Super Typhoon Yolanda's destruction

As far as I can remember, there have been other destructive typhoons that have hit the Philippines of all the times I have been aware of natural calamities.  We were also a victim of one caused by nature which was the July 16, 1990 7.4 earthquake.  There was widespread destruction in our City of Baguio and neighboring provinces.  There was still no internet and advanced cellular phones during those times.

The destruction that super typhoon Yolanda has brought upon in the Visayas region, especially in Leyte, was very devastating.  It wiped out entire towns that were never done by other natural forces of nature.  It wrought havoc that made it impossible to estimate loss of property and lives immediately after a few days.

Super typhoon Yolanda was almost like a giant tornado that was 600 kilometers across compared to only around 150 meters for that of a tornado.  It also traveled across for days unlike a tornado that would dissipate after a few miles.  It was a typhoon and tornado at the same time rolled into one destructive force of nature,

Comparative photos of locations completely destroyed by typhoon Yolanda can be seen at http://cdnimages.abs-cbnnews.com/graphics/others/111313_luntad-leyte.jpg.

Philippine TV Newscaster mistakes

News-casting in Philippine television has been using the Filipino language for quite some time now.  But it is so disgusting that their news writers put in some wrong words in delivering the news.  For example in English,  a news would go like, "A large residential area was burned down.  There were no reports of casualties and there was no one hurt."  In Tagalog or Filipino it is narrated as, "Malaking lugar ng kabahayan ay natupok ng apoy.  Ayon sa mga balita walang nasawi at wala ring nasugatan."  The word nasugatan means wounded.  It would be more appropriate to use the word nasaktan which directly means "got hurt".

Another is the use of the word "namataan" that means seen or spotted.  It is alright to use it for weather reporting like, "Ang bagyo ay namataan sa sa hilagang-kanluran."  A reporter used the word in reporting an earthquake that occured and said, "Ayon sa mga balita ang epicenter ng lindol ay namataan sa bandang karagatan na malapit sa Bicol."  Instead of namataan, it should have been said "ay nagmula", which means "it came from".

Sport casters have been using the word "bumubulusuk" when referring to "flying fast upwards" when the word really means "on a steep dive".  The right word for flying fast upwards is "pumapailanlang".