[ theme ] the philippines bracing for another storm as its digging out of disaster from the massive typhoon. Consider this as devastating storms and rising sea levels impact around the world, can anything be done to protect coast at communities. Scammers what to look out for and what is being done about them. Veterans day the changing face of war and soldiers on screen. Im antonio mora, welcome to consider this. We begin with the terrible destruction caused by typhoon haiyan, and the threats of rising sea levels pose to communities around the world and home. First the philippines, 10,000 may have been killed in one city alone, hundreds of thousands have been struggling to survive across the island chain since the typhoon made landfall on friday. Im joined by al jazeera correspondent craig leeson at cebu, and by lynette lim, from save the children, who was at ground zero at tacloban when the typhoon came ashore. The u. N. Is going to send aircraft carriers and help as soon as possible, craig leeson, what are you seeing come in now. The George Washington is on its way and other warships will arrive within 4872 hours. People have come from the okanara base. Search and rescue is their task, and airlift where required. Relief is coming in for the central area of the philippines, this is where the typhoon came from east to west. Its the base where they are sending in supplies to tacloban, which was the capital of the hardesthit province, leyte, and that is where the provincial governor believes the estimate of dead will rise between 2030,000. Its horrifying numbers. Lynette lim, you were in tacloban, and were an eyewitness to the worst of the typhoon. Where do you seek shelter . What did you see when it made landfall . I was stationed at the department of education for regent 8. The structure was safe, so we were able to look outside at what had happened. On the second floor i was fortunate enough to have missed the storm surge that came up to a metre, a metre and a half, with strong currents as well. Outside on the window i could see debris being blown away and hitting against a window. Glass was shattered, and roofs were being ripped off, as well as trees falling, electrical lines down. Cars were turned over. It was a devastating site. The storm surge was not as high where you were, but in other places they said it was 1620 feet. People on the second story of some buildings were just taken away by the water. Yes, indeed. I was inland about 400m away from the sea. So it was quite a fortunate incident for me. Craig, do you get a sense that the philippine authorities have anything resembling a grasp yet on how much devastation was caused by the typhoon. In my personal experience i was in south florida after hurricane andrew and we are talking about better building codes and the devastation went on for miles and miles, and it was a smaller storm than this. Well,. Thats correct, ive been doing Aerial Surveys to get the full extent of the damage here, to get an idea of how big this storm was. It actually touched 44 provinces within this country. They say that the government says 9. 5 Million People were affected. Some 650,000 people have been displaced. It was an enormous storm, and it was packing so much power when it hit leyte province. As you heard, the storm search represented a tsunami. One of our own correspondents was caught up in the storm surge. She was reporting as it hit, and she was forced to climb through the ceiling of her hotel to get to the roof. Her and her crew feared for their lives, like many others. It came thick and very fast. If you look at the debris and the pictures that i am sure you have seen, you can see that it does look like a tsunami. Many of the ngos say it looks like the indian ocean 2004 tsunami, because the debris is scattered everywhere. Nothing on the east coast was untouched. There are few structures, trees or telephone poles standing. Thats why the rescue effort has been difficult. Theres no power, and theres no communication, so people in need of help who havent eaten, are unable to communicate that to the rescue workers, thats a problem. Its identifying where the survivors are and getting the food and aid to them. Its impossible to underestimate the power of the storm surge, the power of water. Lynette, you are with an ngo, and the heart breaking pictures we have seen are of children, and the suffering of children, which is what you are there to do, and help with. What can you say or what do you know is going on there in manila, in the capital to help the children who are suffering . Yes, there are a lot of children in the area. Most families we have seen have four to nine children. They have no food, no water, have no means of communicating to the outside world. They have no schools to return to, and well be left out medical supplies unless the International Community comes together to support them. Its important for the children who have been through a catastrophic disaster to recover from Something Like this. It requires professional support. Save the children will set up child friendly spaces where children will be able to receive counselling and play with other children and talk through their experiences with a trained adult or other children. Outdoor activities can be planned to ensure children feel like there are some there is some sense of normalcy to life. Next is education. Schools need to be rebuilt. Children need to get into a routine to feel like life is normal again. Thatll be an enormous effort. Children. The relief efforts are going to be hampered because theres tropical depression in the area, making life miserable for everyone. Thats right. As you can see behind me its raining here now. That is expected to get worse, and it couldnt be a worse situation for these survivors. Theyve been through so much already. Its so difficult for them to find food. Many are scavenging for food among the debris. They dont have shelter. Imagine what it must be like to be here at nighttime. Its difficult to pick your