At least 10,000 people are thought to have been killed in the Philippine city of Tacloban by Typhoon Haiyan, officials believe. A further 300 are confirmed dead with 2,000 missing in the neighbouring island of Samar.Up to 4.3million people are said to have been directly affected by the typhoon’s path and the death toll is expected to rise further as rescuers reach cut off areas.
If the death toll estimate by government officials is confirmed, it would be the deadliest natural catastrophe on record in the Philippines.
Up to 70-80% of homes have been destroyed in Tacloban and other areas in the typhoon’s path, according to Justin Morgan of Oxfam.
Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas said: “From a helicopter, you can see the extent of devastation. From the shore and moving a kilometre inland, there are no structures standing. It was like a tsunami.
“I don’t know how to describe what I saw. It’s horrific.”
Most of the dead are understood to have drowned or were crushed by collapsed buildings. Many corpses hung on tree branches, buildings and in the roads.
“On the way to the airport we saw many bodies along the street,” said Philippine-born Australian Mila Ward, 53, who was waiting at the Tacloban airport to catch a military flight back to Manila.
“They were covered with just anything – tarpaulin, roofing sheets, cardboards,” she said. Asked how many, she said, “Well over 100 where we passed.”
But the destruction extended well beyond Tacloban, a city of 200,000. Officials are yet to make contact with Guiuan, a town of 40,000 that was first hit by the typhoon.
Baco, a city of 35,000 people in Oriental Mindoro province, was 80 percent under water, the UN said.
The Philippines has limited resources on its own to deal with a disaster of this magnitude, say experts.
US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has directed the military’s Pacific Command to deploy ships and aircraft to support search-and-rescue operations and airlift emergency supplies.
But the command is headquartered in Hawaii, with one carrier group currently in port in Hong Kong, so it is thought it will be some days before it reaches the affected area.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told Philippine president Benigno Aquino: “We stand ready to contribute with urgent relief and assistance if so required in this hour of need.”
Haiyan was one of the strongest tropical storms ever to have made landfall, lashing the Philippines with wind gusts of 275kph (170mph) and whipping up a storm surge which swallowed coastal towns and villages.
Although the cyclone has weakened, there are fears that many could be affected when it next makes landfall in Vietnam later today.
Nearly a million people were evacuated from central provinces before the path of Haiyan turned further north.
It is now expected to be a category one typhoon, with winds gusting up to 95mph when it reaches the tourist area of Halong Bay, not far from the capital Hanoi, at about 8pm on Sunday.
The typhoon is also expected to pass very close to the Chinese island of Hainan.
Tacloban, a city of 220,000 people south of Manila, bore the brunt of Haiyan in the Philippines. Bodies have been seen floating in roads covered with debris from fallen trees, tangled power lines and flattened homes.
“The dead are on the streets, they are in their houses, they are under the debris, they are everywhere,” said Tecson John Lim, a Tacloban city administrator.
Among those feared dead is an Australian ex-priest Kevin Lee, who moved to the Philippines after blowing the whistle on abuse in the Catholic Church in his home country, it has been reported.
The previous deadliest disaster to hit the Philippines was in 1976, when a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake killed between 5,000 and 8,000 people. – Sky News via Yahoo News
BBC Adds: The authorities in the Philippines are struggling to bring relief to some of the areas worst affected by Typhoon Haiyan, one of the deadliest storms ever to hit the country.
Up to 10,000 are said to have died in Tacloban city and hundreds elsewhere. Hundreds of thousands are displaced.
The typhoon flattened homes, schools and an airport in Tacloban.
Relief workers are yet to reach some towns and villages cut off since the storm.
Thousands of troops have been deployed to the disaster zones and military cargo planes are flying in supplies. However, rescuers are hampered by debris and damaged roads.
Pope Francis pleaded for aid for the victims in the mostly Catholic country, saying: “Sadly, there are many, many victims and the damage is huge. Let’s try to provide concrete help.”
