DISASTER READINESS AND RISK

REDUCTION
Topic:
Typhoon Prone Philippines
Tropical Cyclone

KEY TAKEAWAYS

A natural disaster can bring about many devastating effects. Among these are deaths, destruction of infrastructures, loss of
livelihood and services, and other physical and nonphysical effects. Since we are partly responsible for the disasters
happening around us, we must change some of our ways, in order to prevent or minimize the effects of disasters in our
lives.

Types of disasters

1. Major natural disasters

2. Minor natural disasters:
3. Major manmade disaster
4. Minor manmade disaster:

Major natural disasters:

• Flood

• Cyclone

• Drought

• Earthquake

Minor natural disasters:

• Cold wave
• Thunderstorms

• Heat waves

• Mud slides

• Storm

Major manmade disaster:

 Setting of fires
 Epidemic
 Deforestation
 Pollution due to prawn cultivation
 Chemical pollution.
 Wars

Minor manmade disaster:

• Road / train accidents, riots

• Food poisoning

• Industrial disaster/ crisis

• Environmental pollution

MODULE CONTENT:

Typhoon-Prone Philippines

In the Philippines, Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) is
the government agency responsible in monitoring typhoon and providing information on weather updates.

Temperature and Typhoons

● Typhoons derive energy from evaporation of water in oceans.

● Areas where typhoons originate should be warm enough to allow evaporation.

Origin and Path of Typhoons

● The Philippines is in the path of where low pressure areas take.

● Typhoons maintain Coriolis force to keep spinning after hitting the Philippines.

The Fujiwhara Effect

● Fujiwhara (or Fujiwara) effect is the interaction between two nearby tropical cyclones.

● It is also known as a binary interaction.

Typhoons Pepeng and Quedan

● In 2009, the Philippines was hit with two typhoons.

● These two underwent the Fujiwhara effect.

Naming of Typhoons

● Typhoon names are repeated by PAGASA every four years unless the typhoon with that name causes:

● at least 300 deaths;

 ● agricultural damages;and

● infrastructural damages.

What are Tropical Cyclones (TC) ?

A low-pressure weather system in which the central core is warmer than the surrounding atmosphere. For this reason they
are classified as “warm core” systems. They are also called Hurricanes, Typhoons.

 Forms over a tropical ocean.

 Center of storm is warmer than the surrounding air.

 Has no fronts.

 Strongest winds are near the Earth's surface.

 Main energy source is the latent heat of condensation

 Air sinks at the center of a TC

 They are moved by steering winds in the troposphere.

 TC weaken rapidly over land

Anatomy of a Tropical Cyclone

 The Eye: The low pressure centre of a tropical cyclone. Winds are normally calm and sometimes the sky clears.
The eye of a storm is a roughly circular area and typically 30-65 km in diameter. It is surrounded by the eyewall

 The Eye-wall: The ring of thunderstorms that surrounds a storm’s eye. The heaviest rain, strongest winds and
worst turbulence are normally in the eye wall.

 Storm Surge: is enhanced by high winds and greater storm size.

 Rainbands : Rainbands are bands of showers and thunderstorms that spiral cyclonically toward the storm center.

 Landfall: Officially, landfall is when a storm's center (the center of its circulation, not its edge) crosses the
coastline.

 Airflow Patterns
Classification of Typhoon

 Low Pressure

 Tropical Depression

 Tropical Storm

 Tropical Cyclone

 Super Typhoon

Why do we need to name TC ?

Storms were initially given names to eliminate confusion when there are multiple systems in any individual basin at the
same time which assist in warning people of the coming storm

 Hazard brought by typhoon

The common hazards associated with these are heavy rains, strong winds, storm surge, floods and landslides/ mud
slide /mud flow.

Typhoon is a destructive weather system with strong destructive power, and its harmfulness mainly has three aspects:

One is the risk of high winds. The maximum wind force near the typhoon center is above level 8, which can cause severe
damage.

The second is rainstorm disaster. Typhoons are one of the most powerful rainstorm systems. In areas where typhoons have
passed, they usually produce rain of 150mm~300mm, and a few typhoons can produce heavy rainstorms more than 1,000
millimeters. In 1975, the third typhoon in the upper reaches of the Huaihe River caused heavy rain, which created the
extreme rainstorm in mainland China and formed the "75.8" flood in Henan.
The third is storm surge disaster. A general typhoon can add water to the coastal waters, and the most powerful water on
the coast of Jiangsu can reach up to 3 meters. The "9608" and "9711" typhoon added water, making coastal areas of
Jiangsu along the Yangtze River reach the highest tide in history.

When typhoon passes through, it often brings severe storm and heavy weather, which causes the sea surface waves and
serious threat to navigation safety. The storm surge caused by the typhoon may destroy crops, construction facilities and
so on, causing great loss of people's lives and property.

 Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda, was one of the most powerful tropical
cyclones ever recorded. On making landfall, Haiyan devastated portions of Southeast Asia, particularly
the Philippines  It is one of the deadliest Philippine typhoons on record killing at least 6,300 people in that country
alone. In terms of JTWC-estimated 1-minute sustained winds, Haiyan is tied with Meranti in 2016 for being the
second strongest landfalling tropical cyclone on record. In January 2014, bodies were still being found