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Typhoon Haiyan Case Study

What were the primary and secondary effects of Typhoon Haiyan? What were the immediate and long-term responses?

What were the primary effects of Typhoon Haiyan?

Typhoon Haiyan, a category five typhoon, struck the Philippines, close to Tacloban on 8th November, 2013 at 4.40 am. The tropical storm originated in the northwest Pacific Ocean. It is one of the most powerful typhoons to affect the Philippines. Wind speeds of 314 kilometres per hour (195 miles per hour) were recorded.

Typhoon Haiyan

The primary effects of Typhoon Haiyan were:

• strong winds battered homes
• people were made homeless, particularly around Western and Eastern Visayas
• electric was interrupted
• airport badly damaged
• roads were blocked by fallen trees and other debris
• Leyte and Tacloban experienced a 5-metre storm surge, and 400mm of rainfall flooded an area of up to 1km inland
• 90% of Tacloban was destroyed
• 6190 people died
• 29,000 people were injured
• 4.1 million people were made homeless
• 14.1 million people affected
• The overall cost of damage was around $12 billion
• 1.1 million tonnes of crops destroyed
• 1.1 million houses damaged
• 1 million farmers and 600,000 hectares of farmland affected

The strong winds battered homes and even the evacuation centre buildings. Those made homeless were mainly in the Western and Eastern Visayas. Power was interrupted, the airport was severely damaged, and trees and debris blocked roads. Leyte and Tacloban had a five-metre storm surge, and 400 millimetres of heavy rainfall flooded one kilometre inland. Ninety per cent of the city of Tacloban was destroyed.

Debris lines the streets of Tacloban, Leyte island. This region was the worst affected by the typhoon, causing widespread damage and loss of life. Caritas responds by distributing food, shelter, hygiene kits and cooking utensils. (Photo: Eoghan Rice – Trócaire / Caritas)

Although the harvest season was over, rice and seed stocks were squandered in the storm surges, leading to a $53 million US dollars loss.

Over one-third of farmers and fishers lost their income, leading to a total loss of $724 million.

What were the secondary effects?

Social effects

• Infection and diseases spread, mainly due to contaminated surface and ground water.
• Survivors fought for food and supplies. Eight people died in a stampede for food supplies.
• Power supplies were cut off for months in some areas.
• Education was disrupted as many schools were destroyed.
• Seawater, chemicals and sewerage contaminated surface and groundwater.

Economic effects

• An oil tanker ran aground, causing an 800,000-litre oil leak that contaminated fishing waters.
• The airport was badly damaged and roads were blocked by debris and trees.
• Looting was rife, due to the lack of food and supplies.
• Rice prices had risen by nearly 12% by 2014.

Environmental effects

• The leak from the oil barge led to ten hectares of mangroves being contaminated.
• Flooding caused landslides.

What were the immediate responses?

The government issued a televised warning to people to prepare and evacuate.

Eight hundred thousand people were evacuated following a televised warning by the president. Many people found refuge in a stadium in Tacloban. However, many people died when it was flooded. The government provided essential equipment and medical supplies. A curfew was introduced two days after the typhoon to reduce looting.

Over 1,200 evacuation centres were set up to help the homeless.

Three days after the storm, the main airport was reopened, and emergency aid arrived. Power was restored in some regions after a week. One million food packs and 250,000 litres of water were distributed within two weeks.

Over $1.5 billion of foreign aid was pledged. Thirty-three countries and international organisations promised help, with rescue operations and an estimated US $ 88.871 million.

What were the long-term responses?

A cash for work programme paid people to clear debris and rebuild Tacloban.

The international charity organisation Oxfam replaced fishing boats.

Build Back Better is the government’s response to the typhoon. Launched in 2014, it intended to upgrade damaged buildings to protect them from future disasters. They have also set up a no-build zone along the coast in Eastern Visayas, a new storm surge warning system has been developed, and mangroves replanted to absorb future storm surges.

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Typhoon Haiyan: lessons from the response and how to prepare for the future

• Issue 63 The Typhoon Haiyan response
• 1 Coordinating the response to Typhoon Haiyan
• 2 Typhoon Haiyan: pushing the limits of DRR?
• 3 Assessing early warning efforts for Typhoon Haiyan in Leyte
• 4 Typhoon Haiyan: lessons from the response and how to prepare for the future
• 5 Constructing a culture of accountability: lessons from the Philippines
• 6 Pamati Kita: 'Let's Listen Together'
• 7 Coordination around communicating with disaster-affected communities: insights from Typhoon Haiyan
• 8 Engaging with clusters: empowering and learning from local organisations
• 9 Humanitarian partnerships: reality lags behind the rhetoric
• 10 ‘Recently noticed’ aid actors: MSF’s interaction with a changing humanitarian landscape
• 11 Are cash transfers the 'new normal' in the Philippines? Challenges and opportunities from Typhoon Haiyan
• 12 The private sector: stepping up
• 13 Urban shelter and settlement recovery: a 'menu of options' for households
• 14 Supporting shelter self-recovery: field experience following Typhoon Haiyan

Responding to multiple disasters

Be prepared, anticipate likely needs, mental health needs, a ‘baby boom’, strengthen long-term resilience.

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T yphoon Haiyan (known locally as Yolanda) made landfall in the Philippines on 8 November 2013. Just over a year on, this article reflects on what the World Health Organisation (WHO) – the co-lead for the health cluster alongside the Philippines Department of Health (DoH) – has learnt, how these lessons have influenced the response over time and what this means for responses to health emergencies in the future. The article is based on internal information from WHO’s own work, though it is hoped that the main findings will also be useful to other agencies.

