Consuming a Country:Philippine's Typhoon Haiyan

American Responses to Typhoon Haiyan

On November 8, Typhoon Haiyan swiped through the Leyte province in the Philippines ravaging cities and leaving thousands homeless. The catastrophic event nearly wiped out the whole city of Tacloban, displacing nearly 620,000 people and killing dozens. The Philippine military confirmed at least 1,000 people dead and communication and transportation has yet to be recovered. Cut off from resources, survivors of the storm have had to manage with little to no food, water, or medical help. And as the United States has done in the past for others devastated by natural disasters, we find ourselves asking how can we help?

When one country is in desperate need of relief from disasters, it has become our job as Americans and from the United Nations and other organizations, to lend a hand. Like we did for Haiti, and Japan after the earthquakes, Americans have begun donating to the Philippines in hopes of helping them recover. 

A man paints his plead for help on the local port in the typhoon-ravaged Tacloban City, Leyte Philippines
  November 11, 2013

Although the Philippines needs help, we have to wonder if our efforts are actually effective. By buying clothes and goods and sending them to the areas affected by the storm, we offer a negative consumerist approach for helping. Buying more and sending more things like clothing to a nation that was nearly destroyed is most likely not at the top of the list. Don't get me wrong, Americans have always proved their generosity in the wake of natural disasters. However, we tend to resort to buying things and giving our hand-me-downs and left-overs to countries in need rather than what they really need; money and other specific resources.  

In a society motivated by consumerism, Americans often respond to disasters thinking that random goods and care packages will help the effort. Instead, Philippine-based organizations like the Community and Family Services International and the Philippine Red Cross urge people to be smart donors. Although we may feel compelled to go out and spend money on care packages and donate used clothes, Typhoon Haiyan calls for Americans to abandon their obsessions with donating goods to an already ravaged country. Instead, we must make the effort to be less self-absorbed in the way we donate and give countries what they need not what WE think they want.