Filipinos must learn to prepare for stronger typhoons

GMA News: While his hope for “a hazard-free, disaster-free 2013” may be too much to ask for, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said that the public must at least be prepared for stronger storms, “so we can avoid a repeat of Pablo and other destructive typhoons."

Paje had earlier declared that stronger typhoons are “the new normal” that Filipinos should learn to accept and prepare for. “We must accept the fact that because of climate change, the typhoons [have] become much stronger and the volume of rainfall has increased tenfold,” he said.  

The “new normal” also includes the stronger gustiness of tropical cyclones entering the Philippines, which should be something people should consider when constructing structures, Paje added.

“We therefore recommend that all houses and public buildings to be constructed must have the ability to survive strong winds and storm surge. We have to make sure that new buildings are able to resist the effects of typhoons and floods,” he said. 

He also repeated his call for the strict enforcement by local government units of the “no man’s land” rule in permanent danger zones identified by the Department to mitigate the effects of flashfloods and landslides.... 

US Navy photo of a 2006 mudslide in Leyte

Fresh cyclone brews in Pacific

Terra Daily via AFP: A fresh cyclone was brewing in the South Pacific Friday, forecasters said, just two weeks after destructive Cyclone Evan caused widespread devastation in Samoa and Fiji.

A cyclone warning has been issued for the Solomon Islands which are expected to bear the brunt of winds in excess of 100 kilometres an hour (60 mph) over the weekend before the storm swings towards New Caledonia.

Although it was in its formative stages Friday, the US Joint Typhoon Warning Centre said it had the potential to develop into a "significant tropical cyclone" over the next 24 hours. In the Solomon Islands, fishermen were urged not to go to sea and people living in coastal areas were advised to move to higher ground.

Chief forecaster Manoah Tepa told reporters "rough seas, heavy rain and strong winds" were expected. New Zealand-based meteorological service Weatherwatch said the storm, expected to be named Freda, was expected to be over New Caledonia on New Year's Day....

Tropical Cyclone Evan on December 19, 2012, in a NASA mug shot

Typhoon-hit Philippines threatened by new storm

Terra Daily via AFP: A tropical storm set to hit the Philippines on Christmas Day could spark floods and landslides, forecasters warned, even as the country struggles to recover from a typhoon that killed hundreds.

Tropical Storm Wukong is expected to bring strong winds and heavy rain to southern island Dinagat from 10:00 pm (1400 GMT), as well as nearby islands Samar and Leyte, the state weather service said.

"These could bring floods and landslides, particularly in landslide-prone areas like southern Leyte and Samar," the service's Nathaniel Servando said.

Servando said storm surges of up to four metres (13 feet) were also expected on the coasts of the three islands.

However, he said the storm was expected to spare the large southern island of Mindanao, which was devastated by Typhoon Bopha earlier this month.

Wukong would pass northwest across the central islands Wednesday and blow out to the South China Sea on Thursday, he said....

Tropical Storm Wukong on Christmas day

Trail of destruction after Cyclone Evan hits Fiji

Terra Daily via AFP: Tropical Cyclone Evan left a swathe of destruction across Fiji Tuesday after battering the Pacific nation for more than 12 hours, destroying homes, flooding rivers and stranding thousands of tourists. Despite the damage, officials reported no fatalities as the storm headed out to sea early Tuesday and was downgraded a notch to category three.

Western parts of the main island Viti Levu bore the brunt of the cyclone's fury overnight, with the Fiji Times describing the township of Lautoka as a "war zone". Witnesses said entire houses were blown away by the ferocious winds, leaving stunned residents to clean up debris from empty lots after they returned from evacuation centres.

"The destruction this cyclone has caused is beyond words. Not one house has been spared here," Lautoka resident Melaia Waisele told AFP. The information ministry said bridges were submerged by swollen rivers, high winds toppled power lines and roads were closed by landslides and debris.

Almost 8,500 locals sheltered from the cyclone in evacuation centres, while thousands of international tourists, almost 3,000 of them relocated from outlying islands for their own safety, rode out the storm in Viti Levu's resorts....

Tropical Cyclone Evan on December 13, 2012. NASA

Philippines typhoon death toll tops 1000

Terra Daily via AFP: The death toll from a typhoon that devastated the southern Philippines earlier this month has topped 1,000 as hundreds more remain missing, the government said on Sunday.

Typhoon Bopha killed 1,020 people, mostly on the southern island of Mindanao where floods and landslides caused major damage on December 4, civil defence chief Benito Ramos said.

A total of 844 people remain missing, about half of them fishermen who ventured out to sea before Bopha hit, Ramos said, adding he feared many of the missing were dead.

"The death toll will go higher. We found a lot of bodies yesterday, buried under fallen logs and debris," he told AFP.

He added the toll from Bopha, the worst natural disaster to hit the country this year, would exceed the 1,268 confirmed dead after Typhoon Washi struck the southern Philippines in December 2011.

From NASA: Typhoon Bopha on December 3, 2012

Philippines typhoon death toll tops 900

Terra Daily via AFP: The death toll from the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year has climbed above 900, with hundreds still missing, the government said Thursday.

Typhoon Bopha killed 902 people mostly on the southern island of Mindanao, where floods and landslides caused major damage in nearly 2,000 villages on December 4, the civil defence office said.

A total of 615 people remain missing, it said, a big reduction from the previous tally after rescuers found 296 tuna fishermen who had put to sea before Bopha made landfall. The government agency did not give further details.

The typhoon, the deadliest natural disaster to hit the Philippines this year, destroyed 149,000 houses, it said.