The first lesson is that national agencies and the international community need to be ready to respond to multiple natural disasters each year in the Philippines. The country is one of the world’s most disaster-prone. Typhoon Haiyan was the third crisis to hit the country in two months, following conflict in Zamboanga and an earthquake in Bohol, which combined displaced 750,000 people. This meant that response services including national and international agencies and the Philippine army were already stretched.

WHO Philippines has been working with the DoH to set up Emergency Operations Centres in vulnerable areas of the country, and to establish a gold, silver and bronze command system The colours signify different levels of control within a hierarchical framework: gold for strategic, silver for tactical and bronze for operational.  to direct disaster responses. The agency has also been restocking and pre-positioning medical supplies and equipment in anticipation of more natural disasters, and is developing toolkits with the DoH for emergency preparedness. These toolkits will provide guidance on procedures and practices to ensure a quick response in the aftermath of an emergency. Both national and local governments are working to ensure that health structures are disaster resilient.

A second lesson is that, in any emergency response, aid agencies need to be prepared for the situation on the ground. Foreign medical teams need to bring enough food, water, shelter, fuel and communications equipment to be self-sufficient, particularly in areas that are physi-cally cut off and where communications are poor or non-existent. They also need to factor into their pre-arrival planning sufficient health supplies and capacity to deal with the health priorities and ground realities in the Philippines. Some teams came ready to treat the injured but had not considered the immediate demand for services for pregnant mothers or the need to replace daily medications. The country has a triple burden of disease: communicable and non-communicable diseases plus the impact of natural disasters on an already stretched health service. The Philippines also has the highest fertility rate in Asia: for some military medical teams accustomed to treating injuries it was a surprise to find they had to dust off their skills at delivering babies too. Some teams needed additional drug supplies from WHO Philippines to treat chronic heart disease and hypertension.

For efficient use of the medical personnel, facilities and medication brought in by foreign medical teams, it is essential to systematise the procedure for their deployment. WHO Philippines instigated a registration and briefing system to make sure foreign teams were prepared before they were deployed to areas needing support. WHO helped the DoH to coordinate over 150 foreign medical teams during the response. They held over 193,000 consultations, performed over 5,000 surgeries and assisted in over 1,200 deliveries.

A third lesson concerns anticipating what the needs will be during different phases of the response. In the first wave, the initial days and weeks are focused on treating the injured, providing equipment to newly disabled people and attending to pregnant women. A second wave of activity involves the prevention of disease outbreaks through the restarting of surveillance activities to track any potential outbreaks and an immunisation campaign across the whole affected area to protect children against measles, rubella and polio. This is coordinated by the national government, but UN agencies and foreign medical teams provide important support on disease surveillance and often participate in the delivery of immunisation campaigns. Measles is circulating constantly in the Philippines, and after a disaster children living in crowded conditions are particularly vulnerable to developing complications and even dying of the disease. In addition to poor living conditions, there can be large-scale migrations in the aftermath of a major disaster, which are likely to have an impact on immunisation needs.

In the first wave of immunisations conducted in the typhoon-affected area, almost 110,000 children were vaccinated against measles, and an expanded catch-up campaign in the National Capital Region in January–February 2014 saw an additional 1.7 million children immunised. In addition, there is an urgent need to get those living with TB and multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) back on treatment to prevent the spread of the disease and increased drug resistance. The typhoon-affected area had an estimated 26,249 TB cases with 356 cases of MDR-TB. By mid-December almost all TB patients were back in treatment services. There is also a need to prevent other communicable diseases such as dengue, which spreads quickly where mosquitos are able to breed among debris.

Disasters such as Typhoon Haiyan magnify the threat from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) because they disrupt access to and delivery of essential interventions, including medicines. This constitutes a third wave of activity. NCDs are among the top killers in the Philippines, accounting for more than 70% of the deaths recorded in the country annually. Within weeks of the typhoon there was a rise in the number of patients requiring treatment for NCDs, and as the months went on the risk of heart attacks and strokes grew significantly due to the stress of the situation combined with long-term health problems. In the first three months after the disaster, 14,000 consultations were reported for hypertension alone. Another 1,770 consultations were reported for diabetes. The need to address NCDs proactively before a natural disaster and to ensure sufficient care in the aftermath was a key lesson from the response to Haiyan. WHO provided additional supplies for NCD treatment to the foreign medical teams that came to assist in the response as many had not anticipated the level of demand.

Within three to four months after a disaster there is a transition from an emergency response to an early recovery phase. Emergency response activities such as supplementary feeding programmes close down and free health care dries up as foreign medical teams leave. This transition can lead to further health challenges that have to be planned for and managed. For example, in many of the typhoon-affected areas malnutrition was already a problem. The concern was that this would be exacerbated when feeding programmes finished. WHO has been promoting breastfeeding of newborns and infants as a way to improve child health, and has trained health workers to treat severe acute malnutrition in particular. Meanwhile, as public water supply systems are restored, they need to be tested for water quality. Results of water quality testing done in priority areas of region 8 revealed the presence of bacteriological contamination in a third of the samples collected. There was a clear need for training and skills enhancement of water safety engineers to ensure safe water supplies. WHO has trained 340 sanitary inspectors on water quality management and distributed test kits to nine provinces and two cities.

In the first few weeks after a disaster it is essential to provide psychosocial first aid, particularly to people who have lost family, homes or livelihoods. However, mental health impacts begin to really show after around six months, when the initial adrenalin rush dies away and morale and energy dip. Responding to mental health needs requires a fourth wave of activity. WHO estimates that, in humanitarian emergencies, the percentage of people suffering from depression or anxiety disorders can double from a baseline of 10% to about 20%, while the percentage of people with severe mental disorders can increase by up to 50%.

Finally, there is typically a ‘baby boom’ following a disaster. More women become pregnant than previously expected, leading to greater demand for prenatal care and for food and vaccines for children following their birth. This puts additional pressure on health services just as many aid agencies are pulling out. This fifth wave of health needs requires a scaling up of services and a longer-term plan to serve the needs of a growing population.

