Case Study - Super Typhoon Haiyan 2013
Background
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- Typhoon Haiyan (locally called Yolanda) was one of the strongest ever-recorded tropical storm to hit the Philippines
- It made landfall on the 8th of November 2013 as a Category 5, with sustained winds of over 195 mph (315 km/hr)
- The Philippines are a series of islands located in the South China Sea, east of Vietnam and north of Indonesia
- The islands regularly suffer from typhoons that sweep in from the southwest every year during the tropical storm season
- The islands sit in an area of usually warm ocean water, however, at time of storm, the sea temperature was 30°C
- Sea level rise (since 1900, has increased 20cm around the world) is a factor as higher seas are known to contribute to greater storm surges
- Abstracting too much groundwater has caused parts of the country to sink
- Tacloban stands at the end of a bay that is funnel shaped and this squeezes water into destructive storm surges
Path of Typhoon Haiyan
The path of Typhoon Haiyan
Typhoon Haiyan's Characteristics
Lowest pressure | 895 mb |
Peak strength | Category 5 |
Strength at landfall | Category 5 with 195 mph winds |
Highest sustained wind speed | 196 mph |
Radius of typhoon strength winds | 53 miles |
Rainfall | 400 mm |
Storm surge height | 5-6 m |
Impacts of Typhoon Haiyan
Total economic loss | $13 billion |
Homes damaged or destroyed | 1.1 million |
Displaced people | 4 million |
Number of deaths | 6201 |
Number of people missing | 1785 |
Number of injured people | 28,626 |
Number of people affected | 16 million |
Short and Long-term Impacts of Typhoon Haiyan
Impacts | Short-term | Long-term |
Social |
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Economic |
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Environmental |
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The Short-term and Long-Term Responses to Typhoon Haiyan
Short-term Response | Long-term Response |
The Philippines declared 'a state of national calamity’, asked for international the next day | The UN donated financial aid, supplies and medical support |
International aid agencies responded quickly with food, water and temporary shelters | 5 days went by before any aid was received and only 20% of victims received aid |
The Philippines Red Cross delivered basic food aid e.g. rice & canned food | UN admitted its response was too slow |
UK sent shelter kits to provide emergency shelter for a family | Rebuilding of the airport, ports, roads and bridges |
Over 1200 evacuation centres set up for the homeless | 'Cash for Work' schemes gave locals money to help clear the debris |
The French, Belgian and Israeli's set up field hospitals to help the injured | Oxfam helped finance replacement of the fishing boats |
$475 million sent as aid and US sent 13,000 soldiers | Increased number of cyclone shelters have been built further away from coastal areas |
Worked example
Using Figure 4, describe the track of Hurricane Irma between 6 September 2017 and 12 September 2017.
Answer:
- Credit use of direction, starting point, distances, dates and named locations
- E.g. Hurricane had a change of direction [1] of W/WNW initially, then N/NNW [1]. Its movement was in a W/WNW/ NW direction [1]
- It passed to the north of Puerto Rico/Dominican Republic/Cuba [1] It reached landfall over Florida and moved towards Georgia [1]
- Max 1 mark for list of countries/places
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No credit for changes in intensity