Not enough roads and a huge amount of affected communities spread out over hundreds of miles not only created a significant problem with evacuation, but the difficulty of trying to get in after a disaster. Local airfields and aircraft were destroyed in the path of the storm, and since shipping had to stay out of a storm that was the size of the state of Texas to be of any use, the ability to stage and deploy supplies and heavy rescue equipment was delayed by at least two/three days before they could get large enough planes and helicopters to be able to make it to the islands to drop off enough relief workers, food, water, and shelter to get rescue started.
This is not the same level of aid effort as Haiti, or Japan.
Imagine if the entire coast from Monterey Bay, CA to Astoria Beach, OR. was directly hit by a massive storm with 200+ MPH winds and 12" per hour rainfall that pushed up over the Siskyues and Cascades inland a good 200 miles, and brought with it a storm surge of 20 feet in those areas. Not just San Fransisco or some of the other coastal towns would see utter destruction, but inland towns Portland, and Sacramento would be devastated, inland communities such as Eugene and Reading would be cut off from mudslides and falling forests, and the coastal area down to LA and up to Vancouver Island would also see damage, just from the secondary storm surge and rainfall.
Sure, the West Coast would have had five or six days notice a storm that huge and deadly was coming, but the death toll could still be in the tens of thousands from those who didn't have the means to evacuate - or thought they were safe. Rivers will still rise into flood stages not seen before, trees and buildings will still be flattened in the tearing winds, and mudslides - always a danger in the mountains - will still occur.
I can guarantee the entire Pacific Fleet will have left San Diego and Everett to find a safe spot - like Hawaii or Adak, Alaska - to ride out as soon as there might even be an inkling that a storm as large as Typhoon Haiyan were to hit the West Coast. There's 2/3 of your quick-reaction aid right there.
And even with our National Guard and all our aid services at the ready - probably staged in the high deserts of Nevada and Arizona - it would still take days to reach some of the smaller inland towns or the national parks areas packed with people may have evacuated to those areas, thinking they would be safer.
BTW, the US military has planned for this event. And it's still pretty grim due to the population concentration and projected evacuation action by the general population.
The problem wasn't just the destructive storm surge that damaged the large shoreline towns, it was the concentration of heavy rain and freakishly high winds that was blew completely across several islands. This situation is particularly deadly to rural communities further inland that are only connected by a spiderweb of utility poles and narrow shell/gravel or macadam roads.
There are still some remote towns where no aid - or even the Philippine military has been able to get to yet; while the direct storm damage and death toll may not be as high out there, these communities are still completely cut off, and may be for another week or so even if they can get helicopters out there. There is still a huge amount of clean-up, transportation, utilities, medical/sanitary and food shortage to deal with in those areas.
Haele
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