Given these multiple waves of health needs it is important that health teams do not all rush in at once, but that assistance is staggered to make sure that people’s needs are met for months – not just weeks – after the disaster. This is a question of coordination and requires the support of donors and aid agency managers. WHO Philippines was particularly grateful to those teams that held back and took over once the initial rush had subsided and others had pulled out. It is important to recognise the work that was done after the TV cameras had gone. Considerable health needs remain more than a year after the typhoon, with implications for the management and funding of the health aspects of the response given that most funding tends to finish within 12 months. Ultimately, there has to be a sixth wave of activity: the transition from recovery to development, with a multi-year plan in place to ensure the full restoration of health services to all those in the affected areas. This requires investment in health planning, information management and capacity-building at all levels.

A final lesson therefore concerns how to strengthen resilience for the future, particularly given the frequency and severity of natural disasters in the Philippines. We know that the health facilities that best withstood the typhoon were often originally built and supported by the community. It is at the level of communities that this resilience has to be forged. To build resilience at local level requires improving the skills of community health workers. First aid training can help ensure that communities are able to assist the injured before national and international teams have reached them. Resilience also needs to be built into the construction and management of health facilities, and WHO has included building plans, design parameters and guidelines for rebuilding health facilities in two photobooks published by the DoH, entitled Rising Anew: Health at the Heart of Healing . These health facilities require a predictable supply of clean water and electricity – services that are sadly lacking even in areas not hit by the typhoon. To improve this situation, local officials need to understand where these services are absent and take charge of rectifying this. WHO Philippines has worked hard with the DoH to map the status of health infrastructure and health services. This process is ongoing and will guide recovery operations.

The Philippines faces multiple natural disasters each year, and to respond to them we need to have the right emergency services and systems in place. The structure created to deal with disasters has to be able to handle multiple waves of health needs over months and, in the case of a disaster on the scale of Haiyan, for years after the event. This requires investment in health planning, information management and capacity-building at all levels. WHO Philippines continues to work with the national government and international partners to ensure the full restoration of health services to all those in typhoon-affected areas.

Dr Julie Hall MBE is the WHO Representative to the Philippines.

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Issue 63 Contents

Environmental and Disaster Displacement Policy pp 129–158 Cite as

Typhoon Haiyan: Context, Actors and Response

• Silvana Lakeman 2  
• First Online: 22 October 2021

208 Accesses

This chapter provides an overview of how key actors prepared and reacted to Typhoon Haiyan, and defines key issues surrounding the disaster. Entities considered include the government of the Philippines, the international humanitarian response (of which the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR] and the International Organization for Migration [IOM] were part) and, finally, affected communities. This chapter introduces, then provides a basic level of context to, the disaster itself and provides a backdrop against which to sufficiently consider and situate specific priorities of the UNHCR and IOM in response to Typhoon Haiyan.

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Lakeman, S. (2022). Typhoon Haiyan: Context, Actors and Response. In: Environmental and Disaster Displacement Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84539-1_4

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On 2 November 2013, a low-pressure area developed in the Pacific Ocean, which was upgraded to a tropical storm named Haiyan on 4 November. The storm moved onwards, eventually making landfall in the Philippines on 8 November at 4:40 am local time as a Category 5 storm. With wind speeds up to 195 mph/315 km/h and gusts up to 235 mph/376 km/h, it wreaks havoc before moving on, eventually disintegrating over Guangxi, China. When the storm passed, more than 14 million people were heavily affected by the path of Typhoon Haiyan, the most powerful storm in 2013 and one of the most powerful typhoons of all time. Read on to learn more about this devastating storm's effects on the Philippines.

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Typhoon Haiyan case study

Typhoon Haiyan was one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded; it was also the second deadliest typhoon recorded in the Philippines, after Typhoon Haiphong in 1881. Read on to learn more about the Typhoon Haiyan case study.

Did you know: in the Philippines, Typhoon Haiyan is also known as Typhoon Yolanda

Path of Typhoon Haiyan

Typhoon Haiyan did not start out as a typhoon at all. It originated as a low-pressure area in the Federated States of Micronesia (in the western Pacific Ocean) on 2 November 2013.

The storm moved westwards, and by 4 November, it had gradually developed into a tropical storm, now named Haiyan. Then, things progressed quickly as the storm became a typhoon by 5 November. By 6 November, Typhoon Haiyan became a Category 5 storm that hit parts of Micronesia and Palau with wind speeds of over 157 mph/252 km/h.

Typhoon Haiyan entered the Philippines on 7 November and made landfall in Eastern Samar at 4:40 am on 8 November. It hits with full Category 5 force, leaving a path of destruction throughout several areas of the Philippines, mainly the Visayas, the central island group of the Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan moves out into the South China Sea, heading towards Vietnam by 9 November. By this time, the typhoon has weakened into a storm. The storm, already weakened, made landfall in northeast Vietnam on 10 November until it eventually disintegrated into bands of rain over Guanxi, China, on 11 November.

Typhoon Haiyan category

Typhoons are categorised into five categories based on the Saffir-Sampson Hurricane Wind scales. These categories are based on sustained wind speeds. Categories 1 and 2 are destructive, with winds between 74 to 95 mph (Category 1) and 96 to 110 mph (Category 2). If the wind speeds increase further, the storm can be updated to a Category 3, with speeds between 111 and 129 mph, and a Category 4, with wind speeds between 130 and 156 mph. These categories are labelled ‘catastrophic’. When sustained winds reach or go beyond 157 mph, it will become a Category 5, a storm that causes pure devastation. Typhoon Haiyan was a Category 5 when it hit the Philippines.

The table below shows the dates and wind speeds of the storm.

