“TYPHOON and TIDAL WAVE IN THE PHILIPPINES – 7,000 LIVES LOST”
This is not a headline about the aftermath of Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), but a story from way back; from an Australian broadsheet dated January 12,1898.
The information was documented by mail and dispatches on board a
steamboat called Gaelic which “contain details of the fearful
destruction wrought in the Philippine Islands.”
The news story went on to detail: “It is estimated that 400 Europeans
and 6000 natives lost their lives, many being drowned by the rush of
water, while others were killed by the violence of the wind. Several
towns have been swept or blown away.”
The
typhoon (also called a “huricane” later in the piece) that first struck
and devastated a place called the Bay of Santa Paula was reportedly
responsible for the onslaught in Leyte.
“The
[hurricane] reached Leyte on October 12 [1897], and striking Tacloban,
the capital, with terrific force, reduced it to ruins in less than half
an hour. The bodies of 120 Europeans have been recovered from the fallen
buildings. Four hundred natives were buried in the ruins,” the report
said.
A town called Hermin was “swept away by
flood” rendering 5,000 inhabitants missing. A small station called
Weera, near Loog, was also reported gone. Only three houses were
reported to be left standing in Loog itself.
“Thousands of natives are roaming about the devastated province seeking
food and medical attendance. In many cases the corpses were mutilated as
though they had fallen in battle, and the expressions of their faces
were most agonising.”
15,000 reported killed in 1912
15,000 reported killed in 1912
Fourteen years later, in 1912, another typhoon that hit Visayas probably killed and wounded 15,000 people, a report from the American newspaper the Washington Herald said.
“The typhoon swept the Visayas and and is said to have practically
destroyed Tacloban, the capital of Leyte, and to have wrought enormous
damage and loss of life at Capiz, the capital of the province of Capiz,”
the report said.
“No figures of the dead or
injured were given, but it was stated that probably half the population
of the two cities had been lost.”
Tacloban at that time reportedly had a population of 12,000, while Capiz had over 20,000.
A dispatch from the governor general of the Philippines then brought
the first news of the catastrophe. The report said that “he was rushing a
shipload of food, clothing and all available medical supplies to
Tacloban.”
Like Yolanda, this storm also severed all methods of communication in Tacloban.
“All telegraphic communication has been destroyed, and it is impossible
to get other than vague reports of the extent of the disaaster. That
Tacloban has suffered an enormous loss of life is believed to be
certain,” the report said.
Red Cross
reportedly prepared to rush a relief fund to the governor general after
the dispatch. The Washington office also contacted the United States
insular government in the Philippines asking how great their need was.
Storm science, 100 years later
A century later, Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), dubbed the strongest typhoon in the world in 2013, ravaged Tacloban.
New technologies, disaster risk reduction plans, and early warning
systems unknown to 19th century Philippines have since been developed
and used to alleviate and predict the effects of storms and other
natural diasters.
The country's official weather
authority, Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical
Services Administration (PAGASA), warned citizens of possible storm
surges that could reach up to seven meters high before Yolanda even hit
the country. They issued Public Storm Warning Signals of up to Signal
Number 4 in some areas, including Eastern Samar and Leyte.
Forced evacuation procedures ensued in Bohol, Romblon, and some parts of Leyte, including Tacloban, even before Yolanda made landfall.
The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) team in Leyte were reportedly ready to help the residents should they need rescue.
Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas
and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin arrived in Tacloban Airport the
day before Yolanda made landfall to supervise preparations in Leyte. Yet
the 600-kilometer typhoon still overwhelmed the country.
The aftermath
A week after Yolanda's onslaught, all eyes and ears of the local and
international press remain on the Philippines, monitoring developments,
or the lack thereof, in Typhoon Yolanda's aftermath.
“The Philippines, no stranger to natural disasters, was unprepared for Yolanda's fury,” a Reuters report said.
“The aid, when it came, was slow. Foreign aid agencies said relief
resources were stretched thin after a big earthquake in central Bohol
province last month and displacement caused by fighting with rebels in
the country's south, complicating efforts to get supplies in place
before the storm struck,” the report added.
