What Were The Irreparable Sonsequences of Typhoon Yolanda for Philippines

Disaster, as defined by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), is the unforeseen, catastrophic event that seriously affects the activities of the community. It also causes human, economic, environmental, and material losses that make it harder for the affected community to cope up with their remaining resources. The aim of this essay about Typhoon Yolanda is to examine what this disaster has left and what impact it made for Philippino’s society. 

To continue, there is nothing natural about disaster. With climate change and burgeoning regional populations, every part of our country is at risk from natural or manmade hazards. What we do with this knowledge is what can change disaster back into hazard. Unfortunately, on November 3, 2013, the Philippines saw the first manifestations of the soon-to-be renowned super typhoon. Only 4 days later, on November 7, 2013, the typhoon finally made landfall in the Philippine Area of Responsibility. Most commonly known in the Philippines as “Yolanda” and internationally as “Haiyan”, this typhoon became one of the most devastating calamities of the century. The super typhoon Yolanda left unprecedented damage to most parts of the Eastern Visayas region; taking lives of families, destroying infrastructures, and leaving thousands homeless; all that happened in just a few hours. It is the deadliest typhoon to ever hit the Philippines in recent history, as it took the lives of over 6,300 people, with 1,061 missing and 28,689 injured.

Richard stated that typhoon Yolanda has greatly revealed how unprepared the government is in managing and reducing the damage the typhoon caused. Moreover, the government and its agencies also failed to completely understand the effect of this disaster to the people and the environment. He also mentioned that almost 9 million houses were totally and partially destroyed. which are mostly located in Samar and Leyte provinces. In addition, the people who were displaced have left the province and transferred to other parts of the country to move on with their lives. For example, more than 100,000 people left Tacloban, who has a population size of 230,000, to escape the aftermath of Yolanda. He also mentioned that in the islands of Samar, Leyte, Northern Cebu, Negros, Panay and Busuanga, more than 9 million people are affected and 70% of which are in Samar and Leyte.

Although the entire Philippines, along with several other countries nearby, was greatly affected by the tropical cyclone, the center of it was in Leyte; a province in the southern part of the Philippines. What this disaster left behind was destruction. The damage it left on the province can be generalized into two main areas: number of affected population and damaged infrastructure. This quantitative research aims to evaluate the destruction this typhoon has caused to the citizens of Leyte.

To end up the essay, the scope of the research is the victims of Typhoon Yolanda within the typhoon’s 50 kilometer radius. The research is limited to data on affected population and damaged infrastructure as provided by the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the parts included in the data which are displaced families, displaced persons, partially damaged and totally damaged houses. The research is limited to the province of Leyte and Samar and 24 of their cities. The delimitations of the research is Leyte and Samar being the only two of the provinces within the typhoon’s 50 kilometer radius to be discussed rather than discussing the 14 provinces also presented by the dataset.