I looked at international newspapers showing the thousands of damaged houses in Tacloban, people can not stay with such houses wound-free, with intact bones, but seems no thousands wounded people around. Probably, for some minutes the water was too strong, too high, Ocean swept thousands of people away into Ocean in only a few minutes. The death toll is reported higher.
I myself counted only a few pictures from November 8, 2013 typhoon district, assuming that each destroyed house I counted had two resident, the number to me is not less than 5000, but higher.
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I looked at world weather maps of 07-10-2013, indeed the storm was clear to see, was anticipated to touch some places of Philippines. But, we do not have that much improved technology to tell precisely if the storm could reach to a strength to slam a vast area of human population or not.
Figure 1. A Typhoon icon created by weather workers, showing a central area, and clockwise traveling 4 different path towards the north of world.
The clockwise path is rather characteristics of Northern Hemisphere hurricanes.
Figure 2. The Cebu city which is under the U-turn path of typhoon
The typhoons which are low in certain chemical structures or too damp*, heavy by Ocean water; instead of staying in their circle/whirling path at high altitude, rather drops/falls over Earth. The U-shape represents its drop altitude, that it is likely to touch to Earth.
North hemisphere typhoons, in general, whirl clockwise; Earth southern hemisphere storms are counterclockwise. But some tropical areas of Earth, such as Tacloban might have between character sometimes to travel clockwise or counterclockwise .
It is very possible that the high speed November 8, 2013 cyclone had some counterclockwise southern hemisphere characteristics during its growth, not all altitudes swirl or occlusion detailed data is reachable.
The interpretations of typhoon's map travel paths need further studies. Measurements of different Sea pressure levels to calculate possible maximal big pressure differences (speed of the Typhoon from high to low pressures) already in usage.**** Typhoon likes to squeeze in towards relatively less pressure targets, not to the lowest, but relatively neighbor lower pressured fields.
Typhoons, hurricanes are likely seen around some big Oceans, some tropical-areas. Such Earth countries should anticipate such nature events.
Examples of Earth history Storms are studied here.
Think that a flight flying a circle at 800 km/hour speed and then losing its altitude, and loosing its circle path towards U-shape, eventually touches to the Earth.
*The physical/chemical events causing/creating a new typhoon at some altitudes in the air are strictly related to light wavelength, reaching to Earth from Sun; related to electrical charge changes in atmospheric gases. Is the typhoon itself creates water from some gases in the air at that high altitude, or also uses some Land-Ocean water is not studied well yet. Study should cover entire Earth hurricanes even if only a single path is wanted to predict. Because any hurricane might share path with others. Nobody studied if it would be worse or better, if would decrease the speed, or drop the other hurricane to land in case a strong hurricane of Pacific Ocean joins to another hurricane from Atlantic Ocean. Since pressure differences present, pressure created Mechanical-Force, then conversion of Mechanical-Force into electrical charge(called Piezoelectricity) might be rolling.
** That prior to hurricane an earthquake occurred in Philippines is not only coincidence to me. Earthquakes and Hurricanes are not that much different. They are sourced from sunlight energy on Earth elements, either atmospheric gases, or land element absorbance of sunlight (electromagnetic radiation). If the land which is changed badly by bad sunlight is very very vast to shake, there might occur an atmospheric disaster rather than earthquake.
Fig. i. An imaginary model vast land affected by bad sunlight almost to have an Earth shaking earthquake (fig i.)
***The low pressure, high pressure, maximal differences map is rather useful for Ocean structure, typhoons, atmospheric events.
Ocean chemistry which resists to air pressure is homogeneously water, but land chemistry is mixture. The land structure is not homogeneous but a mix of Iron, Silica, water etc.
