This new storm is particularly a problem for the 600,000 now left homeless on top of the Earthquake that was a 7.2 that devastated some areas within the last month. However, I suppose that people might be able to collect rainwater somehow so at least they would have some clean water to drink. Even with just water a person can live over 40 days if they have to. Also, I personally have gone 4 days and nights with no water and no food with no permanent ill effects in my 30s. However, after about 2 days without food or water you are going to start hallucinating especially during the night if there are no candles or electric lights on. Many people are likely in this situation in the Philippines by now. So, if they don't get hypothermia from exposure to the elements the fresh water from the sky might be helpful to at least have clean water to drink if they find a way to safely collect it.
Begin quote:
New Storm Makes Landfall in Philippines After Devastation of Typhoon Haiyan
| Wall Street Journal | - |
MANILA—A
new tropical storm made landfall in the Philippines on Tuesday about
290 miles from areas hardest hit by supertyphoon Haiyan, which flattened
towns and left thousands dead or missing just days earlier.
- A new tropical storm made landfall in the Philippines around 290 miles from areas hardest hit by supertyphoon Haiyan, which flattened towns and left thousands dead or missing just days earlier.MANILA—A new tropical storm made landfall in the Philippines on Tuesday about 290 miles from areas hardest hit by supertyphoon Haiyan, which flattened towns and left thousands dead or missing just days earlier.
Tropical depression Zoraida, the 25th storm to enter the Philippines this year, crossed the coast at 9 a.m. local time in Caraga, in Davao Oriental province. The storm brought sustained winds of 34 miles an hour, far weaker than Haiyan’s 146-mile-an-hour sustained winds, the state weather bureau, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, or PAGASA, reported.
The new storm’s location away from cities and provinces devastated by both the typhoon and a powerful earthquake that rattled Cebu and Bopol in October minimizes risks that could have complicated the already monumental task of providing relief to the victims of those earlier disasters.
Before her landfall Tuesday, weather watchers had been closely monitoring Zoraida to see if her winds would intensify and shift direction further north toward the typhoon-ravaged province of Leyte. For now, the Philippines appears to have avoided another tragedy.
Zoraida was moving at 19 miles an hour and dropping light rain. Weather forecasters predict she will pour light to moderate rains from Tuesday through early Thursday, mostly in the southern region of Mindanao, about 600 miles from Manila. Unlike Haiyan, which stretched 248 miles in diameter, Zoraida is 186 miles wide, which means her impact on Leyte will be limited to rain.
Weather bureau forecaster Jun Galang said the outer band of Zoraida would bring rain to some of the typhoon- and earthquake-affected areas.
While the amount of rainfall isn’t expected to be substantial, the weather bureau is warning against possible landslides, given the loose soil conditions caused by the earthquake and the saturated ground following Typhoon Haiyan. The storm was moving westward and was expected to cross the Philippines’s westernmost island of Palawan by Thursday afternoon.
On Monday, people in typhoon-ravaged areas covered their faces with towels and scarves against the stench of death, clogging the roads of the hardest hit part of the Philippines in a traffic jam of desperation.
Headed into one center of devastation were Filipinos frantic to find loved ones, or help, or both; fleeing in the other direction were battered and fearful survivors of the howling winds and raging waves of supertyphoon Haiyan.
As the death toll surged and food and water became scarce three days after the storm, tens of thousands of refugees struggled to find their way to aid. With the return of cellphone signals and as rescuers cut their way toward isolated communities on Monday, the depth of the loss of lives became clearer. The government put the death count at 1,744—and it was expected to rise. Thousands remained missing.
On the streets of Tacloban, capital of the shattered province of Leyte, stiffened animal carcasses and human bodies were a common sight, some out in the open, others partly covered by tarps or sheet metal.
The road to Tacloban’s airport was jammed with people trying to get out as limited commercial service restarted. At the same time, the road into town was also snarled by motorbikes and cars—even as humanitarian workers warned that both food and water were rapidly running out.
“Tacloban is a chaotic, dangerous place right now,” Nelia Baltazar, 52 years old, shouted over her shoulder from her perch on a motorbike behind her husband. “We just want to leave.”
Outside a gutted storefront in Tacloban, Diorico Montejo, sat on the pavement accompanied by half a dozen members of his family—except one. Mr. Montejo, 43, said he hadn’t been able to find his wife of 21 years since the storm hit their home Friday morning, despite searching hospitals and city streets.
“I told her, ‘I will stay to guard our things,’” he said. “But she said, ‘If you are in the house, I want to be in the house with you.’ “
Mr. Montejo said when the waves came in, the two of them swam out of an opening in their roof—an experience that left his arms, face and side crisscrossed with a series of deep gashes from the roof’s nails.
“The water was as high as that coconut tree,” he said, gesturing across the street. “In just two to five seconds, she was gone.”
In a country that due to its geography, high rate of poverty and flimsy construction is regularly leveled by typhoons, Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda, was one of the most powerful to ever hit land. The provinces of Leyte and Samar, both roughly 350 miles south of Manila, bore the brunt of the disaster.
In Samar, locals were fighting their own surreal horrors as the towns of Basey and Marabut were all but destroyed. Samar Gov. Sharee Ann Tan said 500 people were buried in mass graves in Basey, while others were said to be simply buried alongside streets, and an additional 2,000 were missing.
Meanwhile, 200 of the dead in Tacloban were to be buried together on Tuesday.
The devastated sections of the two provinces were the focus of President Benigno Aquino III, who declared sweeping measures on Monday to bring relief to survivors and bolster rescue efforts.
The National Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council said nearly 10 million people in 42 of the country’s 81 provinces were affected by the typhoon, one of the world’s worst storms. More than 28,000 houses were damaged.
Roads and bridges were being cleared and telecommunications services were being restored in some areas, leading to a more accurate view of the devastation.
As logistics gradually improved, President Aquino said 55,000 family food packs would be available daily. And 800 soldiers and police were sent to Tacloban to stop looters, clear toppled trees from roads and help search for survivors and the dead in the rubble.
The U.S. military is ramping up its military support to the Philippines, sending an aircraft carrier and other ships carrying 5,000 sailors and 80 aircraft into the region, officials announced Monday. They will join Marines sent Sunday from Okinawa, Japan. Pentagon press secretary George Little said the ships and aircraft will be able to provide humanitarian assistance, supplies, and medical care, and should be in position within 48 to 72 hours.
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