News outlets cover natural disasters purportedly as a public service. But there’s no denying that such coverage is a ratings boon for their bottom line – catering as it does to the perverse thrill of suspense that keeps us fixated on the hype of impending doom….
(“Katrina’s Coming, Katrina’s Coming,” The iPINIONS Journal, August 29, 2005)
It was impossible to miss weather forecasters warning that Typhon Haiyan is so vast and powerful that it would make Hurricane Katrina look like a tempest in a teapot.
This storm is Sandy size … there’s going to be storm surges (sic) of 50, maybe 60 feet all along the coast… They’re thinking 195 mph winds with gusts reaching even 235 mph. The biggest storm to ever hit – even this is smaller than the one that will hit tomorrow – killed 1,900 people in 2012.
(Chief Meteorologist Chad Myers, CNN, November 7, 2013)
Therefore, one could be forgiven for fearing that thousands, if not tens of thousands, of lives would be lost. Not least because the only shelter available for so many was the ramshackle structures that lie in Haiyan’s path. One could also be forgiven for fearing that this typhoon, like the Indonesian tsunami, is such a freak of nature that Filipinos would have no clue how to survive it.
Whereas, in fact, Filipinos are so accustomed to weathering, and surviving, typhoons that meteorologists commonly refer to the Philippines as being located in Typhoon Alley. Which is why it’s hardly surprising that, despite Haiyan leaving mass destruction in its wake, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council is reporting that there were relatively few casualties.
This of course is not stopping news outlets from trying to validate their hype by reporting that Haiyan killed “more than 100.” Which raises the question: Did it kill 101 people or 1,000,001? (For the record, Katrina killed 1,833.)
No doubt Haiyan’s death toll will increase. And the hundreds of thousands who have been displaced seem bound to be without proper shelter for some time to come. But as natural disasters go, Filipinos fared relatively well; especially given the hype and, more directly, the above-referenced tsunami, which killed 230,000 people, as points of reference. Not that this comparison will provide any comfort to any Filipino.
Incidentally, if you found criminal looting (i.e., of things like electronics instead of food) disappointing in the aftermath of Katrina, prepare to be even more disappointed….
All the same, my thoughts and prayers go out to them as they try to recover and rebuild.
UPDATE
(Sunday, November 10, 2013 at 8:21 am)
Death toll rises
One of the most powerful storms ever recorded killed at least 10,000 people in the central Philippines, a senior police official said on Sunday, with huge waves sweeping away coastal villages and devastating one of the main cities in the region.
(Reuters, November 10, 2013)
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* This commentary was originally published yesterday, Saturday, at 8:03 am