The Philippines has been offered aid from overseas:
• US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said the US was delivering helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and search and rescue equipment on request
• The European Commission released 3m euros ($4m; £2.5m) in emergency funds and is sending a team of humanitarian experts
• The UK Rapid Response Facility is to provide £5m ($8m) in aid and a £600,000 shipment of emergency equipment. A team of four experts is already in the disaster zone
• The UN is to provide tents, food and relief supplies
• Vietnam is now preparing for the typhoon, with more than 600,000 people evacuated in northern provinces.
• At least four people were reported killed there, apparently while trying to escape the storm.
• The BBC Weather Centre says the typhoon is expected to make landfall south of Hanoi on Monday morning local time (21:00 GMT Sunday to 03: 00 GMT Monday), although it will have decreased markedly in strength.
• Meanwhile China’s Xinhua news agency reported that eight people had died after being swept out to sea in northern Taiwan by waves attributed to Typhoon Haiyan.
• Another six people on board a cargo vessel were missing off the southern Chinese island of Hainan, Xinhua said, as Beijing issued a typhoon alert for Hainan and the nearby regions of Guangdong and Guangxi Zhuang.
• ‘Not enough manpower’
• Relief efforts are being focused on the eastern province of Leyte and its capital Tacloban.
• But officials in the city said they were struggling to distribute aid, looting was widespread and order was proving difficult to enforce.
• In some areas, the dead are being buried in mass graves.
• Houses have been flattened by the massive storm surge that accompanied Typhoon Haiyan.
• There is no clean water, no electricity and very little food.
• “There is looting in the malls and large supermarkets. They are taking everything, even appliances like TV sets. These will be traded later on for food,” said Tacloban city administrator Tecson John Lim.
• “We don’t have enough manpower. We have 2,000 employees but only about 100 are reporting for work. Everyone is attending to their families.”
• President Benigno Aquino, who has visited Tacloban, pledged to send 300 police and soldiers to “bring back peace and order”.
• But local residents fear for their safety.
• “Tacloban is totally destroyed. Some people are losing their minds from hunger or from losing their families,” high school teacher Andrew Pomeda told AFP news agency.
• “People are becoming violent. They are looting business establishments, the malls, just to find food, rice and milk… I am afraid that in one week, people will be killing from hunger.”
• The BBC’s Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports that the scene in Tacloban is one of utter devastation.
• Our correspondent says hundreds of people are at the airport, itself badly damaged, trying to get on a flight out of the city.
• Philippine Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said the scale of the relief operation that was now required was overwhelming, with some places described as a wasteland of mud and debris.
• “From a helicopter, you can see the extent of devastation. From the shore and moving a kilometre inland, there are no structures standing. It was like a tsunami,” he told Reuters news agency.
• A UN official who arrived in Tacloban on Saturday, Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, said he was told there had been a 3m (10ft) water surge through the city, in places up to 10m.
• “Vehicles thrown up against walls, telegraph poles down, roads blocked. It’s a pretty grim situation all the way round,” he told the BBC.
• Meanwhile Leo Dacaynos, an official in Eastern Samar province, told local radio 300 people had been found dead in a single town, Basey, with another 2,000 missing and many injured.
• Communication is still limited in many areas.
• Officials have still not made contact with Guiuan, a town of 40,000 people near where the typhoon made landfall.
• The town of Baco in Oriental Mindoro province, to the north-west, is said to be 80% under water.
• The latest report from the Philippines’ Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council confirmed 151 deaths as of 22:00 GMT on Saturday. It said almost 480,000 people had been reported displaced.
• Typhoon Haiyan – one of the most powerful storms on record to make landfall – swept through six central Philippine islands on Friday.
• It brought sustained winds of 235km/h (147mph), with gusts of 275 km/h (170 mph), with waves as high as 15m (45ft), bringing up to 400mm (15.75 inches) of rain in places.