Primary effects of Typhoon Haiyan

Typhoon Haiyan had massive effects on the places where it passed/touched land. The primary effects were:

• 1.1 million homes were badly damaged or completely destroyed, and 4.1 million people became homeless, particularly around Eastern and Western Visayas (Philippines).
• Other buildings were also damaged.
• Powerlines were damaged.
• Communication was down.
• Tacloban Airport in Leyte province (Philippines) was damaged.
• Roads were blocked by debris and fallen trees.
• The infrastructure was damaged.
• There was a 5-metre storm surge in Leyte and Tacloban (Philippines). Furthermore, both places were affected by 400mm of rainfall which flooded the area up to 1km inland.
• Approximately 90% of Tacloban (Philippines) was destroyed.
• Approximately 1.1 million tonnes of crops were destroyed.
• Around 600,000 hectares of farmland were affected.
• Over 3/4 of farmers and fishers lost their income, a loss of $724 million.
• Even though harvest season was over, rice and seeds were lost in the storm surges, a loss of $53 million.
• The overall cost of damage was estimated at $12 billion.
• A total of 14.1 million people were affected, and 6,190 people lost their lives. To this day, there are still people missing. The estimated death toll is as high as 10,000.

Did you know: Bodies were discovered even well into 2019, 6 years after the storm!

Apart from the primary effects mentioned above, there were also secondary effects. An oil barge was stranded at Estancia, leaking a staggering 800,000 litres of oil. The oil contaminated the waters, killing marine life, and it caused a stop to fishing. The oil even contaminated 10 hectares of mangroves 10km inland!

The damage to the agricultural and fishing industries caused a food shortage. People began looting and fighting over food and supplies; eight people died during a stampede for rice supplies. The damage to fields and rice seeds caused rice prices to rise by 11.9% by 2014.

The flooding damaged people’s houses and agriculture and caused surface and groundwater to be contaminated with seawater, debris, industrial and agricultural chemicals, and sewage systems. Water was now contaminated, and there were increased chances of infection and the spreading of diseases.

The local government collapsed in many areas because many local officials died during the storm. This had a significant impact as it took some time to get everything in (working) order.

Typhoon Haiyan responses

In the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, there were immediate and long-term responses. Let’s take a closer look at both.

Immediate responses

Benigno Aquino III, then-President of the Philippines, televised a warning of the upcoming storm, and the authorities evacuated 800,000 people. An indoor stadium in Tacloban had a reinforced roof to withstand typhoon winds, so many sought refuge here, thinking they were safe. While they were safe from the typhoon winds, unfortunately, many people died when the following water flooded the stadium. Ahead of the storm, the government ensured that essential equipment and medical supplies were sent out; however, in one region, these were washed away.

There were worries about substantial outbreaks of diseases such as cholera, which would only increase the death toll. The WHO (World Health Organisation) and other relief agencies took prompt actions to ensure that such outbreaks were kept isolated and to a minimum.

Three days after the storm had passed, Tacloban Airport was open again, and emergency supplies began arriving by plane, with one million food packs and 250,000 litres of water distributed within two weeks.

The storm also led to looting, where houses and shops were broken into, and goods were stolen. In light of this, a curfew was imposed just two days after the storm. Furthermore, power was entirely or partially restored, depending on the region, in a week.

Thirty-three countries and international organisations pledged help to the affected regions. Support came in the form of rescue operations and aid estimated at $88.871 million. Among those who helped were celebrities such as the Beckhams and large multinationals such as Coca-Cola, Apple and FIFA, who donated money and used their status and influence to help raise global awareness of the Philippines' predicament and encourage the public to donate. Over $1.5 billion in foreign aid was pledged.

Did you know : the Aquino government got a lot of criticism for acting slowly in the relief efforts?

Long-term responses

Along with the immediate responses mentioned above, there were also a few important, long-term responses.

In July 2014, the Philippine government stated they were working on the country’s long-term recovery. The primary long-term response is the so-called ‘Build Back Better.' This means that buildings would not simply be rebuilt but would also be upgraded to offer better protection when, not if, a new disaster strikes.

Other long-term responses are a ‘no build zone’ along Eastern Visayas’ coast, a new storm surge warning system, the replanting of mangroves, and plans to build the Tacloban-Palo-Tanauan Road Dike. The latter should be able to help protect the area from floods .

Typhoon Haiyan facts

Here are some quick facts about Typhoon Haiyan:

• Typhoon Haiyan, also known as Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines, was a Category 5 typhoon by the time it hit the Philippines.
• Coconut, rice and sugarcane production accounted for 12.7% of the Philippines’ GDP before Typhoon Haiyan hit.
• On 7 November, the Tacloban area was struck by the northern eyewall. This is the most powerful part of the storm.
• The Philippines is a poverty-stricken area in general. This means that the area had poor defences against storms, to begin with; it also means that the storm had even more significant consequences as homes and other buildings were damaged, fishing and agriculture were damaged, and there were even fewer resources such as food and water than before the storm.
• It took a considerable amount of time to recover from Typhoon Haiyan. There were immediate issues such as damaged houses/buildings, infrastructure and food problems, and long-term social, economic and environmental impacts that had to be addressed. While some of the more immediate issues were dealt with rather quickly, some long-term issues took years. That said, five years after the storm, the Philippines, and Tacloban, in particular, have recovered, and things were back to normal.

