Storm Surge of typhoon Yolanda

When the typhoon Yolanda was about to hit the middle portion of the Philippines, the media was relentlessly warning the public on radio and tv on the possibility of a storm surge. The warnings were issued several days before the typhoon came. And when the province of Leyte and Samar were directly hit by the typhoon, the strong winds caused a tidal wave. So many have died presumably from lack of preparation. There is a notion that people there, particularly in the coastline, were not aware of a great probability of a tidal wave. And why so? Because the media was mentioning of a storm surge which was alien to the public. We all know what a tidal wave is, what a tsunami is, but we do not know then what a storm surge is.

Now, that is a neat lesson in terminology. These media people have the propensity to coin new terms that they think is cute. If only the public was warned of a tsunami or a tidal wave, I'm sure many lives would have been spared for they would at least have an idea of what was to happen.