What’s happening with Typhoon Haiyan/ Typhoon Yolanda? How can I help?

There is a lot of information and misinformation coming out the Philippines now that Typhoon Yolanda (the name for Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines…the politics of who gets to name what is a conversation for another blog, but think about it) has passed over the Visayas. The Visayas is the name for the multitudes of islands in the central Philippines located between Luzon in the north and Mindanao in the south.  Information, misinformation, fluctuating casualty numbers, reports of looting and exaggerated reports of looting are all normal occurrences in the days and weeks immediately following a major disaster. (Remember Hurricane Katrina?)

DSTR: Trends is going to help you wade through the flood of information that’s available right now. Bad pun intended. Let’s look at a few facts from trusted sources.

A little background:

The reason the numbers of disaster affected people coming out seem so crazy is because the Philippines, despite it’s size, is the 12th most populous country in the world.

“Haiyan brought sustained winds of 235km/h (147mph), with gusts of 275 km/h (170 mph) and waves as high as 15m (45ft). In some places, as much as 400mm (15.75 inches) of rain fell.” -bbc.co.uk

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked islands in the Visayas, very recently. The epicenter of which was Bohol, an island directly in the path of Typhoon Yolanda. The relief efforts for this earthquake drained the Philippines government emergency disaster fund, leaving few resources for the effects of this typhoon.

What’s Happening?

We really like ReliefWeb, because they publish up to date UN OCHA Situation Reports from the field, so let’s start there. According the OCHA Situation Report from Nov. 10

  

Everyone is talking a lot about Tacloban, a city on the island of Leyte, but a number of islands were badly affected by the Typhoon.

Tacloban, with a population of 220,000, has indeed faced horrible devastation with some reporting that the city is almost, entirely destroyed. At present, the UN and other NGO’s have set up a distribution center at the Tacloban airport, however the OCHA report that people on the outskirts of Tacloban are entirely cut off from food, water and power.

Other provinces and cities that are reporting severe devastation include:

• The exposed easterly town of Guiuan, Samar province – population 40,000 – is said to be largely destroyed

• Tacloban, Leyte province, was largely flattened by a massive storm surge and scores of corpses are piled by the roadside, leaving a stench in the air as they rot, say correspondents. Hundreds of people have gathered at the airport desperate for food and water, others trying to get a flight out

• Disaster worker Dennis Chong told the BBC that assessments in the far north of Cebu province had shown some towns had suffered “80-90% damage”

• Baco, a city of 35,000 in Oriental Mindoroprovince, was 80% under water, the UN said

Official death toll reports range from 1,200 (reported by the Philippines Red Cross) to 10,000 dead in Tacloban alone. It will probably be weeks before an accurate death toll is assessed. Local officials  have reported that there has already been a mass grave dug and filled with 300-500 bodies in Tacloban.

There are a lot of ways to express the strength and damages of this storm, the New York Times chose to end their report with information about a large tree that was felled in the typhoon:

In Mabolo, another town on the northern flank of Cebu, the winds toppled a locally famous tree with a trunk roughly a yard in diameter. The tree had withstood every typhoon for more than a century.

While a bit strange, considering the extent of damages and loss of life, it’s worth noting that in during Typhoon Sendong in 2011 hundreds of people’s lives were saved when they climbed into mango trees to escape the rapid surge floods in the Cagayan River in Northern Mindanao.

How to help

Many aid organizations are mobilized and on the ground already in the disaster affected areas. The survivors’ needs are great right now. Wading through the veritable ocean of NGO’s and nonprofits can be tricky.

Here are a few ways to find organizations on the ground and donate  or help easily:

 Donate:

Interaction members in the Philippines responding to Typhoon Haiyan:  listed here with easy to understand descriptions of each NGO and an orange “donate” button takes you right to the org’s donation page.

Tweet:

The UN needs help micro mapping the disaster. Help them tag tweets by heading to this website and following instructions.

Volunteer:

All Hands Volunteers is currently gauging interest of people willing to go respond to Typhoon. Let them know if you’d be into going! Or donate to their Philippines project! [Full Disclosure: I volunteered with All Hands Volunteers for 3 months this summer in the Philippines and loved it!]

Tags: Damage, Disaster Relief, Donate, Flooding, Help, Hurricane Katrina, Interaction, Leyte, Luzon, micromapping, Mindanao, Oriental Mindoro, Philippine, Philippines, ReliefWeb, Tacloban, Tweet, Typhoon, Typhoon Haiyan, Typhoon Yolanda, Visayas, volunteer