08/11/2025
| 12th Year of Super Typhoon Yolanda
Today, we remember the 12th year of Typhoon Yolanda. On November 8, 2013, one of the most powerful storms in history struck the Philippines. Known to the world as Typhoon Haiyan, it brought destruction to the Visayas region, leaving a trail of devastation. Over 6,000 lives were lost, more than 20,000 were injured, and millions were affected. There were homes submerged, and families torn apart. There was no electricity, no clean water, no means of communication; just a landscape of brokenness, where people cried out for help.
For twelve years, those who survived went through the process of recovery. They are not only rebuilding their homes, but also trying to heal from the deep emotional and psychological scars left by the tragedy. The pain lingers, deep in each heart and mind.
And now, in the same month, November, Typhoon Tino struck Visayas. The scenes are hauntingly familiar: houses flooded, no electricity, no cellular signal, and no clean water. People are once again crying out for help, helpless in the face of yet another storm.
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) reminds us that a natural hazard, such as a typhoon, only becomes a disaster when people are unprepared, left vulnerable, and unprotected. Time and again, we've seen communities already struggling with poverty and a lack of resources, made even more vulnerable by the absence of effective disaster management systems. If there were access to accurate information, evacuation plans, and sustainable infrastructure, the loss of life and property could have been prevented. But it wasn't.
Now, as a new storm approaches, potentially a supertyphoon, we find ourselves holding our breath once again. People in Negros, and all over the Philippines, are still carrying the weight of Yolanda's aftermath. That same fear has returned, haunting us, reminding us of all that was lost and all that remains to be done.
We've proven that we are resilient. We've picked ourselves up, time and again, after every storm. But this time, it's not just about survival. We are crying out for justice. The pain brought by disasters isn't just about the lives lost or the homes destroyed; it's also about the suffering endured. It is about the system that failed us, the systemic failures that worsened the devastation and left our people to suffer longer than necessary.
More than just compensation, we demand accountability. We call on the government to take responsibility, not just for the aid, but also for the failure to improve disaster preparedness and for not building systems that could save lives. The survivors are not asking for sympathy; we are demanding action, demanding that something be done so that no one else has to experience the same agony. We want reforms that will protect the vulnerable from the impact of natural hazards, ensuring that no one is ever left to face a storm alone.
As we reflect on the 12th year of Supertyphoon Yolanda, we must face a painful truth: the fight for justice is far from over. The survivors' cries for accountability can no longer be ignored. We need real change, stronger disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) systems, access to accurate information, more effective evacuation planning, and a commitment to addressing the root causes of our vulnerability: poverty, corruption, and lack of infrastructure.
If lives are lost, homes are destroyed, and millions of people are left to suffer because of systemic failure, especially the corruption that continues to drain our resources, this is no longer just a natural hazard: a Supertyphoon. This is a man-made disaster.
Layout | Marl Azriel Adorio
