ASCE Hurricane Haiyan Disaster Investigation in the Philippines

The field team would like to extend its gratitude and appreciation to ASCE for sponsoring the study and to Committee of Technical Activities (CTA) for approving the project, in particular, CTA members Mr. Bob Bachman and Ron Smith for their guidance. Also, the field team would like to extend special acknowledgement to ASCE staff members Mr. Jim Rossburg, Mr. John Segna, Ms. Meggan Maughan-Brown, and Mr. Tenzing Barshee for their tireless support and facilitation of the project. The field team also greatly appreciated the efforts of Mr. Doug Scott for daily blog updates of the field team study. The authors would like to acknowledge National Science Foundation (NSF) Program Director Dr. Kishor Mehta for supporting this project under awards 1,426,445 and 1,433,262. The authors are grateful to the local support from PICE and ASCE Region 10. The authors are thankful that they met the Undersecretary Honorable Danilo Antonio. The authors are grateful for the supports from PICE President Ernesto S. De Castro, former ASCE Region 10 Director Potenciano A. Leoncio, Jr., and especially the logistic arrangements made by PICE National Administrative Officer Nannette C. Villanueva. The authors met several mayors and were able to hear firsthand about the unfortunate event and the suffering of their constituents, including the Mayor of Tanauan, Mr. Pelagio O. Tecson III, Mayor of Palo, Ms. Remedios L. Petilla, Mayor of Dulag, Mr. Manuel S. Que, Mayor of Tolosa, Erwin C. Ocaña, Region VIII Department of Public Works and Highways Director, Mr. Rolando M. Asis, and Port Manager of the Port Management Office of Tacloban City, Mr. Dominador D. Licayan. These mayors are courageous and dedicated in bringing in external resources to help bring lives back to normal. The authors would also like to acknowledge the University of North Carolina (UNC) Charlotte Mosaic team for putting together the website in record time: Jack Stein, David Whisler, Jason Edgecombe, Sai Phaninder Jonnala, Bryron Ho, Andre Sanchez, Vivek Pawar, and Nathaniel Hatley. Last, but not least, the authors acknowledge their local team members, especially their two translators, Valerie Ambait and Nile April Robino. Both are law school students who spent days with the authors amid busy examination schedules.