REMEMBERING SOME OF THE LESSONS FROM 2013’S DISASTERS

PART 2: TYPHOONS

Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna,

Virginia, USA 

SUPER TYPHOON HAIYAN DEVASTATES THE PHILIPPINES;

NOVEMBER 8-10, 2013

HAIYAN REACHED THE PHILIPPINES: FRIDAY, NOV.

8

LANDFALL ON FRIDAY MORNING, NOV. 8

WIND AND WATER PENETRATE BUILDING ENVELOPE

TYPHOONSTYPHOONS

UPLIFT OF ROOF SYSTEM

FLYING DEBRIS PENETRATES WINDOWS

STORM SURGE

HEAVY PRECIPITATION

FLASH FLOODING

(MUDFLOWS)

LANDSLIDES (MUDFLOWS)

CAUSES OF RISK

CAUSES OF RISK

CASE HISTORIESCASE HISTORIES

ONCE AGAIN, 2013’S DISASTERS DEMONSTRATED THAT IT

USUALLY TAKES MULTIPLE DISASTERS BEFORE THE

STRICKEN NATION ADOPTS POLICIES TO BECOME DISASTER

RESILIENT

MOST UNAFFECTED NATIONS USUALLY DON’T LEARN ANYTHING NEW AND DON’T CHANGE EXISTING POLICIES

A FLAWED PREMISE: ONE TYPHOON DISASTER

ANYWHERE SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO MAKE ANY NATION

SUSCEPTIBLE TO TYPHOONS ADOPT AND IMPLEMENT POLICIES THAT WILL LEAD TO THEIR OWN

TYPHOON DISASTER RESILIENCE

EXAMPLE: THE PHILIPPINES

THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES HAVE HAD MANY

OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN VITAL LESSONS

FROM PAST TYPHOONS OF ALL SIZES MAKING LANDFALL THERE

The Philippines has more than enough experience with typhoons for action.

A FLAWED PREMISE: BY NOW, THE PHILIPPINES

SHOULD HAVE POLICIES IN PLACE FOR TYPHOON DISASTER

RESILIENCE (i.e., A SUPER TYPHOON SHOULD NOT

MAKE THAT MUCH DIFFERENCE WHEN THE POLICIES ARE RIGHT)

LESSON: THE TIMING OF ANTICIPATORY ACTIONS IS VITAL

• The people who know: 1) what to expect (e.g., high-velocity winds, rain, flash floods, landslides, and storm surge), 2) where and when it will happen, and 3) what they should (and should not) do to prepare will survive.

LESSON: TIMELY EARLY WARNING AND EVACUATION SAVES LIVES

• The people who have timely early warning in conjunction with a community evacuation plan that facilitates getting out of harm’s way from the risks associated with storm surge, high winds, flooding, and landslides will survive.

LESSON: EMERGENCY MEDICAL PREPAREDNESS SAVES LIVES

• Damaged hospitals and medical facilities combined with lack of clean drinking water, food, and medicine, and high levels of morbidity and mortality will quickly overrun the local community’s capacity for emergency health care.

LESSON: WIND ENGINEERED BUILDINGS SAVE LIVES

• Buildings engineered to withstand the risks from a typhoon’s high velocity winds will maintain their function and protect occupants and users from death and injury.

LESSON: EMERGENCY RESPONSE SAVES LIVES

• The “Uncontrollable and Unthinkable” events will always hinder the timing of emergency response operations.

LESSON: THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY ALWAYS PROVIDES AID

• The International Community provides millions to billions of dollars in relief to most nations to help “pick up the pieces, ” but this strategy is not enough by itself to ensure disaster resilience.

HAIYAN: A SUPER TYPHOON

RATED AS PROBABLY THE STRONGEST TYPHOON EVER TO STRIKE THE

PHILIPPINES

HAIYAN MOVED TOWARDS VIETNAM AND CHINA: SAT., NOV 9

ADVANCE EVACUATIONS

• 800,000 people were evacuated to emergency shelters.

AN EVACUATION CENTER

FOUR HOURS OF FEAR AND DESTRUCTION

• Winds flattened hundreds of homes.

• Heavy rainfall triggered mudslides and flash flooding.

• A storm surge with waves of up to 10 m (30 feet) destroyed everything, sweeping people away and drowning thousands.

AN AERIAL VIEW

• It was like a tsunami," Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas told Reuters.

• "From a helicopter, you can see the extent of devastation. From the shore and moving a kilometer inland, there are no structures standing.

DESTRUCTION EVERYWHERE

TACLOBAN (ON LEYTE ISLAND) HIT THE HARDEST

SURVIVOR STORIES

• Survivors of the storm described towering waves that swept away all but the most robust engineered structures.

STORM SURGE

DESTRUCTION EVERYWHERE

DESTRUCTION EVERYWHERE

DESTRUCTION EVERYWHERE

DESTRUCTION AND DEATH EVERYWHERE

DESTRUCTION EVERYWHERE

TACLOBAN AIRPORT

INITIAL IMPACTS IN THE PHILIPPINES

• Wide spread flooding, mudslides, and power outages

• Winds of 380 kph (290 mph)

• TACLOBAN hit very hard by the storm surge with many deaths

• Tacloban’s airport destroyed

INITIAL IMPACTS IN THE PHILIPPINES

• Loss of communication

• An estimated 10,000 people dead

• Economic losses in the billions

SURVIVOR NEEDS

• Survivors are in desperate need of clean drinking water and food

• Survivors temporarily cut off from aid, and from their families in the Philippines as well as in other countries (e.g., 3 million in the USA)

USA MILITARY FORCES DISPATCHED TO ASSIST IN WHAT BECAME A HISTORIC

RELIEF EFFORT

Search and Rescue and Relief Efforts Were Hampered by

Landslides and Damaged Road Systems

LESSON: All Kinds of Things Will go Wrong During the Emergency Response

Period When the Uncontrollable and Unthinkable Happen.

