1. The Emergency Cycle
The 4 Rs of the emergency cycle includes the response, recovery, reducing the impact and readiness stages.

2. Public Storm Warning #4 issued by the Government of the Philippines
7 November, 2013
Public Storm Warning #4 issued by the Government of the Philippines
A very intense typhoon is heading to the Visayas region.
Very strong winds of more than 185 kph may be expected in at least 12 hours.
Storm surge expected.
People should move to safer shelters now!
The Govt of the Philippines has a four level warning system. Public storm warning #4 is the most severe weather warning. Filipinos would have received the warning via television or radio. A storm surge is a ‘big wave’ that follows a severe storm. It might be a 2 metre wave or bigger. In the case of the storm surge following Typhoon Haiyan, it was a 6-8 metre wave which did an incredible amount of damage. People said that if they had known how big the storm surge was going to be they would have gotten to higher ground a lot more quickly.

3. People heard the typhoon warning on radios, TV and through SMS alerts
Many villages without electricity don’t have television, but radios are found everywhere. Many people also have mobile phones but they may not have the SMS alert feature. People have to pay for this feature. Also sometimes people run out of batteries for their radios.
Some people said they didn’t receive any warning.
Some people said Typhoon Haiyan was a lot more powerful than they expected.

4. 8 November, 2013
Super Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in six different locations in the Visayas region of the Philippines.
Haiyan was the strongest typhoon in recorded history to reach land, with wind speeds up to 348km/hr.

5. Interesting Fact
Filipinos have a different system for naming typhoons than other countries. Typhoon Haiyan was called ‘Typhoon Yolanda’ in the Philippines. When a typhoon is expected to be very strong it is given a male name. Because Yolanda is a common female name in the Philippines, people didn’t think it would be as strong as it was.

6. Typhoon Haiyan did an enormous amount of damage particularly to the town of Tacloban.
The storm surge that followed the wind, probably did more damage than the typhoon itself. The water swept this ship onto the land, and destroyed many houses in its path.

7. Thousands of people died and half a million people lost their homes.
Here people are searching through the debri to try to find some of their belongings.

8. What happens after the typhoon?
This is a Reuters Media photo showing houses flattened by Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013.

9. There are four different phases following a disaster

10. The first phase after a disaster is called the
Response
After a disaster there is a lot of debri and ‘rubbish’. In some parts of the Philippines the government provide ‘cash for work’ if local people get involved in the cleanup.
It includes cleaning up the mess.

11. It also involves assessing the damage
The man in gumboots is a CRS (Catholic Relief Services) worker. CRS is a partner agency of Caritas. Here he is assessing damage to homes after Typhoon Bopha. (December 2012)

12. And providing emergency supplies
Stella is a volunteer working with Caritas making up food packs.
...like food and clean water

13. Sanitation kits for improving hygiene
Sanitation kits contain things like soap, disinfectant and aqua-tabs for making water clean enough to drink.

14. Tarpaulins for providing shelter

15. And building kits containing a hammer and nails to repair homes

16. Houses are rebuilt using timber from fallen coconut trees.
The Recovery Phase
Houses are rebuilt using timber from fallen coconut trees.

17. People begin to grow their own food again with seedlings from Caritas

18. Some shops are re-opened

19. The next phase involves
Reducing the impact
of future
disasters
These homes are being built up on a hill away from the river bed. They also are on stilts so that rain can flow underneath them rather than washing them away.

20. Houses need metal straps to hold the walls to the foundations.

21. People grow their own food

22. Families need more secure access to water
The people of Sitio Baguidanan have a new water pump that brings water closer to their homes. People used to have to walk 1km to get fresh water. The money for this new water system was provided by Catholic Relief Services from the United States. This organisation belongs to the Caritas International Confederation.

23. Final phase Readiness A new typhoon shelter
This typhoon shelter is being built at Sitio Babag in Mindanao. The parish still needs some more financial assistance to finish it and to store supplies inside. It has already been used by local people during a flood.
A new typhoon shelter

24. Improving water supplies through stronger pipelines
The leader of the Purok Tuboran community wants to build a small reservoir around this spring. That way his community will have a secure water supply even if another disaster comes. He needs about $3,000 for the materials for this project.

25. Storing food and water supplies
If communities have sacks of rice and bags containing tarpaulins in storage then they are able to access these things immediately after a disaster occurs.

26. If another disaster occurs, the people of the Visayas region will be better prepared
Caritas helps at every phase… Respond, Recover, Reduce impact, and Readiness for next time.
Human dignity – every person is valuable to Creator God. Every person has mana and is worthy of respect.

27. Solidarity – we belong to one big human family – one whānau
Solidarity – we belong to one big human family – one whānau. We need to support each other no matter where we live in the world