19
Global
November 2013
Typhoon Haiyan:
Thousands feared
dead in Philippines
Around 10,000 people may have died in just one area of the
Philippines hit by Typhoon Haiyan, according to officials.
One of the worst storms on record, it
destroyed homes, schools and an airport in the
eastern city of Tacloban.
Neighbouring Samar island was also badly
affected, with reports of 300 people dead and
2,000 missing.
The Philippine government has so far only
confirmed the deaths of 151 people throughout
the country, but hundreds of thousands have
been displaced.
The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports
that the scene in Tacloban, the capital of Leyte
province, is one of utter devastation.
Houses in Tacloban have been flattened by the
massive storm surge that accompanied
Typhoon Haiyan.
There's no clean water, no electricity and very
little food.
City officials said they were struggling to
distribute aid and that looting was widespread.
In some areas, the dead are being buried in
mass graves.
Our correspondent says hundreds of people
are at the airport, itself badly damaged, trying
to get on a flight out of Tacloban.
The typhoon is now bearing down on
Vietnam. More than 600,000 people have been
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 afternoon local time (between 03:00
and 09:00 GMT), although it will have
decreased markedly in strength.
Relief operation
Philippine Interior Secretary Mar Roxas says
the scale of the relief operation that is now
required is 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.
"I don't know how to describe what I saw. It's
horrific."
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.
Tecson Lim, city administrator of Tacloban,
told the Associated Press that the death toll in
the city alone "could go up to 10,000".
Police chief Elmer Soria said about 70% to
80% of the area in the path of the storm in
Leyte province was destroyed.
He said most of the deaths were from
drowning or collapsed buildings.
"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."
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.
The latest report from the Philippines' Disaster
Risk Reduction and Management Council
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