way through the debris in the day. At nighttime its black. Theres absolutely no light whatsoever. And now its raining. Tonight is going to be an extremely miserable time for the survivors who are still out there and who help, hep hasnt shelter. The other horror and Health Hazard we see it in the pictures bodies are strewn everywhere. Nobody can move them at this point, because they are more concerned with survivors. Of course. Its important for us to deal with those that have survived and ensure that they survive in the coming days, weeks, months. And to come and immediately they need food, clean water, they need shelter and medical supplies, and aid agencies such as save the children prioritise the survivors to ensure they are well taken care of, children can recover. No child should have to go through a catastrophic disaster such as this one. I wish you the best in your there. Thank you for joining us tonight and giving us that report. Thank you both for joining us. For more im joined from new orleans, bay mark davis, director of the Tulane Law School on institute on Water Resources law policy. And with me here in the new york studio is adam sobel, a professor at the lamontdoherty earth observatory, and school of engineering and applied sciences, adam we are too familiar with the storms in the u. S. We know what Superstorm Sandy did. Area residents are recovering in some cases from the storm. Katrina the deadliest storm in American History in the past decade. How do those compare to the nightmare in the philippines . This storm was more powerful an either of those. Sandy of winds of category 1, it was large, making the surge equivalent to a stronger surge. Katrina at landfall was 3, and this was 5 at the high end. Possibly the strongest storm ever to make landfall in recorded meteorological history. It will be some time before that catastrophic. Do you think the surge will be the biggest what caused the most damage. The wind flattened a lot of structures. Yes, if other events and reports are an indication, its likely a lot of death and destruction was caused by the surge. What was your response when you saw the devastating pictures from the philippines, having orleans. It was all too familiar very similar to the destruction we saw in our communities. It was a reminder that to avoid this thing, you have to plan well in advance. Its too late to really make the plans in the heat of the moment. What is the reaction from from people down there. I think people are now starting to get a handle on what has happened. Obviously after katrina and rita and gustof and ike, i think people are sensitive to the you know, the suffering going on. More importantly, the interests here is not merely in how do you help with humanitarian response. How do you you know, plan for a better future, not just planning for the next storm. I want to get to that. Some blame Climate Change for some of the huge storms. Every time there is one, they say sandy is Climate Change, katrina is Climate Change. Brian mc nulty said with this typhoon do you agree. Typhoon haiyan was huge. The year. They fluctuate. A storm like this doesnt need Climate Change to exist. At the same time it is happening and there are reasons for this. Change. Possibly warmer oceans would fuel the hurricanes. Thats it essentially, but its a little more complicated. Apart from the only problems faced by ocean side communities, there has been sea levels rising. Since the late 1800s. They seem to be rising faster, and we have maps showing all sorts of coastal cities in the United States could be impacted as soon as the end of the decade. This is something that you look at down there places like which floods almost every time theres a heavy rain. What should people in coastal communities do to prepare for a future of rising seas. They need to be honest about the nature of the risk they are looking at. I think we have to be clear that we dont have 10 years, 20 years, 30 years. Some communities are feeling this. We are seeing communities that were really hacked out by katrina, rita or isaac, that arent coming back. So i think its a mistake to think this is we have the luxury of dealing with in the future. We have to get serious about it now. It effects not just the way we respond to a storm, if you look at what is happening with Flood Insurance claims, and the insecurity that that can produce and investment markets, its hard to build a community if you cant get a mortgage or insurance. Thats what we are starting to see. Its not just the storm events, its the chronic events that pose risk, including to water supply, seas rising, the Water Supplies of coastal communities on the chopping block. We have to get more realistic about the nature of the risk we are trying to deal with, and build around it. We are never going be in a riskfree environment. We can be smarter about how to deal with the risks. The question is how risky is the coastal community, and how much the sea will rise. Estimates vary as to what could happen. Theres no question with mild sea rising, which certainly has been a pattern over 150 years, that any of these big storms that brings a surge with it will devastate the lowlying cities. You brought up two issues one is how vulnerable the area is, and a big reason for hurricane and typhoon disaster is development and People Living in harms way. The Sea Level Rise is a factor and a consequence of Climate Change. Its a small factor, a foot or something maybe, and compared to the huge storm surges we have heard about from typhoon haiyan, its a small part of the story. As it becomes 3, 4, 5 feet by the end of the century, lesser storms will have a great impact. In the context of what adam is saying, do you think that people in new orleans have figured out what they need to do. Has louisiana learnt the lessons, will they be ready the next time a big storm comes . We are more prepared than we were. We are a little more honest about it than we were. Things are changing as we change. I think, you know, the