Typhoon Haiyan Devastates The Phillipines
Super-typhoon Haiyan devastated the Philippines with a death count that could be more than 10,000.
Super-typhoon Haiyan touched down in the Phillipines on Friday, Nov. 8 with catastrophic effects in its wake. So far, 10,000 people are feared to be dead while more than 200,000 have been left without their homes.
In Tacloban City of the Leyte Province in the Phillipines, meteorologists recorded 150 miles per hour steady winds, with gusts blowing even faster. Children were ripped from their parents’ arms and bodies were found hanging in trees. The devastating storm surge caused sea waters to rise 20 feet in the deadliest recorded super storm- and natural disaster- in the history of the Phillipine Islands.
While this is by far the worst storm the Phillipines encountered, it is by no means the first. Haiyan is the fourth recorded typhoon this year and the third category 5 typhoon to hit since 2010. The previous storm that came close to Haiyan’s destruction was Tropical Storm Thelma in November 1991, which killed around 5,000 people.
“The Phillipines lie in the most tropical cyclon-prone waters on Earth,” says meteorologist Jeff Masters of the Weather Underground. “And [the Phillipines] rarely escape a year without experienceing a devastating typhoon.”
Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said a massive rescue operation was underway. According to the Huffington Post, the U.S. Embassy will be providing $100,000 in health, water and sanitation support with Australia providing $358,900 in relief supplies. Currently the Red Cross is playing an important role in coordinating releif efforts to the Phillipines on an international level.
The super-typhoon will hit Vietnam next, where reports say officials have already moved 883,000 people in 11 central provinces to safe zones.
*This article was originally published on buckinghampost.com