TYPHOON DISASTER RESILIENCE POLICIES AND MEASURES NEEDED BY

MANY NATIONS

Preparedness

Adoption and Implementation of a Modern Wind Engineering Building Code

Time,y Early Warning and Evacuation

Timely Emergency Response (including Emergency Medical Services)

Cost-Effective Recovery

WAYS TO ACCELERATE PROGRESS TOWARDS WAYS TO ACCELERATE PROGRESS TOWARDS TYPHOON RESILIENCETYPHOON RESILIENCE

WAYS TO ACCELERATE PROGRESS TOWARDS WAYS TO ACCELERATE PROGRESS TOWARDS TYPHOON RESILIENCETYPHOON RESILIENCE

EXPERIENCES WITH PREPAREDNESS

EXPERIENCES WITH MONITORING AND WARNING

EXPERIENCES WITH DISASTER SCENARIO PLANNING

EXPERIENCES WITH RECOVERY AND RECONSTRUCTION

EXPERIENCES WITH PREVENTION, MITIGATION, AND ADAPTATION

INTEGRATE GLOBAL EXPERIENCES WITH YOUR EXPERIENCES

INTEGRATE GLOBAL EXPERIENCES WITH YOUR EXPERIENCES

THE CHALLENGE:

POLICY CHANGES: CREATE, ADJUST, AND REALIGN PROGRAMS, PARTNERS AND PEOPLE UNTIL YOU HAVE CREATED THE KINDS OF TURNING POINTS NEEDED FOR MOVING TOWARDS TYPHOON RESILIENCE

COMMUNITIESCOMMUNITIES

COMMUNITIESCOMMUNITIES

DATA BASES DATA BASES AND INFORMATIONAND INFORMATIONDATA BASES DATA BASES AND INFORMATIONAND INFORMATION

HAZARDS: GROUND SHAKING GROUND FAILURE SURFACE FAULTING TECTONIC DEFORMATION TSUNAMI RUN UP AFTERSHOCKS

• TYPHOON HAZARDS•INVENTORY•VULNERABILITY•LOCATION

TYPHOON RISK TYPHOON RISK

RISK

ACCEPTABLE RISK

UNACCEPTABLE RISK

TYPHOON DISASTER TYPHOON DISASTER RESILIENCERESILIENCE

•PREPAREDNESS•PROTECTION•FORECASTS/SCENARIOS•EMERGENCY RESPONSE•RECOVERY and RECONSTRUCTION

POLICY OPTIONSPOLICY OPTIONS

CREATING TURNING POINTS FOR TYPHOON DISASTER

RESILIENCE

USING EDUCATIONAL SURGES CONTAINING THE PAST AND PRESENT LESSONS TO FOSTER AND ACCELERATE THE CREATION OF TURNING

POINTS

2014--2020 2014--2020 ISIS A GOOD TIME A GOOD TIME

FOR A GLOBAL SURGE IN FOR A GLOBAL SURGE IN EDUCATIONALEDUCATIONAL, , TECHNICAL, HEALTH TECHNICAL, HEALTH

CARE, AND POLITICAL CAPACITY CARE, AND POLITICAL CAPACITY BUILDINGBUILDING

IN ALL FIVE PILLARS OF COMMUNITY IN ALL FIVE PILLARS OF COMMUNITY

DISASTERDISASTER RESILIENCE RESILIENCE

CREATING TURNING POINTS FOR TYPHOON DISASTER

RESILIENCE

INTEGRATION OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS WITH POLITICAL

SOLUTIONS FOR POLICIES ON PREPAREDNESS, PROTECTION, EARLY

WARNING, EMERGENCY RESPONSE, AND RECOVERY

INTEGRATION OF TECHNICAL AND POLITICAL INTEGRATION OF TECHNICAL AND POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS CONSIDERATIONS

INTEGRATION OF TECHNICAL AND POLITICAL INTEGRATION OF TECHNICAL AND POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS CONSIDERATIONS

THE KNOWLEDGE BASE

Best Practices for Mitigation Adaptation and Monitoring

Gateways to a Deeper Understanding

Real and Near- Real Time Monitoring

Hazard, Vulnerability and Risk Characterization

Anticipatory Actions for all Events and Situations

Situation Data Bases

Interfaces with all Real- and Near Real-Time Sources

Cause & Effect Relationships

APPLICATIONS

Implement Modern Codes and Lifeline Standards

Relocation/Rerouting of Cities and City Lifelines

Create a Hazard Zonation Map as a Policy Tool

Introduce New Technologies

Move Towards A Disaster Intelligent Community

EDUCATIONAL SURGES

Involve Partners in Turning Point Experimemts

Enlighten Communities on Their Risks

Build Strategic Equity Through Disaster Scenarios

Multiply Capability by International Twinning

Update Knowledge Bases After Each Disaster

OPPORTUNITIES FOR TURNING POINTS: OPPORTUNITIES FOR TURNING POINTS: For Disaster Resilience on local, For Disaster Resilience on local, regional, national, and global scalesregional, national, and global scales

OPPORTUNITIES FOR TURNING POINTS: OPPORTUNITIES FOR TURNING POINTS: For Disaster Resilience on local, For Disaster Resilience on local, regional, national, and global scalesregional, national, and global scales