Typhoon Haiyan - Key takeaways

• Typhoon Haiyan, also known as Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines, was one of the strongest cyclones ever recorded, namely Category 5, and the second deadliest in the Philippines.
• Many primary effects were damaged homes, agricultural and fishing businesses, and loss of life.
• One of the more dire secondary effects was weakened local governments because many government officials died or went missing.
• The Philippine government were criticised for reacting slowly to the storm and its aftermath.
• Long-term responses include a 'Build Back Better' where houses were not only rebuilt but upgraded to withstand storms better, and a ‘no build zone’ along Eastern Visayas’ coast.
• Fig. 2: Destruction in Tacloban, the Philippines, on 14 November 2013, 2 weeks after Typhoon Haiyan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tacloban_Typhoon_Haiyan_2013-11-14.jpg) by Trocaire (https://www.flickr.com/people/8485582@N07) Licensed by CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en)

Frequently Asked Questions about Typhoon Haiyan

--> where did typhoon haiyan start and end .

Typhoon Haiyan started in the Federated States of Micronesia (in the western Pacific Ocean) and ended over the Guanxi region in China. 

--> What was the category of Typhoon Haiyan? 

Typhoon Haiyan was a Category 5 storm.

--> What were the effects of Typhoon Haiyan? 

There were many primary effects, such as loss of life, damaged homes, damage to agricultural and fishing industries, and an overall estimated cost of $12 billion.

--> What did the government do after Typhoon Haiyan? 

The government was initially slow to respond and was criticised for it. Eventually, they acted. The primary long-term response is the 'Build Back Better', an initiative where homes and buildings were not only rebuilt but also upgraded to offer better protection against future storms. Furthermore, they opted for a 'no build' zone along Eastern Visayas' coast, new storm surge warning systems, replanting of mangroves, and the Tacloban-Palo-Tanauan Road Dike.

--> How long did it take the Philippines to recover from Typhoon Haiyan? 

While certain issues were resolved relatively quickly, such as getting the power working again, other issues took longer. About 5 years after the storm, the Philippines, and Tacloban in particular, have recovered, and things were back to normal.  

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Philippines Typhoon Haiyan Response

Introduction: The U.S. military connected with Typhoon Haiyan responders on APAN.

On November 8, 2013, the Republic of the Philippines was hit by Typhoon Haiyan (known in the Philippines as Typhoon Yolanda), the strongest storm to hit landfall in recorded history. Following the disaster, approximately 11 million people were left without homes, clean water, food and medicine. The U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) was able to support disaster response efforts with the help of an APAN community for collaboration between the U.S. military, multiple foreign governments, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Challenges: Information needed to be shared with the Philippine government, foreign militaries and nongovernmental organizations participating in the response effort.

Within hours of the storm reaching land, multiple disaster relief efforts were deployed. U.S. military support needed to be coordinated in concert with multiple countries, organizations, and individuals. Traditional information silos created a challenge for responders who did not have access to the same information.

Solutions: The U.S. Pacific Command launched the Typhoon Haiyan Response Group on APAN to provide organizations and militaries of multiple countries a centralized location to share information, increase situational awareness, and decrease response time.

Finding answers to the collection of questions generated after Typhoon Haiyan became a concern for everyone supporting the Philippine recovery. A request for information (RFI) or assistance (RFA) would normally require numerous emails and phone calls, but with a single post to an APAN forum, a request could reach the same list of people with one posting. Supplying answers to questions on the forums allowed other users with similar questions to see the information later, greatly reducing duplicated efforts. Every day, responding militaries, humanitarian organizations, and universities from multiple countries produced numerous situation reports on the disaster response activities. Having a common community allowed users to host, announce, and keep these reports available in a single location which created maximized situational awareness and decreased duplication of efforts. Due to the extensive amount of information generated, having different methods available to filter and display information was imperative to enabling responders to quickly find relevant information. Tags were used to sort and categorize content by a specific focus area or topic. Information could also be focused and displayed on maps allowing responders to convey a great deal of information quickly. The Typhoon Haiyan group featured a map which allowed users to see a graphical, up-to-date representation of the damaged areas including the level of severity. Maps enabled responders to prioritize tasks quickly based on location.

Results: Responders had immediate updates on events, expanded situational awareness, and greatly reduced duplication of efforts. The community’s flexibility allowed it to evolve as the response efforts continued.

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Philippines

Four years after Haiyan, communities are more resilient

Typhoon Yolanda, internationally known as Haiyan, has become a name that’s hard to forget. The super typhoon wiped out homes, killed more than 6,000 people, and devastated agricultural lands leaving those who survived homeless and without any source of income. But for the people who witnessed its wrath, the only way to move forward was to pick up the pieces and rise.

Four years after Haiyan, affected poor and vulnerable communities in Visayas, Central Philippines have been engaged in various activities and trainings to recover, better prepare for disasters and adapt to climate change impact.

International humanitarian organization CARE has supported more than 600,000 people through different livelihood recovery programs providing cash grants and skill-building trainings to women microentrepreneurs, farmers, fisher folks, and commodity producers and processors.

“The country is regularly affected by typhoons and other hazards, and these hamper the recovery process. CARE works with these communities in building resilience to disasters and engaging more women to lead and participate,” said David Gazashvili, CARE’s Country Director in the Philippines.

According to the 2016 World Risk Index, the Philippines is the third most disaster-prone country in the world. After Haiyan, the country suffered from relatively strong typhoons such as Hagupit in 2014, Koppu and Melor in 2015 and Sarika and Haima in 2016.

CARE is currently supporting over 280 community associations such as women’s organizations, farmers and fisherfolks’ groups and local cooperatives through trainings on entrepreneurship, organic farming, sustainable agriculture, hazard mapping and contingency planning for disaster preparedness, gender and development, climate change mitigation and other industry-focused subjects.

CARE’s assisted community organizations are now practicing organic farming and applying other eco-friendly and innovative agricultural techniques. Farmers and commodity processors are now using solar dryers for their products, building structures according to “Build back safer” techniques and ensuring that their livelihoods don’t degrade the ecosystem.