About 80,000 people remain in government shelters, where they face months in difficult, crowded conditions as relief officials look for safe areas to build more permanent shelters.

Philippines typhoon toll tops 700, hundreds missing

Terra Daily via AFP: The death toll from the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year has climbed above 700 with hundreds more missing, many of them tuna fishermen feared lost at sea, the government said Tuesday.

Typhoon Bopha, which unleashed floods and landslides across the main southern island of Mindanao on December 4, has killed at least 714 people and obliterated entire communities, the civil defence office said.

It said nearly 115,000 houses were destroyed and more than 116,000 people remain in crowded government shelters, where they face months of waiting for new housing to be built....

A NASA shot of Typhoon Bopha, intensifying into a Category 1 typhoon on December 7, 2012, in the South China Sea.  This storm has killed many and done tremendous damage to the Philippines

Mining, logging contributed to Philippine disaster

Terra Daily via AFP: Unchecked illegal gold mining and decades of indiscriminate logging contributed to the high death toll in the Philippines' worst natural disaster this year, officials and experts say.

Whole towns were washed away or buried by landslides when Typhoon Botha smashed into a mountainous region on the southern island of Mindanao last week, leaving 548 people confirmed dead and 827 missing.

Poverty, greed and the lure of the precious metal have long drawn thousands of prospectors to the region.

"Mining and logging may have had an effect," said civil defence chief Benito Ramos.

"The mountains have been denuded for decades, and filled with holes by our countrymen who are small-time miners. It pains me to say this, but these are the facts," he said....

Typhoon Bopha making landfall in the Philippines on December 3, 2012, via NOAA

Killer typhoon turns back towards Philippines

Space Daily via AFP: A typhoon that has killed hundreds of people and left tens of thousands homeless in the southern Philippines has turned back towards the country and will hit it again, forecasters said Saturday.

Typhoon Bopha will slam into the northern tip of the main island of Luzon early Sunday, packing gusts of up to 160 kilometres (around 100 miles) an hour, the state weather service said.

It was likely to bring heavy rainfall to the area, civil defence office director Benito Ramos told a news conference. "People there need to take precautions," he added.

The eye of the cyclone was 230 kilometres west of the northern town of Sinait at 4:00pm (0800 GMT) and moving slowly northeast, the service said.

Heavy to intense rainfall was expected within the typhoon's 400-kilometre footprint, it added…

Philippines early warning system saves lives as thousands flee Typhoon Bopha

UNISDR News Archive: The UN Office for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) today praised the improved performance of early warning systems in the Philippines as Typhoon Bopha cut a swathe of destruction across the country resulting in over 200 deaths and significant economic losses.

UNISDR Head of Regional Office for Asia, Jerry Velasquez, said: "This time last year over 1,400 people died on Mindanao in a similar event but this time big improvements in the early warning systems have saved many lives. More than 167,000 people have been evacuated to shelters."

He singled out the new automated rainfall and flood prediction systems as being critical to the provision of accurate forecasts and timely warnings as part of Project NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards), introduced earlier this year by the Department of Science and Technology at the request of President Benigno S. Aquino.

"The Government's NOAH Project has enabled central government agencies, local governments and citizens to prepare and act before intense weather arrives. The project includes dissemination through television and the Internet of real-time satellite, Doppler radar, and other weather information enabling people to see not only wind speed and location of incoming weather disturbance but also the possible amount of precipitation.

…"Once Project NOAH is completely deployed across the country by the end of 2013, and local governments start acting based on its information, we should start to see a significant drop in the numbers of lives lost to disasters in the Philippines. However, the country also needs to respond to the enormous economic losses which these entail. About 0.8% of GDP is lost each year to disasters and this takes an unacceptably high toll on the country's development and efforts at poverty reduction."...

Typhoon Bopha on December 1, a category 4 storm (shot by NASA)

Typhoon kills at least 283 in Philippines

Eric de Castro in Reuters: Blocked roads and severed communications in the southern Philippines frustrated rescuers on Wednesday as teams searched for hundreds of people missing after the strongest typhoon this year killed at least 283 people.

Typhoon Bopha, with central winds of 120 kph (75 mph) and gusts of up to 150 kph (93 mph), battered beach resorts and dive spots on Palawan island on Wednesday but it was weakening as it moved west. Hardest hit was the southern island of Mindanao, where Bopha made landfall on Tuesday. It triggered landslides and floods along the coast and in farming and mining towns inland.

Interior Minister Manuel Roxas said 300 people were missing. "Entire families were washed away," Roxas, who inspected the disaster zone, told reporters.

...According to tallies provided by the military and disaster agency officials, 283 people were killed....

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color, high definition image of powerful, strengthening, Typhoon Bopha, as a category 4 super typhoon, with winds of 240km/h and a pressure of 935hpa at the time the image was taken on December 2, 2012

Typhoon hits south Philippines, 40 dead or missing

Reuters: The strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year pounded the southern island of Mindanao on Tuesday and about 40 people were dead or missing, media said, after the storm destroyed homes and brought down power and communication lines.

Typhoon Bopha, with wind gusts of up to 195 kph (121 mph), made landfall at dawn, uprooting trees and tearing off roofs.

About 40 people were killed or missing in flash floods and landslides near a mining area on Mindanao, ABS-CBN television reported, saying waters and soil had swept through an army post.

A television reporter said she saw numerous bodies lined up near the army base. A military spokesman earlier said about 20 people, including six soldiers, were missing....

On December 1, NASA took this image of Typhoon Bopha, when it was a Category 4 storm.