PDC Updates | Dec 12, 2006
Pacific Disaster Center

Typhoon Durian: The Cyclone, its Aftermath and the Continuing Humanitarian Response

Typhoon Durian (24W) made landfall in the eastern Philippine Islands during the overnight hours of November 30 to December 1, moving in a WSW direction across the central islands. As the powerful storm, with winds up to 80 knots (92 miles per hour), crossed the Philippines, it decreased in intensity, but not before spreading very inclement weather conditions across a wide swath of that nation. After leaving a trail of destruction, Typhoon Durian moved offshore from the Philippines into the South China Sea. It went on to make a second landfall on the SE coast of Viet Nam. By the time the storm reached the east coast of the Malay Peninsula, it was no longer a typhoon. A new storm named 25W formed in the western Pacific Ocean on December 6, moving toward the Philippine Islands on a track very similar to Durian. The Philippine Islands experience 20 or more typhoons each year. Even so, having four destructive typhoons in four months, ending with Durian, and having a fifth typhoon bearing down on the islands a week later, makes this an unusual period of typhoon activity.


Above: Graphical track maps for Typhoon Durian (top) and Typhoon Utor (bottom) at 19:00 UTC on December 1 (9:00 a.m. HST on December 1) and 01:00 UTC on December 9 (3:00 p.m. HST on December 8), respectively. For latest development and information on current typhoons, visit PDC's Asia Pacific Natural Hazards and Vulnerabilities Atlas.


Conditions were ideal for Typhoon Durian to become very destructive and dangerous, even though it was not a particularly powerful storm by comparison to others in recent years. People in the area of Mount Mayon, a conical strato-volcano on the island of Luzon, had been urged to evacuate since the current eruptive cycle began in July. The populations of the villages—including those in Lezgapi City on the southeast flank of the mountain—did not fully evacuate. From July 18 to August 11, volcanic activity at Mount Mayon added layers of ash, mud and boulders to the mountain slopes. By August 9, 2006, about 40,000 people had been moved out of the danger zone. When Mayon became “quiet” on August 10, scientists considered the silence “ominous,” but many of the areas residence began moving back into the 8 kilometer (5 mile) zone that had been largely evacuated.

Left: Hundreds of people in Binh Dai district, Ben Tre province, Viet Nam, are now homeless. (Photo: Nhan Dan newspaper)

When Durian made landfall in the Philippines on November 30, the winds and rain dislodged the recently deposited ash, mud and boulders, creating landslides that simply covered whole villages. According to Relief Web the typhoon left “more than 1,300 dead or missing,” and many thousands homeless and in inadequate, congested temporary shelters. Diseases began to threaten the sheltered populations almost immediately with respiratory and bowel disorders affecting many children. Most loss of life related to Typhoon Durian was due to inundation in the landslides, but flooding in some areas was also fatal. Estimates of the number of people adversely affected by Durian in the Philippines vary and are likely to continue changing for some time, but the number is in tens of thousands, most of them homeless and with no hope of returning to their homes.

When Durian moved into Viet Nam, Reuters AlertNet reported on December 7 that government estimates set the number of dead and missing in there at “about 100.” Durian was “Vietnam’s ninth storm of the year and it damaged or destroyed more than 212,000 homes and sank 808 fishing vessels,” the Hanoi-government release said.

The International Charter Space and Major Disasters was activated to coordinate relief in the Philippines, and Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) was designated to handle the project management. The Charter provides “a unified system of space data acquisition and delivery” to assist disaster-affected populations.


Above: Families search through hundreds of destroyed villages for loved ones.
(AP Photo from Live Science)

Key Resources for Developments Related to Typhoon Durian

Key Resources for Current and Future Typhoons

Key Resource for Volcanic Activity at Mount Mayon