Strongest tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines #yolanda #typhoonhaiya

Typhoon Haiyan is pictured in this NOAA satellite handout image taken November 6, 2013 at 23:13 UTC. NOAA / Reuters

After an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 hit my hometown last month, Super Typhoon Haiyan, the biggest storm in the world this year, will hit the Philippines tomorrow. The storm is equivalent to category 5 hurricane with winds of 315 kph (195 mph) and gusts as strong as 380 kph (235 mph). Haiyan's high winds and rain are expected to affect more than 25 million people.

This is serious - lives are stake. Last month, the earthquake's force reported by Wall Street Journal to be the force of 32 Hiroshima-level atomic bombs, left 8,300 homes destroyed, 222 killed, and 350,000 displaced. 

The Philippines ranks third in the list of countries most vulnerable to climate change. We have an average of 20 disastrous typhoons annually that cause serious damage.  Last December, Typhoon Bopha, the most powerful to hit the country last year killed as many as 1,900 people and left 1.2 million people displaced. 

This stresses how crucial adaptation and resilient measures are in the Philippines. We need to put more efforts in building and investing in stronger coping mechanisms for these ongoing disasters.