Typhoon near Southeast Asia. By harvepino/stock.adobe.com
Typhoon Yagi made its first landfall in the island of Luzon, Philippines on Monday, September 2nd and moved towards its catastrophic peak in Northern Vietnam on Saturday, impacting several surrounding countries.
While typhoon season is year-round in Southeast Asia and often affects the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, China, and Vietnam, Yagi has proven to be particularly devastating.
For those of us in the West, it can be hard to bring the reality of foreign weather patterns to our minds, and yet they persist, affecting livelihoods much like our own thousands of miles away.
China
In China, the typhoon made two landfalls: the first on Friday, September 6th, and the second on the next day.
The first hit Hainan island in the south as a Category 4 storm. The island is often referred to as the “Hawaii of China” because of its tropical landscape and largely touristic economy. That primary industry is now severely weakened due to widespread damage to attractions and related businesses.
The Hainan province has seen 4 deaths and 95 injuries, and 400,000 people have evacuated the island. In total, at least 1 million people have evacuated their homes throughout the country.
Yagi’s second landfall in China on September 7th affected more than 1.2 million people in the Guangdong and Guangxi provinces.
Philippines
Yagi was titled tropical storm “Enteng” in the Philippines. As mentioned, it made its first landfall on September 2nd and exited the Philippines’ Area of Responsibility on September 4th.
Close to 3 million people, 800,000 families, were affected across 2,821 barangays.
The province of Luzon recorded 15.8 inches of rainfall while also receiving continued rainfall from the outer bands of the storm. The torrent has led to flooding and landslides, which have displaced nearly 50,000 people. At least 20 have lost their lives, and several more are missing.
Vietnam
Where the typhoon hit strongest, Northern Vietnam, millions more have been affected. Over 250 people have been found dead, 82 are still missing, and 820 have been injured.
Approximately 2 million children have no access to education and school feeding programs because school infrastructure has been damaged.
Further critical structures, such as factories and bridges, have been disabled. In some parts, entire villages have been submerged, making rescue efforts tremendously difficult.
In total, UNICEF reports that 550 health facilities, 800 schools, and over 100,000 homes have been damaged, resulting in more than 3 million people without access to safe drinking water. The vast numbers seem to make it difficult to comprehend the full breadth of the calamity.
Laos
The UN’s World Food Program has reported “extensive damage to houses, roads, markets, schools and farmland” in Northern Laos. One person died, and one is missing. 300 people were evacuated from 17 villages in the Luang Namtha province in the north.
Myanmar was also affected, particularly near the capital Naypyidaw, where river levels were very high.
Widespread loss
On the ground, Samaritan’s Purse relayed the following statement from a local resident of Yen Bai, Vietnam.
“I have lost everything . . . The water rose fast to the roof at midnight. The only thing I could do was to escape and save my life. Everything is still submerged.”
Time magazine reports that coffins “were stacked near the disaster site in preparation for the worst.” They interviewed Tran Thi Ngan, mourning for family members she had lost. She said, “It’s a disaster . . . That’s the fate we have to accept.”
While Prime Minister of Vietnam, Pham Minh Chinh, has vowed not to “relent” in their search for those missing, he admits, “Their families are in agony.”
With such calamities, how do we pray?
With devastation and tragedy seeming to hedge us in—all the time—it’s easy to experience compassion fatigue or even a kind of vicarious trauma when exposed to the ongoing suffering of others.
Yet, we are still called to bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2).
Let’s call on the God who is a stronghold to the poor, to the needy in distress, “a shelter from the storm” (Isaiah 25:4).
If you find yourself in a season, day, or even moment where it is hard to think of what to pray, pray for the following:
- Pray, in the short term, for the success of rescue and relief teams and for the lost to be found. Pray for the speedy restoration of critical infrastructure and for the people of Southeast Asia to find new strength to revitalize critical industries.
- Pray for the trauma of those affected, that they would experience the Spirit’s peace, and the joy of Christ that we find in communion with others and in the truth of our ultimate salvation.
- Pray that part of God’s redemption would be opportunities to share the gospel with those who have not heard it.
- Pray for the organizations rallying to provide relief, for the governments attempting to do the same, and for funding and resources.
- Pray for persistent empathy and spiritual support worldwide.
- Pray for open hearts and willing hands.
In Christ, we put all our hope and trust in the fact that, even as this world breaks, God has promised that a new one will eventually come. And on that day, when he returns, all will be restored.
Until then, we will continue to join him in helping people experience a tiny piece of that new creation through his Spirit’s work in and through us.
How can you put your hope in Christ today?
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