Effects of Tropical Storms (AQA GCSE Geography)

• Primary effects are the immediate impacts of strong winds, high rainfall and storm surges
• Secondary effects are the impacts that occur later on after the storm has passed

The Primary and Secondary Impacts of Tropical Storms

Primary Impacts	Secondary Impacts
Buildings and bridges are destroyed	People are homeless, causing distress, poverty, ill-health or death due to lack of shelter. Cost of rebuild can be expensive and some people may not have insurance
Roads, railways, ports, and airports are damaged	Blocked or destroyed roads prevent rescue and emergency vehicles, and aid from getting through
Electricity lines are damaged/destroyed	Life support systems, hospitals, shops and homes left without power supplies
Gas lines broken	Risk of fires and explosions
Sewage overflows	Clean water supplies contaminated bringing increased risk of water bore diseases and death
Rivers and coastal areas flooded	People drown or injured through rushing water. Crops, livestock and habitats destroyed, leading to shortage of food and potentially famine
Businesses destroyed	Economic impact to business owners and potential unemployment

• Immediate responses are:
  • When a tropical storm is forecasted (predicted) to hit an area
  • As the tropical storm is happening
  • Immediately after the tropical storm has passed
• Long-term responses are:
  
  • Restoring an area to past conditions
  • Reducing the impact of future storms 

The Immediate and Long-term Responses to Tropical Storms

Immediate Responses	Long-term Responses
Evacuation of people before the tropical storm arrives	Improve long-term forecasting techniques to give people more time to evacuate in the future
Rescue people before the storm cuts people off from flooding and treat injured people	Provide aid, grants or subsidies to residents to repair and strengthen their properties
Recover any dead bodies to reduce and prevents water and air borne diseases	Repair and improve flood defences - flood gates, levees etc.
Set up temporary shelters for the homeless and post notices where they are being housed for missing family members	Repair homes or rehouse people who have lost their homes or been damaged
Provide temporary supplies of power, food and water and restore communication systems as soon as possible	Repair, replace and improve infrastructure
Overseas aid may be sent in the form of workers, supplies, equipment or financial donations	Improve building regulations so that more buildings withstand the impacts of tropical storms or change planning rules to restrict homes being built in risk areas
Tech companies encouraged to set up disaster response tools to let people confirm their safety, report damaged areas and alert about risk areas	Encourage economic recovery in the area and encourage people to return with incentives or tax breaks

Background

• • 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

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	6201 people died  1.1 million homes lost more than 4 million displaced Casualties 28,626 from lack of aid 16 million people affected UN admitted its response was too slow, amid reports of hunger/thirst among survivors	UN feared possibility of the spread of disease, lack of food, water, shelter and medication Areas less affected; influx of refugees into the area Two months later, 21,000 families were still in 380 evacuation centres, waiting to be rehoused by the government in bunkhouses that needed to be built
Economic	Estimated at $13 billion Major sugar/rice producing areas were destroyed Between 50,000 and 120,000 tonnes of sugar was lost Over 130,000 tonnes of rice were lost Government estimated that 175,000 acres of farmland was damaged (worth $85 million)	The Philippines declared 'a state of national calamity’ Asked for international help the next day President Aquino was under growing pressure to speed up the distribution of food/water/medicine Tacloban city was decimated Debt is a major obstacle for the Philippines, the country is locked in a debt cycle, with more than 20% of government revenue spent on foreign debt repayments
Environmental	Loss of forests/trees, and widespread flooding Oil and sewage leaks; into local ecosystems Lack of sanitation in days following lead to a higher level of pollution Coconut plantations were said to be 'completely flattened' (coconut equated to nearly half of the Philippines agricultural exports / is the world's biggest producer of coconut oil Fishing communities were severely affected	An estimated 90 per cent of the rural population in typhoon-affected areas are small-scale farmers With 33 million coconut trees felled, international help has been sought to mill the 15 million tons of timber, lying rotting on the ground, attracting pests that threatened healthy trees Without a crop, families would not have cash to enable local markets to function

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