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By Bethany Bella

At dawn on a moist, Novembermorning came a hydraulic concoc-

tion like no other Super Typhoon

Haiyan.

The Philippines, an archipelago

comprised of 7,107 islands, was

ransacked on Friday, Nov. 8, 2013

at 5 a.m. local time by a massive

typhoon. This Category 5 storm- known as Haiyan in the United

States, Yolanda in the Philippines

has been described by oceano-

graphic experts as off the charts,

a true tropical cyclone perfection.

Winds exceeded 150 miles per

hour, with some U.S. satellites

recording wind speeds of up to 195

miles per hour. As the water surged

in over two stories high, houses

crumbled, coastlines disintegrated,

and thousands of people vanished

beneath the churning waves. An

estimated 10,000 civilians are

assumed dead, as the number of

conrmed fatalities continues to

creep higher and higher.

Super Typhoon Haiyan shocked

the world, as the Philippines braced

itself against this ravaging storm.

The typhoon season had just

ofcially ended on Nov. 1,

thus many Filipinos were

not prepared for such a

crippling disaster this late in

the year.

But the sheer intensity

of Haiyan has continued

to bafe climate expertsand meteorologists across

the globe. According to the

Washington Post, this super

typhoon could end up being the

strongest storm to ever make land-

fall since modern record-keeping

began.

M.I.T. Tropical Meteorology

Professor Kerry Emanuel noted

that storms often hit after theyve

peaked in strength or before they

get a chance to, but Haiyan struck

when it was its most powerful,

based on various satellite observa-

tions.

The Philippines resides in one

of the most susceptible locations

to oceanic natural disasters. Even

though the international count of

hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons

hasnt expanded over the past de-

cade, the intensity of these storms

has notably increased.

Weve seen in the past de-

cades the oceans are warming up,

likely due to climate change. Alltyphoons feed off the warm ocean

waters, so warmer oceans will give

us more energy for these storms,

likely resulting in more intense

storms, Colin Price, head of the

geophysical, atmospheric, and

planetary sciences department at

Tel Aviv University in Israel, said.

In addition to the vast expans-

es of warm water surrounding

the island chain, the geography,

meteorology, poverty, unstable

construction, ballooning popula-

tion, and climate change are all

believed to have contributed to the

typhoon-laden habitat of the Phil-

ippines.

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Human, as opposed tonatural, contributions to these

devastating storms make up

about 75-80 percent of the de-

struction, based on University

of Miamis Brian McNoldy, a

hurricane researcher, analysis. A

colossal increase in populationis the tip of the iceberg, so to

speak. As population heavily

increases over a short period of

time, so does the need for relo-

cating this inux in individuals.

Fragile, poorly-constructed

housing shelters begin to crowd

the coastline. As poverty seeps

through the slums of nations

such as the Philippines, theseareas of highly-concentrated,

unstable structures become

a major hazard to torrential

storms, such as Super Typhoon

Haiyan.

Many believe that the cause

of such natural disasters is

based on global climate change,

pinpointing the rise in green-house gas emissions with the

rise in both international tem-

peratures and sea levels. Olai

Ngedikes, the lead negotiator

for an alliance of small island

nations, said at the Warsaw

United Nations talk on Nov. 11

that Super Typhoon Haiyan is

a stark reminder of the cost of

inaction on climate change andshould serve to motivate our

work in Warsaw. The United

Nations met the second week of

November to discuss a global

climate treaty.

Super Typhoon Haiyan left

the Philippine Islands in a state

of utter desolation, while those

Americans along the east coasthave yet to forget the massive

destruction of Hurricane Sandy

in 2012. It seems that beastly

tropical storms are becoming

the latest trend in a world of

melting ice caps and smoldering

exhaust fumes, which poses the

burning question When will

the next super-storm strike?