Typhoon Yolanda: Wake-up call for the Filipinos

Typhoon Yolanda, also known as Typhoon Haiyan, was one of the most disastrous and
dangerous typhoons that has ever struck the Philippines. It landed in the Philippines on
November 8, 2013. It is one of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded in the Philippines,
with several infrastructures damaged, numerous people dead and missing, and the havoc of
Typhoon Yolanda caused the Eastern Visayas, especially Leyte Province, to look like ruins.
Therefore, why does the Philippines always have such calamitous typhoons, and is our
government even doing something to help us, Filipinos, lessen the effects of such strong
typhoons and other natural disasters?

Before we start off, we should first look at the effect of the Typhoon Yolanda. The
impact of Typhoon Yolanda was catastrophic, with over 6,300 confirmed fatalities and
thousands more missing. The Eastern Visayas, provinces of Leyte, have the burden of the
damages of the storm. An estimated 4 million people were displaced, and more than 1.1 million
homes were damaged or destroyed. The economic losses were staggering, reaching
approximately five hundred seventy-one billion pesos, affecting agriculture, fisheries, and local
businesses. The destruction of infrastructure, including roads, hospitals, and power lines,
further hinder the relief and recovery efforts. With that said, we will examine the geographical
location of the Philippines and analyze the government's efforts to mitigate the effects of
natural disasters, particularly typhoons. According to Heath, Victoria. “Why Is the Philippines
Experiencing so Many Typhoons?”, the Philippines is highly prone to typhoons because it lies
within the Pacific Typhoon Belt, an area in the Pacific Ocean where one-third of the world’s
tropical cyclones originate. Additionally, over 19 typhoons are said to be seen entering in the
country with six to nine making its landfall in the Philippines. Moreover, not only experiences
the highest cyclone activity globally but also the most intense storms. Further research suggests
that climate change, particularly global warming, intensify typhoons and making them more
destructive. Warmer ocean temperatures and a hotter atmosphere contribute to stronger
winds, heavier rainfall, and an increased risk of coastal flooding. While we are expose to such
calamites and disasters unfortunately, we are ranked first in the World Risk Report, meaning
that Philippines is the most expose country to the negative impacts from climate crisis
(Geographical, 28 Nov. 2024). It can be seen that the Philippines’ location and the Earth’s
climate change is the two factors on why the Philippines is experiencing several disasters like
typhoons in a year and to why they are getting stronger as time passes. On the other hand, the
government response is still lacking that led to public frustration and highlighted the need for
improved disaster risk management and crisis response strategies. Based on the findings of
“Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda): U.S. and International Response to Philippines Disaster”, “The
humanitarian relief operation, led by the Philippine government, was initially hampered by a
number of significant challenges, not unusual in a disaster of this magnitude, including a
general lack of transportation, extremely limited communications systems, and damaged
infrastructure. Although aid personnel and humanitarian supplies arrived within days in many
of the affected areas, there were challenges getting food and relief commodities to some of the
more remote locations. Despite the physical and logistical challenges facing the relief effort,
regular relief activities reportedly reached most of the worst-stricken areas within two weeks of
the storm. In-depth assessments, necessary to obtain a better understanding of the situation on
the ground, were conducted and are ongoing. Overall aid delivery to affected areas has been
mobilized and sustained.” “And The Philippine government plans and administers disaster relief
primarily through the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Center (NDRRMC) and
the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Other agencies involved in relief
efforts include the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Office of Civil Defense, and the
Department of Health. The NDRRMC oversees activities along with Local Disaster Risk
Reduction Management Councils (LDRRMCs), the DSWD, DSWD field offices, local governments,
and other agencies. The DSWD and its field offices coordinate relief efforts on the ground. The
NDRRMC also collaborates with private sector disaster management networks. The
Department of Foreign Affairs serves as the first point of contact for countries and international
organizations wishing to provide assistance. Taking the lead on the disaster response, the
Philippine government formed a high-level national taskforce to ensure fast track transition
from relief efforts to the rehabilitation and rebuilding of affected areas. President Aquino