question of whether weve learnt what we need to, school is out on that. Id like to follow up on something that adam said. Its not just the big storms, its a mistake to think that your future is going to be written by one of these storms. You have to remember in 1991 there was another typhoon that hit the philippines, smaller, category 1. It killed around 5,000 people. Its not necessarily the size and the intensity, its the characteristics. Slowmoving storm can produce the same consequences. You have to think not so much about the storm event. You have to think in terms of what are you prepared for. How to protect yourselves. Mark davis, adam sobel, we appreciate you coming in. Coming up fake obama scams across the country, how people are getting conned and what is going on about it. Join the consider on consider this on twitter and our facebook pages. And to contact the centers and regardless of where you stand on obamacare, theres an area where theres little to know argument. Affordable care act is a great opportunity for scammers. Less than 50,000 have enrolled so far. That may mean theres a long road ahead with a lot of possibilities for conartists who prayed on people thanks to the confusion. Joins me to discuss the scams and privacy issues is linda vincent, an expert on scams. These Affordable Care act scams have popped up. One is to prey on the seniors. A scammer will see hes part of obamacare and wants to verify informationing and threatens people if they dont give information, theyll have to go to gaol. Is the question theres so much confusion that its ooesy for people to be ooesy for people to be fooled. You can find almost everybody on google. The seniors are the most targeted population, they are vulnerable and are not used to using the websites and the internet to find out what they have to have. People can call them and say, oh, i am from the website, and i want to offer you the opportunity to sign up before everybody else. So seniors trust what theyve been brought up with, and they feel that the government has been safe and has been there for them. Medicare has been there for them. Another scam involves the website or fake websites imitating the government website, and websites that seem to work better than the obamacare sites. This is another thing that people have to watch out for. Seniors and younger people. Very true. When you go to the website its like a fishing expedition. Seniors will get through the male and say, we are here for you, sign up now. We would like to assist you in that process. And the problem is they are giving personal information out from their own dates of birth, Social Security information, savings information. And once with that armed with that information, the bad guy, the fictitious people looking for that can do any number of things. One of the first things, of course, is to take the identity and recreate the senior, and, more importantly, say that they want to have the opportunity to meet with a senior and knock on face. And all the danger that that brings. Theres the fake obamacare card. The Better Business bureau has issued a warning about this. Theres no need for an obamacare card. People have been falling for this one too. They have, because theyve been told that it will replace their Medicare Card there is nothing that is going to replace the Medicare Card. Theres no such things as an obamacare card. The confusion with the setting up, the Health Care Act and no one assuring the seniors that medicare is there for them, their concern that they might dont. Thats the message for seniors. They have nothing they need to change. Medicare is medicare. Navigators are supposed to help people enrol, and what has been happening to is they are bogus navigators, right. That is correct. We are here to help you. They are supposed to answer questions if they phone in. The navigators, particularly scare me, for the fact that they dont do background checks of any sort, criminal background checks because the government has their data hub, which is the irs, the department of defense, department of health and Human Services and they share all that information. The navigators who are truly hired are not expected to have a background check done on them because they are part of the government. Though they have been said, and its been told that their information is safe. Now, the potential fraud is enormous. We are talking about a fifth of the economy. If the numbers that have come out are correct, fewer than 50,000 have enrolled so far. Their expectation was theyd need 39,000 every day in order for the amount of people they needed to get enrolled by march 31st. Thats what they were expecting. The number of people that should be coming online is enormous. Its an enormous part of the economy. How concerned should we be . We should be very concerned. I dont think they have enough navigators to assist. They only get training of 2030 hours and they are expected to know whats in the 1200 pages of the american Affordable Care act. In that situation, i dont know how 2030 hours gives you all the information in the 1200 pages. There are other issues of the navigators. During testimony at a hearing, kathleen sebelius, the secretary of health and Community Service said felons could be hired, which could give information to personal information. So a convicted fellon could be a navigator and require Sensitive Information from an individual unbeknowns to them . That is possible. We have contracts with the organizations and theyve taken the responsibility to screen their individual navigators and make sure that they are job. So, again here, linda, people who are nervous about giving their personal information when they hear this kind of thing cant be good. I would agree. I wouldnt want someone in a prison taking my information, because Identity Theft ring starts in many areas. Prisons are one. Seriously its on the scary tactic side for someone to find out someone has that information, my information, Identity Thefts that start in prison