How Two Ships Show the Magnitude of Typhoon Haiyan

Sometimes it takes a few ships to show how devastating a typhoon really is.

Typhoon Haiyan is the strongest storm to ever reach landfall in the Philippines and by far the Philippines’ most deadly tropical cyclone killing over 6,000 people. If you don’t live in the swath of central islands that were most affected by Haiyan you can’t imagine the sheer magnitude of the three harrowing, big waves that locals in Tacloban City often refer to and then there was the wind; wind that spun the tops of coconut trees clean off.

I couldn’t imagine the magnitude of Haiyan until I saw the ships.

Run aground during the typhoon, two massive ships now sit in the middle of a squatters’ neighborhood and government designated “no build zone” in Annibong. A year after Haiyan, plans have been devised to repurpose the ships. A bulldozer with a crane attached next to Eva Jocelyn shows that there has been some progress to at least move or remove it. And there are other plans to float one of the other ships again. Yet the ships remain a constant reminder of the scope and breadth of the deadly superstorm and symbolize that change doesn’t happen overnight despite best efforts.

The ships also provide context to how powerful Haiyan was. The rubble is gone throughout most of Tacloban City, but the ships are still run aground relatively far from the ocean and rather inland. It shows how high the storm surge was and how far inland the water pushed them.

Attempting to talk to some local women about the ships I asked them how far the water went and they both turned, pointed, and said “mountain.” Perhaps they are prone to a little hyperbole, but perhaps the water did reach the mountain. I don’t doubt it. It’s more proof that many Filipinos in this area have been – for a lack of better words – to hell and back.

Driving throughout Tacloban City I look for physical signs of the storm and because recovery efforts have been well-coordinated and well-funded, it becomes increasingly difficult to imagine that a year ago this week Tacloban City was one sprawling heap of rubble. The clean-up has been largely done, many businesses have been rebuilt, new homes that are intended to withstand future typhoons are being erected, children have gone back to school, and men and women are being trained on new ways to earn a living. Many attribute Filipinos’ relatively quick recovery to ‘bayamihan” or the spirit of oneness they live every day.

“There is a strength and resiliency I see here that I haven’t seen in other places I’ve been which I love,” said Jenny MacCann, Operations Director of the Haiyan Response at World Vision.

Tacloban City is moving into a rehabilitation phase now that the emergency and recovery phases are coming to an end. Since Haiyan hit World Vision has met the needs of over one million beneficiaries through a variety of programs whether it’s WASH or carpentry certification, or savings groups among a full portfolio of World Vision services intended to help teach people to “build better” and move people to better livelihoods.

One thing that is not lost on the World Vision Haiyan Response team is that there needs to be more investment in disaster risk reduction because of the increase in natural disasters. “We know that this type of emergency will continue and increase in the future,” said Andrew Rosauer, World Vision Haiyan Response Director. “We need to invest in resiliency plans.”

I am in the Philippines to report on World Vision’s response and recovery efforts for Typhoon Haiyan