UPDATE: Time to Reflect on Typhoon Haiyan

11 days have now passed since the typhoon hit the Philippines on November 8th. Aid is beginning to come in from many countries around the world, most notably the United States, Britain, and Australia, and attempts to estimate the damage of the storm is underway. It is estimated that the storm has killed or has left missing more than 5,000 people and displaced an estimated 4 MILLION PEOPLE! This was not your average typhoon.

Even now, due to the enormous amount of clean-up yet to be done, it is difficult to get aid to people inland who are in dire need of assistance. Transportation systems in some areas are essentially shut down and people are without food and clean water in areas that are the hardest to reach. This typhoon, although it was properly forecast and the Philippine Government made attempts to evacuate some of its citizens, the storm was massive in power and scope. The storm itself was historic. Experts including those at NASA have concluded that it may have been the most powerful tropical cyclone to ever make landfall. EVER!

The storm's width was 370 miles wide and contained sustained winds of 195 mph and gusts were reaching 235 mph. There was a 17 foot high storm surge in the heavily populated city of Tacloban and 27 inches of rain fell as a result of the storm. Some of these numbers are unfathomable. Relief efforts are underway and the time for reflection has started, even as some are waiting with little to no aid reaching them. Did the government do everything it could to protect its people from this storm? Why were thousands still living in unsafe, temporary housing structures as the storm approached? Why were so few people evacuated from the area? I do not know if we should start placing blame on the Philippine Government at this time when millions of people are still in need of help but one thing is for sure, we will be talking about extensively about this storm and the impact that it has had for a long, long time.

Take a few minutes and listen to an National Public Radio (NPR) story that shows hazard mitigation at work as NPR's Christopher Joyce reports on if displaced Filipino's should rebuild their homes in their previous locations due to the regions vulnerability by clicking here.

Sources: 

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/17/21496134-typhoon-haiyan-a-crisis-by-the-numbers?lite
http://www.wunderground.com/news/americans-killed-philippines-typhoon-haiyan-20131119
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=245949244&m=246015345