“The biggest challenge for these communities is to protect their assets from various hazards that’s why our emergency response is part of a long-term commitment. We place great importance on building local capacity, partnerships with local organizations and strengthening women’s participation,” shared Gazashvili.

Aside from financial support, CARE has partnered with various local non-government organizations, government agencies and local government units, universities and training institutions to provide technical assistance to people affected by Haiyan.

CARE continues to work with the affected people and reach more communities in the Philippines. CARE works in the most vulnerable and geographically isolated areas affected by Haiyan, with special attention given to women and girls and the most marginalized.

About CARE: CARE is one of the world’s largest humanitarian organizations supporting more than 963 poverty-fighting development and humanitarian-aid projects in 94 countries. CARE has worked in the Philippines since 1949, providing emergency relief when disaster strikes, helping communities prepare for disasters, and implementing sustainable livelihood projects. CARE’s past responses in the Philippines include typhoon Pablo (Bopha) in 2012, Yolanda (Haiyan) in 2013, Ruby (Hagupit) in 2014, (Koppu) and (Melor) in 2015, (Sarika), Lawin (Haima), Nina (Nock-ten) in 2016, earthquake in Surigao City and Marawi armed conflict in 2017.

Media Contacts:

David Gazashvili, Country Director, CARE Philippines +63 917 510 6974 ([email protected]) Dennis Amata, Information and Communications Manager, CARE Philippines +63 917 510 8150 ([email protected])

*For updates on CARE’s work in the Philippines, please follow @CAREphl on Twitter and CARE Philippines on Facebook

For more on our work in the Philippines, click here.

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The Typhoon Haiyan Response: Strengthening Coordination among Philippine Government, Civil Society, and International Actors

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Typhoon Haiyan devastated the central Philippines in November 2013, claiming more than 6,300 lives, displacing more than 4 million people, and disrupting the economy and livelihoods in some of the country’s poorest regions for years to come.

The Haiyan response has been held up as a largely effective humanitarian operation, and the transition from response to recovery phases was swift. However, evaluations have also found that the international operation failed to adequately join with national systems and overlooked civil society coordination opportunities.

With these coordination gaps and potential opportunities in mind, this discussion paper examines factors that affected the Philippine government’s ability to coordinate the Haiyan response and the international community’s ability to participate. 

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Tropical Storms Case Study: Haiyan

Typhoon haiyan (2013).

Typhoon Haiyan was a Category 5 ‘super’ typhoon that affected the Philippines in November 2013.

• The storm formed over the warm tropical waters of the Pacific Ocean and moved westwards.
• Winds reached 275 km/hr.
• The storm surge devastated the city of Tacloban on the island of Leyte.

Primary effects

• 6,300 were killed.
• Damage to 40,000 homes.
• 90% of the city of Tacloban was destroyed.

Secondary effects

• Roads were blocked by landslides that were caused by flooding.
• Disease outbreaks were caused by a lack of clean water and sanitation.

Responses to Typhoon Haiyan

• Overseas aid from NGOs (non-governmental organisations).
• 1,200 evacuation centres were set up.
• Aid in the forms of finance and supplies from the UN (United Nations).
• Homes were rebuilt in safer areas.

