- Typhoon Haiyan was a maximum category-five storm with ground winds of up to 235mph
- Red Cross today estimates 1,200 people have been killed, 1,000 of those in the city of Tacloban, Leyte
- Around four million people are said to have been affected, according to the the country's national disaster agency
- Bodies were seen floating in flooded streets with rescue workers saying the aftermath was similar to the 2004 Tsunami
- 800,000 evacuated before gales whipped up 19ft waves that battered the islands of Leyte and Samar
- Storm has now passed majority of the islands and is set to move inland towards Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and China
- Hundreds of thousands of people in South East Asia have been evacuated and moved to shelters
- 170,000 Vietnamese soldiers are brought in as aid agencies predict 6.5 million people will be affected
- Thousands of British nationals are thought to have been left stranded by the ferocious weather
- Britain has pledged £6 million in aid and US Secretary of State John Kerry has said America 'stands ready to help'
- UN says 2.5 million people are in need of food aid and UNICEF have estimated 1.5 million children live in affected areas
- Weather forecasts have also predicted that high winds and rain could return to the Philippines on Monday
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The death toll from one of the most powerful storms on record could reach 10,000 according to officials.
So far Typhoon Haiyan is said to have killed 1,200 people in the
Philippines and left many more injured, but the figure could rise
dramatically after the full devastation of the ferocious storm was
realised.
According to
the Red Cross, 1,000 have been left dead in the devastated city of
Tacloban on the island of Leyte with a further 200 casualties in Samar
Province.
Regional
police chief Elmer Soria said he was briefed by Leyte provincial Govenor
Dominic Petilla late last night and told there were about 10,000 deaths
on the island, mostly by drowning and from collapsed buildings.
About
four million people are believed to have been affected by the category
five storm, according to the country's national disaster agency. This
figure includes 800,000 who had to be evacuated before the storm struck.
Loss: A mother weeps beside the dead body of her son at a chapel in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban 
Operation: A Vietnamese soldier carries a young girl from a lorry as villagers are evacuated to a safe place by the military
Braced: Residents in Phu Yen, Vietnam, prepare
sandbags in preparation for the storm which is expected to reach the
coast on Sunday morning
Strengthen: Soldiers and workers reinforce a dyke with weather experts predicting sea surges to hit the Vietnamese coast
Bolster: Troops help prepare a house for the arrival of typhoon Haiyan at a village in the central province of Quang Tri
Winds of up to 235mph and gusts of
170mph left a trail of destruction - triggering major landslides,
knocking out power and communications and causing catastrophic
widespread damage. Hundreds of homes have been flattened and scores of
streets flooded.
The storm
is now moving towards mainland Asian and is expected to reach Vietnam
coastal areas on Sunday morning while humanitarian experts estimate the
number of casualties will rise considerably.
Weather
forecasts have also predicted more bad weather could be on the way to
the Philippines at the beginning of next week, with high winds expected
to arrive on Monday.
The
Foreign Office in the Philippines’ capital Manila has had no reports of
British casualties but it is feared thousands have been left stranded as
a result.
About
15,000 British nationals are said to live on the islands and every year
65,000 visit tourist hotspots like northern Cebu Province and Boracay
Island, both of which have been savaged by the storm.
Vietnamese authorities have begun
evacuating 100,000 people as they prepare to face the full force of the ferocious weather. 'The evacuation
is being conducted with urgency,' disaster official Nguyen Thi Yen Linh
said from central Danang City, where some 76,000 were being moved to
safety.
Around 300,000 others have
been taken to shelters in the provinces of Quang Ngai, Quang Nam and
Thua Thien Hue. Schools were closed and two deputy prime ministers were
sent to the region to direct preparations.
The army has been brought in to provide emergency relief with some 170,000 soldiers assisting people after the typhoon hits.
Haiyan
is likely to be a category two or three storm when it hits the
Vietnamese coast, but the Red Cross has warned some 6.5 million people
in in the country could be affected.
It is expected to reach Da Nang province tomorrow morning before
moving up the country's west coast and eventually making its way to the
capital, Hanoi.
Desolation: This picture shows an flattened area of the destroyed Tacloban city covered by debris and flood water
Damage: More ruined buildings in Tacloban city, Leyte, can be seen lining the coast of the devastated area
Debris: A Philippine flag lies in the rubble of damaged houses
Loss: Around four million people in the
Philippines are said to have been affected, according to the the
country's national disaster agency
Joint effort: Villagers throw up sandbags to the roof of a house in Quang Nam province, Vietnam
Gusts: Palm trees show the wind has already
picked up along the coast of Vietnam, prompting fisherman to move their
boats from the beach
Wind: The boats have been moved onto a road as a safety precaution
Braced: Red Cross staff in Danang Province, Vietnam, fill sandbags in preparation for the coming storm
Protection: Local volunteers dig a trench to provide shelter from the typhoon which is heading for mainland Asia
Flattened: A Filipino boy stands among the
debris in Tacloban, Leyte - one of the worst areas hit by category five
storm Typhoon Haiyan
Death: It has been estimated by the Red Cross that 1,000 of the 1,200 people killed by the typhoon were residents of Tacloban
Widespread: This picture shows acres of flooded rice fields in the Iloilo Province, another area devastated by the typhoon
Weather experts predict the
country will experience sea surges, strong winds and up to two feet of
rain, triggering massive floods.
