Recovering from the typhoon Haiyan

At the moment of writing, the international media is awash with images of the carnage wrought on the Philippines by hurricane Yolanda (Haiyan.) While many areas have escaped relatively unharmed, the haunting images of the destruction of Tacloban is a poignant reminder how strong these destructive forced can be. At Marine Conservation Philippines we send our best wishes to friends and loved ones throughout the Philippines, all of whom thankfully are physically unhurt, but many of whom sadly lost property and livelihood.

While the damage wrought on property and land is immense, time will tell how the hurricane affected the coral reefs. As the visibility clears up after the storm, scuba divers can start surveying the damage. Locally we’re thankful, that it was high-tide as Yolanda struck Siquijor, Apo Island and Negros Occidental. The extra feet of water will presumably, to an extent, have acted as a buffer lessening the damage. Certainly, the first few dives are going to be exiting.

This is neither the time or place to speculate about a correlation between extreme weather and global warming – that time will no doubt come in the month to come, as evidenced all over the scientific blogosphere. Now instead it’s a time to bury the dead. The Philippine nation is no stranger to hard times and once the dead are buried, the buzz and roar of chainsaws and bulldozers will be the sound score of the immense salvage and clean up work ahead. As always, the Philippines will do, what it does best. Get back on its feet.