1 The Challenge of Natural Hazards

1.1 Natural Hazards

1.1.1 Types of Natural Hazards

1.1.2 Hazard Risk

1.1.3 Consequences of Natural Hazards

1.1.4 End of Topic Test - Natural Hazards

1.1.5 Exam-Style Questions - Natural Hazards

1.2 Tectonic Hazards

1.2.1 Tectonic Plates

1.2.2 Tectonic Plates & Convection Currents

1.2.3 Plate Margins

1.2.4 Volcanoes

1.2.5 Effects of Volcanoes

1.2.6 Responses to Volcanic Eruptions

1.2.7 Earthquakes

1.2.8 Earthquakes 2

1.2.9 Responses to Earthquakes

1.2.10 Case Studies: The L'Aquila & Kashmir Earthquakes

1.2.11 Earthquake Case Study: Chile 2010

1.2.12 Earthquake Case Study: Nepal 2015

1.2.13 Living with Tectonic Hazards 1

1.2.14 Living with Tectonic Hazards 2

1.2.15 End of Topic Test - Tectonic Hazards

1.2.16 Exam-Style Questions - Tectonic Hazards

1.2.17 Tectonic Hazards - Statistical Skills

1.3 Weather Hazards

1.3.1 Global Atmospheric Circulation

1.3.2 Surface Winds

1.3.3 UK Weather Hazards

1.3.4 Tropical Storms

1.3.5 Features of Tropical Storms

1.3.6 Impact of Tropical Storms 1

1.3.7 Impact of Tropical Storms 2

1.3.8 Tropical Storms Case Study: Katrina

1.3.9 Tropical Storms Case Study: Haiyan

1.3.10 UK Weather Hazards Case Study: Somerset 2014

1.3.11 End of Topic Test - Weather Hazards

1.3.12 Exam-Style Questions - Weather Hazards

1.3.13 Weather Hazards - Statistical Skills

1.4 Climate Change

1.4.1 Evidence for Climate Change

1.4.2 Causes of Climate Change

1.4.3 Effects of Climate Change

1.4.4 Managing Climate Change

1.4.5 End of Topic Test - Climate Change

1.4.6 Exam-Style Questions - Climate Change

1.4.7 Climate Change - Statistical Skills

2 The Living World

2.1 Ecosystems

2.1.1 Ecosystems

2.1.2 Ecosystem Cascades & Global Ecosystems

2.1.3 Ecosystem Case Study: Freshwater Ponds

2.2 Tropical Rainforests

2.2.1 Tropical Rainforests - Intro & Interdependence

2.2.2 Adaptations

2.2.3 Biodiversity of Tropical Rainforests

2.2.4 Deforestation

2.2.5 Case Study: Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest

2.2.6 Sustainable Management of Rainforests

2.2.7 Case Study: Malaysian Rainforest

2.2.8 End of Topic Test - Tropical Rainforests

2.2.9 Exam-Style Questions - Tropical Rainforests

2.2.10 Deforestation - Statistical Skills

2.3 Hot Deserts

2.3.1 Overview of Hot Deserts

2.3.2 Biodiversity & Adaptation to Hot Deserts

2.3.3 Case Study: Sahara Desert

2.3.4 Desertification

2.3.5 Case Study: Thar Desert

2.3.6 End of Topic Test - Hot Deserts

2.3.7 Exam-Style Questions - Hot Deserts

2.4 Tundra & Polar Environments

2.4.1 Overview of Cold Environments

2.4.2 Adaptations in Cold Environments

2.4.3 Biodiversity in Cold Environments

2.4.4 Case Study: Alaska

2.4.5 Sustainable Management

2.4.6 Case Study: Svalbard

2.4.7 End of Topic Test - Tundra & Polar Environments

2.4.8 Exam-Style Questions - Cold Environments

3 Physical Landscapes in the UK

3.1 The UK Physical Landscape

3.1.1 The UK Physical Landscape

3.2 Coastal Landscapes in the UK

3.2.1 Types of Wave

3.2.2 Weathering & Mass Movement

3.2.3 Processes of Erosion & Wave-Cut Platforms

3.2.4 Headlands, Bays, Caves, Arches & Stacks

3.2.5 Transportation

3.2.6 Deposition

3.2.7 Spits, Bars & Sand Dunes

3.2.8 Case Study: Landforms on the Dorset Coast

3.2.9 Types of Coastal Management 1

3.2.10 Types of Coastal Management 2

3.2.11 Coastal Management Case Study - Holderness

3.2.12 Coastal Management Case Study: Swanage

3.2.13 Coastal Management Case Study - Lyme Regis

3.2.14 End of Topic Test - Coastal Landscapes in the UK

3.2.15 Exam-Style Questions - Coasts

3.3 River Landscapes in the UK

3.3.1 The River Valley

3.3.2 River Valley Case Study - River Tees

3.3.3 Erosion

3.3.4 Transportation & Deposition

3.3.5 Waterfalls, Gorges & Interlocking Spurs

3.3.6 Meanders & Oxbow Lakes

3.3.7 Floodplains & Levees

3.3.8 Estuaries

3.3.9 Case Study: The River Clyde

3.3.10 River Management

3.3.11 Hard & Soft Flood Defences

3.3.12 River Management Case Study - Boscastle

3.3.13 River Management Case Study - Banbury

3.3.14 End of Topic Test - River Landscapes in the UK

3.3.15 Exam-Style Questions - Rivers

3.4 Glacial Landscapes in the UK

3.4.1 Erosion

3.4.2 Landforms Caused by Erosion

3.4.3 Landforms Caused by Transportation & Deposition

3.4.4 Snowdonia

3.4.5 Land Use in Glaciated Areas

3.4.6 Tourism in Glacial Landscapes

3.4.7 Case Study - Lake District

3.4.8 End of Topic Test - Glacial Landscapes in the UK

3.4.9 Exam-Style Questions - Glacial Landscapes

4 Urban Issues & Challenges

4.1 Urban Issues & Challenges

4.1.1 Urbanisation

4.1.2 Urbanisation Case Study: Lagos

4.1.3 Urbanisation Case Study: Rio de Janeiro

4.1.4 UK Cities

4.1.5 Case Study: Urban Regen Projects - Manchester

4.1.6 Case Study: Urban Change in Liverpool

4.1.7 Case Study: Urban Change in Bristol

4.1.8 Sustainable Urban Life

4.1.9 End of Topic Test - Urban Issues & Challenges

4.1.10 Exam-Style Questions - Urban Issues & Challenges

4.1.11 Urban Issues -Statistical Skills

5 The Changing Economic World

5.1 The Changing Economic World

5.1.1 Measuring Development

5.1.2 Classifying Countries Based on Wealth

5.1.3 The Demographic Transition Model

5.1.4 Physical & Historical Causes of Uneven Development

5.1.5 Economic Causes of Uneven Development

5.1.6 How Can We Reduce the Global Development Gap?

5.1.7 Case Study: Tourism in Kenya

5.1.8 Case Study: Tourism in Jamaica

5.1.9 Case Study: Economic Development in India

5.1.10 Case Study: Aid & Development in India

5.1.11 Case Study: Economic Development in Nigeria

5.1.12 Case Study: Aid & Development in Nigeria

5.1.13 Economic Development in the UK

5.1.14 Economic Development UK: Industry & Rural

5.1.15 Economic Development UK: Transport & North-South

5.1.16 Economic Development UK: Regional & Global

5.1.17 End of Topic Test - The Changing Economic World

5.1.18 Exam-Style Questions - The Changing Economic World

5.1.19 Changing Economic World - Statistical Skills

6 The Challenge of Resource Management

6.1 Resource Management

6.1.1 Global Distribution of Resources

6.1.2 Food in the UK

6.1.3 Water in the UK 1

6.1.4 Water in the UK 2

6.1.5 Energy in the UK

6.1.6 Resource Management - Statistical Skills

6.2.1 Areas of Food Surplus & Food Deficit

6.2.2 Food Supply & Food Insecurity

6.2.3 Increasing Food Supply

6.2.4 Case Study: Thanet Earth

6.2.5 Creating a Sustainable Food Supply

6.2.6 Case Study: Agroforestry in Mali

6.2.7 End of Topic Test - Food

6.2.8 Exam-Style Questions - Food

6.2.9 Food - Statistical Skills

6.3.1 The Global Demand for Water

6.3.2 What Affects the Availability of Water?

6.3.3 Increasing Water Supplies

6.3.4 Case Study: Water Transfer in China

6.3.5 Sustainable Water Supply

6.3.6 Case Study: Kenya's Sand Dams

6.3.7 Case Study: Lesotho Highland Water Project

6.3.8 Case Study: Wakel River Basin Project

6.3.9 Exam-Style Questions - Water

6.3.10 Water - Statistical Skills

6.4.1 Global Demand for Energy

6.4.2 Factors Affecting Energy Supply

6.4.3 Increasing Energy Supply: Renewables

6.4.4 Increasing Energy Supply: Non-Renewables

6.4.5 Carbon Footprints & Energy Conservation

6.4.6 Case Study: Rice Husks in Bihar

6.4.7 Exam-Style Questions - Energy

6.4.8 Energy - Statistical Skills

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Tropical Storms Case Study: Katrina

