of humanity, love, and caring.
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Good to hear of how you were able to help out. Hopefully the world’s sense of humanity will stay awake for a good, long stretch.
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Wonderful post. I can’t imagine how terrifying a typhoon would be on an island. I loved in Florida for a while, but we had plenty of warning when hurricanes approached and could easily travel inland.
Even here on the other side of the world, we’re working on donations and aid for the devstation in the Phillipines. Probably a drop in the bucket for all they’ll need, but it’s something.
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It’s all those drops that fill the bucket, though. I’m sure your efforts are appreciated by those affected.
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Great posting pulling it all together..thank you x
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Thanks. Hope it was useful.
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What a lovely gesture and wonderful idea. This is actually the first post I’ve seen on WP about the disaster. There are quite a lot of people reaching out in various ways here in Japan, I suppose because they know all to well how traumatic natural disasters are. Thank you for sharing
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Yes, I can see how the Japanese, having first-hand natural disaster experience, would also have great sympathy.
There are a few posts on WP but I’ve usually seen them from people with a Filipino connection. I’ve seen a couple more since this. When I wrote it I was yet to catch up with a colleague from Cebu. His family/friends are ok but have sustained a lot of economic losses. He flew out to them today and won’t be back til the new year.
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I unfortunately remember all too clearly how distraught a nation feels after such a disaster. But its amazing how a disaster often bonds people and creates a strong sense of community and comradeship, and kindness and humanity shine through. I hope that this is also the case in the Philippines. It seems that there has been quite a good global response in terms of aid, long may it continue.
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I get the impression that it is indeed happening in the Philippines as well. I wish we could get that same sort of bonding without the disaster, is all.
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Believe it or not, I didn’t know much about this. I’ve been traveling and a little behind on my news, blogs, and Facebook posts. Thanks for your insightful and well laid out post.
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Yes, it gets like that when you’re travelling. I know exactly what you mean. Glad you found it useful to get up to speed.
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cbholganzablog.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/a-survivors-story
This post gave me goosebumps. You cannot begin to imagine the fear they must have felt.
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Wow. Scary stuff. Thanks for the link – I’ve added it above.
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You’ve done a lot of research for your post. Sharing now.
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Thanks for sharing. Hopefully any of your followers who were thinking of helping out or wondering how to sum up for their kids will get a starting point. If you know of anyone else in the blogosphere who needs a mention on this one, let me know, too.
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I’m so happy to support doctors without boarders, especially when awful events like this happen. Excellent post, I’ll check out these new blogs
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Yes, it’s hard to choose sometimes – there have been some great suggestions going around (there must be a dozen mentioned at the links I put above) but Doctors Without Borders was one which stood out to me as I support them already.
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You have done lots of homework here. Thanks for searching information for everyone! My heart goes out to those affected. Luckily none of my Filipino friends’ families are affected. My company is doing a donation drive. I think everyone tries to contribute in one way or the other. And you did a meaningful one here.
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That’s good news about your friends and colleagues! It’s a spread out country and as they begin to rebuild I think it’s worth remembering that there are still plenty of places to take your tourist dollars which will in some small way help out with the rebuilding efforts. Of course donations are still needed in the immediate term. Your workplace has certainly leapt into action!
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Thank you for sharing the posts about this. I still cannot believe how much the Philippines have enduring this year. If I find any other posts, I will comment again.
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Thanks, please do. So far everyone I know or read from the Philippines comes from outside the affected area – it’s a pretty spread out nation after all – but quite a devastating storm.
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