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Category 5 Typhoon Haiyan was one of the strongest typhoons to hit the Philippines in modern times, and introduced the term 'storm surge' to the vocabulary of many local residents, who had not heard about such phenomena prior to this event. The storm surge manifested itself on the 8th November 2013 as Haiyan made landfall, devastating large areas in the islands of Leyte and Samar. To attempt to gain an understanding of the level of awareness that local residents had about storm surges the authors conducted structured questionnaires () and focus group interviews with local residents, and discussed the results obtained with key informants (government officers and disaster risk managers). One of the key problems identified during the interviews was how people were not able to clearly understand the concept of a storm surge, with many respondents emphasizing how it would have been better for authorities to describe it as a 'tsunami'. A discussion is also made on the recent evolution in world-wide coastal disaster awareness, comparing it to recent developments in storm surge awareness in the Philippines and other countries in the area, such as Vietnam and Japan. The authors conclude that, in terms of its influence on world-wide disaster awareness, typhoon Haiyan constitutes an event of similar importance to major recent high-impact tsunami events such as the 2004 Indian Ocean and 2011 Tohoku events. As a result, the authors will outline a number of lessons learnt from Haiyan, such as the necessity for creating multi-layer safety strategies and improving how information about storm surges is transmitted to local residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper examines the impact of floodwater caused by the storm surge brought about by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, focusing on downtown Tacloban in Leyte Island, the Philippines. A reliable numerical model for predicting such flooding was developed by calibrating the results of field investigations, including footage from a video clip taken during the storm surge. The simulation reveals that flow velocities along the streets in downtown Tacloban reached up to 7 m/s due to flow contraction along the high-density blocks of houses, and how water levels reached their peak in just 10 min. According to the depth–velocity product criteria, often used for evaluating the vulnerability of people and buildings to floodwaters, only 8% of the length of streets in downtown Tacloban were within the safe limits that allow pedestrian evacuation. Based on these findings, the present research concludes that pedestrian evacuation in the middle of a storm surge generated by a strong typhoon is a high - risk behavior . Thus, clearly and objectively, evacuation during this time should not be encouraged, even when seawater intrudes the houses of local residents. In this respect, it would appear imperative that prior to the arrival of the typhoon all residents should evacuate areas at risk of being flooded. Though the flood height was significant in the downtown area, the damage to these houses was limited. If it was not possible for some reason to evacuate prior to the arrival of the typhoon, those in solid houses should first consider vertical evacuation and the possibility that they could survive in their place, rather than courageously evacuating in an unpredictable water flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unusual statistical characteristics of Typhoon Haiyan were investigated using the JTWC best track data from 1945 to 2013, particularly focusing on tropical cyclones making landfall in the Philippines. Haiyan generated the strongest winds among a collection of over 400 past storms, which was 16 % greater than the second strongest typhoon on record (Typhoon Zeb in 1998). The forward speed of Haiyan was nearly twice as fast as the average speed of these weather systems and could be the fastest typhoon on record. Thus, Haiyan can be characterized as both the fastest moving and strongest typhoon measured in the area. The return period for a Haiyan-class typhoon to make landfall was estimated to be 200 years. A statistical analysis also indicated that the number of tropical cyclone making landfall around Leyte Island in the Philippines-the area most severely damaged by Haiyan-has been steadily increasing over the past 7 decades. Analysis of sea surface temperature (SST) indicates that both Haiyan and Zeb occurred during seasons that were characterized by remarkably warm SSTs over the seas surrounding the Philippines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current climate change discourses have expressed fear that many coastal communities would be forced to relocate in the face of rising water levels. However, despite the frequency and intensity with which such messages are being broadcasted throughout the world's media, there is little actual evidence of any relocation actually taking place, even though there are a number of past examples of relative sea level rise due to earthquake induced subsidence or groundwater extraction. Thus, in order to better understand the consequences of future sea level rise the authors analysed four instances of land subsidence that have taken place in the 20th and early 21st centuries (namely, adaptation strategies around Tokyo and Jakarta, and the experience of islands on the Danajon bank in the Philippines, and Kepulauan Seribu close to Jakarta). In all cases the inhabitants of densely populated coastal areas remain in place, despite the challenge of living with higher water levels. Adaptation was done through a five-phase process, starting with the construction of rather weak seawalls, which is then followed by the placement of pumps to drain water. Eventually, as the economic and technical capacities of coastal settlements improved, better seawalls were built, which then led to the reclamation of new areas, the elevation of entire districts or the construction of super levees. Thus, while it is clear that sea level rise will pose an additional financial strain on urbanised coastal areas, the authors found no evidence that any major coastal settlements will surrender a significant portion of its land area to the sea, given the range of adaptation options available. Rather, the opposite is true, and evidence indicates that new lines of defence will be built further into the water, effectively meaning that humans will encroach on the sea. • Adaptation to coastal land subsidence in highly urbanised cities goes through a five-stage process. • Past land subsidence can be used as a proxy to understand adaptation to future sea level rise. • Evidence for human relocation is lacking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]