Typhoon Haiyan

Typhoon Haiyan

General News, first prize stories

November 14, 2013

A homemade casket lies beside the road, as curfew time approaches. Typhoon Haiyan ripped through the Vasayas region of central Philippines, on 8 November. It was the deadliest Philippine typhoon on record, claiming over 6,200 lives and displacing more than four million people. The eastern islands of Leyte and Samar were the worst affected, with storm surges, high winds and torrential rain causing catastrophic damage to homes and infrastructure.  The extent of the destruction meant relief work was slow.

Commissioned by: Getty Images

Location: Tacloban, Leyte, Philippines

Photo Credit: Chris McGrath

Chris McGrath is an Australian-born staff photographer with Getty Images. His career began at a small regional newspaper in Queensland, Australia, where he completed a three-year cadetship and a diploma of photography.

In 2001, he joined Getty Images covering the Asia Pacific region based out of Sydney.

Chris relocated to Getty’s New York office in 2007 and spent the next four years covering US and international news and sports assignments.

Over the past 12 years, he has photographed numerous major sports events such as the FIFA World Cup, the Rugby World Cup, the MLB World Series, the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500, US Open Golf, numerous US Open and Australian Open Grand Slams, the Paralympics, and four Olympic games including the 2012 London Olympics. He has also covered many key news events, such as the tsunami that hit Asia in 2004, the election of US President Barack Obama, and the recent natural disasters in Japan.

His images are consistently published in media publications such as Newsweek, Time, Sports Illustrated, The Independent, The New York Times, ESPN the Magazine, The Guardian, and daily news and sport websites worldwide.

His work has been recognized with many industry awards including POYi,  NPPA, CHIPP, AIPP, The Atlanta Photojournalism contest, PX3 and the New York Press Photographers Association.

In 2011, he was assigned to the Getty Images Singapore office where he currently covers assignments across Asia.