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Typhoon in the Philippines 2013

Geography and geophysical conditions make the Philippines highly vulnerable to regular natural disasters.

On November 8, 2013 Typhoon Haiyan struck the two western islands, Leyte and Samar, with gusts of up to 350km/h, leaving behind a trail of destruction that stretched 600km. After tearing into the two islands, the typhoon continued west raging across large parts of the islands of Cebu, Negros, Panay and Palawan. Again, it left behind massive damage, destroying buildings and agricultural areas. In addition to high wind speeds, the east coasts of the islands of Samar and Leyte were hit by tsunami-like storm surges up to 6m high that almost completely wiped out large sections of the coastal region.

Ten weeks after the typhoon, the death toll had risen to over 6,000 people, close to 1,800 are still missing. Across the country 14 million people were directly affected by the effects of the typhoon, which corresponds to the populations of Bavaria and Hamburg. In addition, 1.1 million buildings were damaged, half of them were completely destroyed. Medical services in the region were just as badly affected by the devastation. Almost 3,000 health facilities were in shambles and had to be closed after the typhoon.

action medeor stepped up immediately providing medical aid by setting up a local distribution point in Cebu City. Additionally, local partner organizations received financial support for aid deliveries and medical treatment in the disaster area. Following the acute phase of emergency relief, action medeor will be providing long-term support to help with the reconstruction of health facilities and improve disaster risk reduction in the affected communities.