An original audio storytelling series led by Mario Soriano with Patrick Jaojoco and Braeden Carroll '26.
Carried by Water is a series that explores stories revolving around water as a force of nature, a resource, and a pillar of well-being. This season, we’re focusing on stories from the ten years since Super Typhoon Haiyan / Yolanda hit the central Philippines. Haiyan / Yolanda remains one of the strongest and costliest storms ever recorded, with up to 20-ft (6-m) tall storm surges, more than 6,000 known casualties, millions of people displaced, and up to 15 billion USD in damages.
Season One, "Super Typhoon Haiyan / Yolanda, 10 Years On” explores the socio-cultural legacies, scientific advances, and political lessons learned in the decade since the disaster through field-based research and the development of multimedia stories. The research team will conduct interviews among affected communities in Leyte and Samar islands, as well as with technical experts in government institutions, disaster practitioners, and academia. The team will examine long-term public and scientific framings about Haiyan/ Yolanda and how it relates to ideas of home, nation, resilience, diaspora, global change, and local futures.
The project will result in a podcast series complemented by a virtual gallery and scholarly articles. Through these parallel explorations, the project will distill important lessons learned from this complex disaster.
Season 1: Super Typhoon Haiyan / Yolanda, 10 Years On
Episode 1: “A Cluster of Clouds over the Pacific”
Find Carried by Water on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music. Coming to other platforms soon!
What was it like to forecast a history-making super typhoon that experts described as “off the scale” and “the most powerful storm to ever make landfall”? Super-typhoon Haiyan made landfall in the Central Philippines ten years ago today. In this inaugural episode of Carried by Water, we hear from PAGASA, the Philippine weather agency, about how Haiyan (known locally as Yolanda) compelled forecasters to break institutional protocols to warn the public in time and posed novel challenges for communicating the impending storm's severity. We also learn from risk communication researcher Inez Ponce de Leon about what the diverse communities in Haiyan's path most needed from official warnings, and with climate scientist Jane Delfino we contemplate the future of extreme weather in a world shaped by climate change.
Credits
Created and hosted by Mario Soriano with research, writing and production support from Patrick Jaojoco and Braeden Carroll. Mixed by Braeden Carroll. Carried by Water is a production of Blue Lab with support from Princeton University.
Sincere thanks to Kouvenda Media for their partnership on this project.
Episode 1 Media
Meteorological history of Haiyan/Yolanda and PAGASA’s forecasting domains (Philippine Area of Responsibility, Tropical Cyclone Advisory Domain, Tropical Cyclone Information Domain); Doksuri/Egay also shown for context. Acronyms: JTWC- Joint Typhoon Warning Center, JMA- Japan Meteorological Agency, PAGASA- Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration. PHT- Philippine Time. (Data source: NOAA IBTrACS)
Population affected by Haiyan/ Yolanda (total per province). Overall, 16 million people were affected by the super typhoon in the Philippines. (Data source: NDRRMC)
Guiuan weather station before and immediately after Super Typhoon Haiyan / Yolanda made landfall, November 2013. Photos courtesy of Marianito Macasa.
Marianito Macasa descending from the Doppler radar room at the Guiuan weather station. Photo by Mario Soriano.
Jane Delfino at her classroom at the Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology. Photo by Mario Soriano.
Mario Peñaranda explains the microbarograph. Photo by Mario Soriano.
Robert Sawi (left) and Jun Galang (center) interviewed by Mario Soriano (right). Photo by Braeden Carroll.
Inez Ponce de Leon interviewed by Mario Soriano. Photo by Braeden Carroll.
Guiuan weather station in July 2023. Photo by Patrick Jaojoco.)
The Carried by Water Team: (L-R) Mario Soriano, Braeden Carroll and Patrick Jaojoco
Episode 2 Media
Downtown Tacloban City, showing locations mentioned in EP02.
Storm surge heights. Heights were maximum along the coast facing the Pacific Ocean and along the tip of the funnel-shaped San Pedro Bay. Data source: JSCE-PICE Typhoon Haiyan joint survey team.
A motorcyclist rides past flood and storm surge warning signs in Tacloban, Leyte. Photo by Mario Soriano.
Lea Soria describing a sediment core in Tanauan, Leyte. Photo by Mischa Haas, courtesy of Lea Soria.
Lea Soria describing a sediment core in Tanauan, Leyte. Photo by Mischa Haas, courtesy of Lea Soria.
Algina Lacaba recalls her experience of Haiyan. Photo by Mario Soriano.
Phillip Lapidez, former storm surge modeler at Project NOAH. Photo by Mario Soriano.
Mahar Lagmay interviewed by Mario Soriano. Photo by Braeden Carroll.
Brando Bernadas interviewed by Mario Soriano and Patrick Jaojoco. Photo by Braeden Carroll.
Braeden Carroll, Pamela Cajilig, and Patrick Jaojoco. Photo by Mario Soriano.
‘No Build Zone’ sign in Tacloban, Leyte in July 2023. Photo by Mario Soriano.
‘No Build Zone Area’ sign in Tacloban, Leyte in February 2014. Photo courtesy of Pamela Cajilig.
Tacloban City Convention Center, a.k.a., Astrodome, functions as a multifunctional event space and evacuation center. Photo by Mario Soriano.
Interior of the Astrodome. Photo by Patrick Jaojoco.
A worker rides a makeshift swing while taking apart a stage set up for a recent event in the Astrodome. Photo by Patrick Jaojoco.
Two hazard maps at the Tacloban City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office. Photo by Patrick Jaojoco.
