'The strongest typhoon in the world this year bore down on the Philippines, ...'

Phillipine typhoon

and this from the huff post:

"Super Typhoon Haiyan Could Be One Of The Strongest Storms In World History"

Mind boggling power. Sustained winds of 195 mph at landfall. Gusts to 235 mph. How many buildings can endure those kinds of winds for long?

Super typhoon Haiyan will also pass near the area hardest hit by a magnitude 7.1 quake last month.

Wow! That's hard to imagine! How do you prepare for a storm like that? I too wonder how many buildings could withstand that level of wind. It's like a really powerful tornado but tens of thousands of times larger.

You take a vacation ANYWHERE else.

This reminds me of our evergreen discussion topic: bugging in vs. bugging out. In my mind, this storm is a clear example of where bugging out is preferable. Property and livelihoods can be insured, rebuilt, replaced, or abandoned. Life, once lost, is gone for good.

True, except in this case, living on an island chain leaves fewer options.

That said, initial reports so far--or lack of them--could indicate fairly minimal damage. Haiyan's forward velocity was relatively quick, so it didn't linger and dump as much rain on any given place as it could've.

But with such a far flung country, it could take a while to get a clearer picture of what happened without power and disrupted communications.

Looks like a monster storm. Unfortunately, most of the residents in these areas don't have the financial resources to bug out, at least not very far. They just have to hunker down and take what comes. Not a pleasant situation to be in.

Devastating news, videos and photos coming from the Philippines.

My SO has contacted some relief agencies she has previously worked with and is volunteering to head over there if the agencies send any teams. No concrete plans yet as she also needs one more approval from work for a LOA (Leave of Absence) which will not be known until Tuesday earliest due to the long weekend up here.

...From the early reports, a massive amount of devastation. Will check the news tomorrow.

I heard most of the coastline fishing villages - and there's a lot of them were not reporting in.

It sounds like initially they hoped it was because they thought the damage was minimal.. it's starting to sound like they didn't report in because there wasn't anyone left.

I feel for all those people. They didn't have much in the way of options I don't think.