President Benigno Aquino III however maintained that the government's
preparations had been effective, saying the death toll might have been
higher had it not been for the evacuation of people and the readying of
relief supplies.
"But, of course, nobody imagined the magnitude that this super typhoon brought on us," President Aquino told Reuters.
Shortcomings
According to a Reuters report, there were people who did not heed the
warnings raised by local authorities and regularly broadcast on TV and
other media.
"It appears local government units
failed to mobilize officials for forced evacuations to higher and safer
ground, out of the way of strong winds, storm surges and widespread
flooding," Doracie Zoleta-Nantes, an expert on disasters at the
Australian National University in Canberra, told Reuters.
Zoleta-Nantes, a Philippines native, said despite those disasters and
efforts to strengthen disaster management since 2010, "the Philippine
government continues a reactive approach to disasters.”
Meantime, Lucille Sering, secretary of the government's Climate Change
Commission told Reuters that: “Now, looking back, the preparations were
not enough, especially in Tacloban. What we did not prepare for was the
breakdown in local functions."
Malacañang admitted on Thursday that they have had some shortcomings in preparations for Yolanda.
“Hindi po natin itinatanggi na maaaring nagkaroon ng mga pagkukulang.
Pero iyon po ay bunga na rin ng mga severe constraints," Presidential
Communications Operations Office head Herminio "Sonny" Coloma Jr. said
during a press conference. "At dahil po nakakapulot tayo ng mga
mahahalagang aral, gagamitin po natin ang aral na napulot natin para mas
maging mahusay po ang ating pagtugon sa susunod na pagkakataon," he
said.
Lead Convenor of the Disaster Risk
Reduction Network Philipppines (DRRNetPhils) Adelina Sevilla Alvarez
said that Typhoon Yolanda might be a sign to look back into the DRRM
plans and assess how they were employed locally.
“Akala namin very successful na tayo sa ating preparedness. Maybe its
is the time to look back and find out (kung pwede) bang magdagdag (ng
efforts),” Sevilla Alvarez said in a press conference, Thursday.
In a report by Raffy Tima, some of the international relief and rescue experts expressed that delays in the deployment of relief goods and rescue
are common to severely damaged areas such as Tacloban. After the
calamitous earthquake hit Haiti in 2010, it took two weeks before the
relief distribution was put into place.
“This
is not a normal situation. This is a really big disaster. (Trying) to
organize everything, that is the problem. (It's) very hard. The roads
are blocked. We have the airport but it's not that big. So (limited)
relief goods (are) received in the airport,” said Yvan Somers of the
European Union.
A history of typhoons
Many devastating typhoons have affected the Philippines in the last 20
years, and the deadly hurricane of 1898 that devastated Leyte is only
one of the front page reminders that these furious storms have long ago
wreaked havoc on the country and still continue to do so.
Take Tropical Storm Uring that hit the Philippines in November 1991. It
reportedly left 5,101 casualties, the highest number out of all
recorded typhoon disasters in the last few decades.
Typhoon Undang (Agnes) that hit the country in 1984, brought about a
storm surge in Basey, Samar, and killed a total of 895 people. Typhoon
Reming (Durian), reportedly the strongest typhoon to ever hit the
Philippines in the last few decades (maximum gustiness of 320 kph), led
to 709 deaths and P10.89 billion worth of damage in 2006. Lastly, in
2012, Typhoon Pablo (Bopha), the strongest storm to hit Mindanao, cost
P36.949 billion in damage.
“Ang mga tao
madaling makalimot. Nagkaroon na tayo ng Frank, nagkaroon na tayo ng
Reming, ng Sendong, ng Pablo. Last year lang yung Pablo, pero
nakalimutan na natin,” PAGASA assistant weather services chief
Monteverde said in a press conference, Thursday.
History and natural disasters repeat themselves. The only thing that
hopefully changes is our level of technological adaptability, enabling
us to better prepare, soften their damage, and deal with their fury
overall. — KDM, GMA News
No comments:
Post a Comment