LEYTE, PHILIPPINES - NOVEMBER 11: A girl rummages through debris… (Dondi Tawatao / Getty Images )
"We've never seen anything like this."
We hear those words often when there is a particularly devastating natural disaster somewhere in the world.
This time, the words are not hyperbole. There is a real chance we have never seen anything like what has happened with Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
The videos and photos have been startling, even to those who have vivid memories of Hurricane Andrew, Hurricane Katrina and all the typhoons, tsunamis and earthquakes occurring with too much regularity on the other side of the world.
The numbers for Haiyan are equally shocking: more than 2,000 are feared dead, 800,000 evacuated, 9.5 million people affected, and too many people left homeless to even attempt a number, although 620,000 is the figure now being tossed around.
The news is especially wrenching for the thousands of Filipinos who now make their home in Central Florida. One quoted in a Sentinel report, Magdalena Bilbrey of Orlando, learned that she lost three cousins in the storm.
It took many years for South Florida to recover from Andrew. New Orleans still hasn't totally recovered from Katrina. And whether the Philippines ever fully recovers from Haiyan is questionable.
The Philippines and many other parts of the world don't have the stringent building codes and advanced preparations that we do. The Philippine Red Cross said people were simply not prepared for a storm surge.
As you might expect, the United States is at the forefront of providing aid in the Philippines. Members of the United States Marines quickly descended upon the devastated community of Tacloban, distributing food and water and providing help wherever they could. The American presence will grow, and there will be relief agencies from around the world rushing in supplies.
People are being advised not to send clothing because it often winds up piled up, wasting time and effort. But there are plenty of agencies worthy of your financial contribution — the most effective way to get the relief where it is needed most.
Among the agencies you can contact:
•The U.S. Fund for UNICEF, unicefusa.org/philippines.
•The American Red Cross, redcross.org, for local chapter information.
•The World Food Program USA, wfpusa.org.
In the coming days, you will hear about many more relief agencies and efforts. Americans will be at the forefront, just as they were when they donated more than $1.4 billion after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and $1.6 billion after the 2004 South Asian tsunami.
American generosity is legendary, and it will remain so. It's part of our DNA.
Maybe it's because we, too, have been through too many natural disasters.
And maybe it's because as bad as the disasters we've faced, we've surely never seen anything like this.
The death toll has been updated from an earlier version of this editorial.