Typhoon Haiyan: A Whirlwind of Greed?

by Richard Heasman

The staggering impact of Typhoon Haiyan on the Philippine islands cannot be underestimated. 800,000 people have been displaced and reports suggest that up to 10,000 people have been killed by the worst storm ever recorded. What left many Western onlookers surprised is the level of poverty in the Philippinnes.

80% of the population live in rural areas scattered throughout the islands that make up the country. As is common in rural agricultural nations, poverty is dramatically high. Unsustainable farming and fishing are direct causes; due to larger fishing and farming companies cultivating the landscape.

The province of Leyte, the hardest hit area by the storm, was already under substantial environmental attack, reeling after decades of aggressive mining operations. The Philippines, among many other developing countries, has seen itself subject to the minerals boom; whereby foreign mining companies have taken over vast swathes of land, normally already inhabited by indigenous people, and turned the landscape into nightmarish moonscapes.

The extreme poverty surrounding these mining zones reflects the general normality of areas sucked dry by unregulated capitalism. The people never benefit, only the companies.

Strip mine in the Philippines

Climate change, argue many, was the cause of Typhoon Haiyan.

In an emotional speech, Philippines' delegate Nadarev (Yeb) Sano, on the first day of the COP19 Climate Change Summit in Poland, Warsaw; described not only his own personal loss in the storm, but the absolute destruction his country has faced. In a desperate appeal to the summit, Sano declared that he will be going on hunger strike in an attempt to force a very real change in the world’s attitude towards climate change.

Regardless of personal opinion on climate change, the fact remains that storms are getting bigger and the destruction greater. Before Haiyan hit the region of Leyte, Typhoon Bopha, which devastated the province of Mindanao in December last year, retained the title of world’s biggest storm with wind speeds of up to 161 mph. ‘Superstorms’ are becoming a horrific normality: there is a direct correlation between the impact of unregulated industrialization and the appearance of these ‘superstorms’.

Sano’s plea to curb a relentless self-destructive attitude towards the climate comes at a time when Brazilian officials have just published reports of a 28% increase in deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. Luckily for us, as onlookers, we enjoy a climate that does not initially feel the consequences of climate change, as the extreme poor in the tropical regions of the world do. As is always the case, the companies that pursue profits the size of typhoons only outsource to these regions, we just get to speak to them when our broadband breaks.

On a positive note, the UK has committed a further 30 million pounds in aid to the Philippines with the support of Royal Navy vessels. If you wish to donate, do so here:

http://www.redcross.org.uk/typhoonappeal/?gclid=CJvaqKLM6boCFQjKtAodEGcA3w

More information on Philippine’ mining here: http://www.theage.com.au/multimedia/miningphilippines/main.html