Today’s CAROLINIAN
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Photographed by John Matthew Flores
#BANGONBAYAN: HAIYAN AFTERMATH
Kathleen Belleza
Early November 8, 2013, Friday, Haiyan made landfall in the archipelago’s central islands hitting again areas which were still recovering from the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck the region last month. Super Typhoon Yolanda, with the international name “Haiyan,” was declared the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year.
Region of the Philippines tragically devastated with areas such as Northern Cebu all the way to Samar and Leyte, particularly Tacloban City heavily affected. According to the Associated Press of Philippine Star, despite all the warnings broadcasted on state television and radio, some residents did not evacuate.
widespread and able to uproot hundreds of infrastructures in Tacloban City, later several news outlets began releasing satellite images of what was left of the city. As days pass, the death tolls of the affected areas increase in number; recently the count is still up by thousands, 1.9 million people are still missing as of November 15.
It was not until November 5, the initial advisory was issued by the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) and later updated through a public weather forecast. Days that followed through before the impact, officials in the Philippines already began evacuating people from coastal and landslide-prone regions of the country’s central islands also tapping all local disaster risk reduction and management councils to prepare for the onslaught of super typhoon. The government aimed for “zero casualty.”
Ma. Cecilia Monteverde, assistant weather services chief of PAGASA, however, admitted that more could have been done in explaining to the public the magnitude and gravity of a storm surge. Many statements have been released about said storm surge but this had not been stressed and properly defined to the people. The water was perhaps the most dangerous element during the impact of the typhoon as observers along the coast of Tacloban City reported waves at 50 feet in height.
As though the impact was already shocking, the aftermath surpassed all horrors of previous calamities in the country. With hundreds of miles of devastation, government officials and aid workers eager to act on the situation were at a halt after finding that it was nearly impossible to reach the most remote areas with electricity and cell phone towers down. The initial problem faced by the affected provinces in the region was the lack of communication and the condition of roads as they were impassable for the days that followed after the day of impact.
However, despite all efforts of prevention, Super Typhoon Yolanda has left the Visayan
Rain was intense and it quickly caused flooding from all directions. The storm was
Relief efforts from all over the country started pouring in when roads were slowly cleared off
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