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Take 10: Typhoon Haiyan

Appealing black and white revision strips to help GCSE students learn and recall key facts about the Typhoon Haiyan case study.

The PowerPoint slides present the key information, associating each fact with an icon to make it memorable through the technique of dual coding. Students can then annotate the printable revision strips or use them to test recall.

The Word document includes exam-style questions on the relative importance of environmental impacts and social impacts, and of short-term and long-term responses. The questions and mark scheme were written with the Eduqas B GCSE geography specification in mind, but the rest of the resource is likely to be relevant to all exam boards.

An extract from the revision tips section:

Connect one idea to the next to create a chain of knowledge. For example:

• Typhoon Haiyan occurred in the Philippines, Pacific Ocean. When did it make landfall?
• On 7 November 2013. And how strong was it?
• Category 5, with gusts of up to 235 mph and a landfall windspeed of 195 mph. What impact did it have on agriculture?
• 71,000 hectares of farmland were affected, and $85 million was lost from damage to farms.

Carry on in the same way, making connections …

All reviews

Resources you might like.

Failure of the Immediate Response to Typhoon Haiyan

Subscribe to this week in foreign policy, elizabeth ferris elizabeth ferris former brookings expert, research professor, institute for the study of international migration - georgetown university @beth_ferris.

November 15, 2013

On Tuesday, I wrote a blog post on “ Typhoon Haiyan: Four Questions About This Super Storm and Major Humanitarian Disaster ” and now a few days later and after much discussion on the comments section of the post, I want to revisit this issue.

To start, I wish I were in the Philippines right now , seeing firsthand what is happening and talking to people affected by the disaster and to those who are trying to help. But I’m not on the ground and so all of my comments are based on my experience in responding to many other disasters . Valerie Amos , the senior UN official responsible for disaster response, said yesterday the international response was too slow. This is a very sad commentary (but bravo to her for not hiding behind the obvious reasons for the slow arrival of aid). Personally, I find it terribly frustrating to read all these comments and not be able to give definitive answers about the specific Philippines context. I don’t know if corruption and looting are worse in the Haiyan/Yolanda response than is the norm in the Philippines. I do know that natural disasters often lead to sensationalist stories of chaos and looting that turn out later to be exaggerated. 

I hope that this terrible tragedy leads to some serious soul-searching by the government of the Philippines and by the international community.

When a terrible disaster occurs, most immediately, people want to find their family members – this is often a more urgent need than food or shelter. By the second or third day, they need basic life-saving assistance to survive – they urgently need food, water and shelter. They also need to know that family members that have died in the tragedy will be buried in accord with their religion and traditions. When they don’t get information about their family members, when they don’t receive the basic assistance they need, people get angry. They deserve to be angry. I hope that this terrible tragedy leads to some serious soul-searching by the government of the Philippines and by the international community.

Re: the evacuations, I was initially encouraged to read of the government’s efforts to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people – and then very saddened to learn that some were evacuated to shelters that then flooded. Was this poor planning by the government – or the result of a much-stronger storm surge than anyone expected? I don’t know. Maybe we’ll get more information in the coming weeks with the inevitable post-mortems. But maybe all governments should take this as a wake-up call and plan for stronger storms and worse wildfires and more devastating droughts than has been the experience.

Also on the subject of evacuations, in most disasters, many people are reluctant to evacuate their homes, even when they know that dangerous hazards are coming, for fear of being robbed or losing their property.  How far should governments go in forcing people to evacuate? On a personal note, I’m from south Texas where uncounted hundreds of people chose not to evacuate from Hurricane Ike in 2008 . Every time I drive that stretch of road along the beach and see only sand where houses used to stand, I wish that people had left when the evacuation orders had been issued. I also wish that the police had been able to force people to evacuate when the deadly warnings were so clear. (By the way, I’m presently trying to develop some guidance to governments on how to protect the human rights of those being evacuated and would welcome comments on whether governments should forcibly evacuate those who don’t want to move, even when the danger signs are clear.) 

Most of all as I read the news from the Philippines, I feel terribly sad – for the people affected by this terrible tragedy – the response (from all sides) should have been much quicker. Things are getting better, but at least in terms of immediate response, we failed.

Humanitarian & Disaster Assistance Migrants, Refugees & Internally Displaced Persons

Foreign Policy

Asia & the Pacific

Tarek Ghani, Juan S. Lozano, Anouk Rigterink, Jacob N. Shapiro

March 13, 2024

David G. Victor

December 7, 2023

Rahul Tongia

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AQA 9-1 Typhoon Haiyan Case Study Summary

Subject: Geography

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Last updated

8 January 2022

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Double-sided work sheet summarising the Primary/Secondary Effects and Short/Long-Term Responses to Typhoon Haiyan. Sheets has ‘mini’ sections including a word fill introduction, mix and match effects activity, a focus on a NGO’s response (Oxfam) and then categorising responses. The last activity is a 9 mark exam question. Hope it helps! Please have a look at my other revision resources.

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