Storm surge mapping of typhoon Haiyan and its impact in Tanauan, Leyte, Philippines

Super Typhoon Haiyan (locally known as “Yolanda”), which featured wind speeds of 315 km/h, corresponding to a category 5, struck the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines on November 8, 2013. The municipality of Tanauan, home to 50,907 people and 9,624 households in 54 barangays was one of the locations in Leyte Province. Because of Typhoon Haiyan, 822 people died in 32 barangays, and 35 people went missing. Tanauan received less attention from international emergency aid organizations than Tacloban or Palo. The survey team of the International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, was deployed to investigate the on-site damage in Tanauan in February, March and May of 2014. The main purpose of the survey was to identify the extent of Typhoon Haiyan’s storm surge; face-to-face interviews were conducted to determine the water limit points. The storm surge flood map based on the surveyed water limit points for Haiyan in 2013 did not match the storm surge hazard map provided by the municipality of Tanauan. The causes of death were reviewed, and 94.7% of the deaths of the 17 Barangays along the coastal area were the result of drowning. To conduct a risk assessment, it is important to develop a digital database that includes geospatial maps and utilizes a cross-section database that contains categorized data and has dynamical accessibility for query functions. The hazard maps can be an effective way to increase residents’ awareness of the natural disaster risk and enhance risk reduction and community resilience.