appointed Senator Ping Lacson as Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery, a
cabinet-level position. In response to widespread fears about government corruption, the
Aquino administration launched a web portal that allows the public to track international
disaster funds, the Foreign Aid Transparency Hub (FAITH). The Philippine government launched
a four-year Reconstruction Assistance in Yolanda (RAY) plan, on December 18, 2013. Requesting
nearly $8.2 billion, RAY focuses on rebuilding areas affected by the typhoon and developing
resilience to natural disasters. Three main activities include $780 million for critical actions
focused on shelter, education, agriculture, livelihoods, and protection; $2 billion for short-term
interventions through 2014; and $5.3 billion to address longer-term needs through 2017. The
government has launched an effort to provide temporary housing—469 "bunkhouses" have
been built or planned so far—for people living in tent cities, particularly for those who formerly
lived closed to the sea and are not allowed to return due to the risk of future storm surges.
Each bunkhouse consists of 24 rooms (one room per family) and common kitchen and bath
areas. The homes lack electricity and running water. International aid agencies have criticized
them for not meeting international standards. In January 2014, the government announced
that it would build 60,000 permanent housing units over a two-year period (CRS Reports, 10
Feb. 2014).” Despite all of the cost, damages, and fatalities that we are experiencing, our
government is not doing something to help lessen the catastrophe of typhoons and other
disasters. Whereas they are just making it worse by being a corrupt in our country when they
can launch a project where houses can be much more sturdy and not weak that can survive
such typhoons and other disaster, improving evacuation centers making it more like a house
and not a pigs’ den, they should prepared some routes for the delivery supply before the actual
disaster comes in, and lastly we will only achieved this if we are voting wisely, because we
Filipinos have a tendency to vote for someone who is popular and not the wise people. Hence,
this is a wake-up call for us that we should vote for the right people not the popular ones. With
regards to the pros and cons, it can be argued that the pros are studying on what need to be
improved with our government especially for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and
Management Council (NDRRMC) identifies the hazards, risk, and vulnerabilities of a disaster and
also, they oversee the disaster risk reduction programs by the Local Government Units (LGUs).
Additionally, we can examine the performances of our government official if they are doing
their work right or not, and we can be much more prepared when another disaster hit us. On
the other hand, the cons are the implementation of building a much more sturdy infrastructure
because it need a hefty amount of money and a good governance that will use our taxes into
improve our infrastructure and not to satisfy their wallets. In addition, we, people of the Earth
are worsening the effects of climate change because of the uncontrollably releasing of gases
that can make our Earth suffer, chopping down trees that is causing deforestation, and other
human activities. If we lessen all of this activity, climate change will never be felt and disasters
such as typhoon won’t be as destructive as it once was. Hence, the best possible solutions
would be, like what I said earlier, our government should strengthen the foundation of all the
infrastructure and buildings so that they can be more resilient when disasters struck us and
they should make it clean and tidy so that it doesn’t look and smell like garbage, besides this
they should invest in innovative technology that will improve the efficiency of communication
even when a typhoon makes its landfall and a real-time weather monitoring so that they can
alert all the residents of the area that are going to be affected by typhoons, lastly government
should enhance their response to those in need, make a policy that will lessen the casualties of
the disasters in the near future, and, we, Filipinos should really vote wisely so that all of these
mentioned solutions will take effect. We are to blame if the people sitting in the government
are corrupt because we didn’t vote wisely.

To sum it all up, Typhoon Yolanda showcases us the weaknesses of the government
when it comes to risk reduction management. This also showcases how, we, Filipinos are
resilient even if the heaven and earth crash unto us. Hence to prevent these weaknesses of our
government they should allocate more budget and focus on the innovative technologies, doing
the best solution possible, and executing all of their plans perfectly, not just for us but also for
the country. And as for us, we should vote for the right people and disciplined ourselves so that
Philippines will regain its former glory where it once belongs to. Let us all work together so that
we can lessen the upcoming disasters and weathers.