Background

On November 8, 2013, the typhoon Yolanda made the first landfall in Guiuan, Easten Samar with a
sustained wind of 235 kph and gust of 275 kph. This typhoon leaves a total of 6300 individuals that are
reported dead, 28688 who are injured and 1062 person that are still missing. The reported damage to
the infrastructure was Php 2.47 billion in all affected areas. During and after the onslaught, the LGUs
and the different government and private sectors including the military and police joined force to help
the people in the affected regions. There are also help coming from the other countries donating cash
and sending their people for the search and rescue and in rehabilitation of the affected areas.

Potable Water and Water Contamination Issues

During and after the onslaught of typhoon Yoland, the people rely on the bottled water that was
donated to them since the water line were cut-off during the typhoon. On the third and fourth day after
the onslaught, the problem was the scarcity of water. People looted on every stores and supermarkets
just to get a clean water to drink. The area were filled with dead bodies and the water line were
contaminated with lots of bad bacteria that causes diarrhea and leptospirosis to the people.

Though the reports said that the normal flow of clean water was back after 9 days, the people still didn’t
want to drink from there. Neither do I will not drink water from the water line unless the contamination
was gone and declared safe to drink by the DOH. The water pipes were broken and it was contaminated
with waste water since we all know that most of the population in the province do not have an access to
a proper toilets.

Infrastructure Rehabilitation

As for the infrastructure, the DPWH have done great in the cleaning and mending of roads, bridges,
waterways and drainages in Tacloban. The total damage to infrastructure was Php 2.47 billion, it’s quite
a lot of money. Though a lot of countries donated so much money in dollars for the rehabilitation of the
infrastructures, housing rehabilitation and supplies of food and medicine, the people in Tacloban and all
the affected areas in Eastern Visayas were still suffering from hunger and more people are getting sick
because of lack of shelter.

There was an issue about the malversation of fund in the donations for the Yolanda victims and I think it
was true. If you can see the housing project that the previous administration have done, it was a
substandard. The contractor that was hired by the NHA used substandard materials for the project, in
short “tinipid”. According to report, the people refuse to occupy the houses because almost 80% of the
housing units are defective, and they also request to the government to demolish all the substandard
units.

The total estimates of cash donations from other countries were $551 million (Php 23.858 Billion, at Php
43.3 exchange rate for November 8, 2013). If this money were to spend wisely by the government to
rehabilitate all the affected areas in the Eastern Visayas, the rehabilitation will be a success and people
can go back to their normal life.
References:

http://www.ndrrmc.gov.ph/21-disaster-events/1329-situational-report-re-effects-of-typhoon-yolanda-
haiyan

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2015/11/01/1517447/finally-yolanda-survivors-tacloban-have-
potable-water

https://reliefweb.int/report/philippines/improving-water-and-sanitation-yolanda-hit-areas-goes-
beyond-fixing-pipes-and

https://www.philstar.com/business/science-and-environment/2015/08/12/1487335/tacloban-
groundwater-be-evaluated

https://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/regions/06/16/14/after-haiyan-disaster-solution-water-crisis-above

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Haiyan

https://www.exchange-rates.org/Rate/USD/PHP/11-8-2013
Technological Institute of the Philippines
Quezon City
College of Engineering and Architecture
Civil Engineering Department

CE 503
QUIZ (MIDTERM)

JOHN MICHAEL B. SIBAYAN

CE51FB2

ENGR. BONN MARTIN DIALA

INSTRUCTOR

March1, 2019