In response to central Philippine’s super typhoon Haiyan, Save the Children Philippines deployed an emergency response team to care for the millions of children and families expected to be hit the hardest. Relief kits including toiletries, household cleaning items, temporary school tents and learning materials are prepared and ready for distribution.
Haiyan is classified as a category-5 super typhoon; the highest classification possible. According to hurricane expert Jeff Masters, “the super typhoon likely made landfall with winds near 195 mph. This makes Haiyan the strongest tropical cyclone (typhoon) on record to make landfall.” Hayian’s trajectory reached the coast of eastern Visayas and will travel through the central country to Leyte and Cebu City, until exiting the Philippines on Saturday morning towards the South China Sea. Tens of millions of people are expected to be in the path of Hayian.
Lynette Lim, Save the Children’s rapid response team member, explained that “typhoons bring with it strong winds and heavy rain, which can cause flash flooding and extensive damage to infrastructure. Thousands of children and their families could be made homeless as houses from the extensive damage.”
Millions of people in Haiyan’s trajectory are currently taking shelter in preparation for the storm, evacuating river beds, coastal villages and mountain slopes. Hospitals, soldiers and emergency rescue teams are preparing for the aftermath.
Save the Children Philippines has brought disaster relief in the country for the past 30 years, where an average of 20 tropical storms occur annually; Haiyan is the 24th storm this year to hit the country. Save the Children deployed large-scale emergency responses more recently in the wake of Typhoon Utor this past September, Typhoon Bopha and Manila floods last year, and Typhoon Washi in 2011 when over 300,000 people were left displaced.
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Written by Rachel Pozivenec