Poverty and vulnerability to storms

Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines on Nov 2, 2013, left behind more than 6,000 dead and displaced a population the size of Los Angeles. The scale of the damage is a result not only of the severity of the storm but also of the vulnerability of the millions of impoverished people living in the Philippines. Typhoon is a regional name for a tropical cyclone, and it's a familiar word in the Philippines, which has been the country most often struck by these disasters during the past decade and the past half-century. Other countries that have suffered catastrophic storm damage -- Bangladesh, China, Myanmar, and India -- are also examples of how poverty increases vulnerability. Recent cyclone disasters in India and Bangladesh reveal major improvements in disaster preparedness. In India, Cyclone Phailin in 2013 caused 38 deaths, a vast improvement from the 10,000 deaths resulting from a similar storm in 1999.