Chinese
authorities have also issued a level three emergency response
throughout the country, ordering fisherman to shelter their boats to
prevent any damage.
It will
be the 30th typhoon to hit China this year with the central and
southern parts of Hainan and Sansha city expected to be hit by downpours
in the next 24 hours.
Officials
in neighbouring Laos and Cambodia are also taking precautions in an
attempt to soften the impact of the ferocious storm.
Humanitarian experts say they expect
the number of casualties to be 'massive'. A Red Cross spokesman said:
'We now fear that thousands will have lost their lives.'
The UK has sent a team of three experts
to the country today to assess the extent of the damage, after which the
Government will decide upon its response, a spokesman for the
Department for International Development (Dfid) said.
International Development Secretary Justine Greening has also pledged £6 million worth of
emergency aid.
She
said: 'My thoughts are with the people of the Philippines, in particular
those who have lost loved ones. UK support is now under way.
'Many
thousands of people in remote, hard-to-reach communities have lost
their homes and everything they own. They are living in the open and
completely exposed to the elements.
'The absolute priority must be to reach them with shelter and protection as soon as possible.
'UK support will provide urgently needed access to clean water, shelter, household items and blankets,
'We
are also sending additional humanitarian experts from the UK to work
with the DfID team and international agencies, including ensuring
partners are prioritising the protection of vulnerable girls and women.'
The
category-5 super typhoon Haiyan – Chinese for ‘sea bird’ – smashed into
the eastern islands of the Philippines with winds nearly 150mph
stronger than the St Jude storm which struck the UK in late October.
Roofs were ripped from houses, ferocious 20ft waves washed away coastal villages, power lines came down and trees were uprooted.
Pragmatic: Villagers dig a makeshift shelter to
protect themselves from the ferocious weather which is expected to
impact 6.5 million people in Vietnam
Precautions: Fisherman anchor their boats in Vietnam in preparation for the arrival of one of the worst storms on record
Plans: An elderly woman is taken from her home
in Danang, Vietnam, as the government begins to evacuate 100,000 people
lying in the path of typhoon Haiyan
Properties: Volunteers place sand bags on the roof of a house
Sheets are draped over the boats in an effort to soften the impact of the storm
From above: An aerial view shows badly damaged
houses, including many without a roof, and blocked roads in the
Philippine province of Iloilo
Recovery: A child is lifted to safety from a
house in Tacloban, left, and two residents sit on the pavement in front
of their home in the same city, right
Badly hit: A group of houses in a coastal
community in Iloilo Province, central Philippines, that have been
destroyed. Boats lie thrown along the coastline also
Capt.
John Andrews, deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority
of the Philippines, said he had received 'reliable information' by radio
that more than 100 bodies were lying in the streets of Tacloban on
hardest-hit Leyte Island.
Regional
military commander Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda said that the casualty
figure 'probably will increase' after viewing aerial photographs of the
widespread devastation caused by the typhoon.
Cabinet
Secretary Rene Almendras, a senior aide to President Benigno Aquino
III, said that the number of casualties could not be immediately
determined, but that the figure was 'probably in that range' given by
Andrews. Government troops were helping recover bodies, he said.
Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said it was too early to know how many people had died in the storm.
In the aftermath, Filipinos have taken to social media in an attempt to find missing loved ones by posting photos on Twitter.
Wreckage: An image from footage shot by
Philippine broadcaster ABS-CBN shows a man carrying a child through the
debris in Leyte, Philippines
Flattened: The typhoon has ravaged most of the city of Tacloban and destroyed the airport
Ruins: A resident sifts through rubbish inside his ruined home, flattened by 235mph winds in the devastated city of Tacloban
Scale: This image shows the enormous Typhoon Haiyan taken by Astronaut Karen L. Nyberg aboard the Internatioal Space Station
Satellite: A picture posted on Twitter by NASA
at 8.00pm GMT shows the centre of the moving across the South China Sea
towards the coast of Vietnam
Path: Once the typhoon has reached the coast of
Vietnam it is expected to moved towards the capital, Hanoi, with parts
of Laos and Cambodia also likely to be affected
Loss: A pregnant woman, left, walks around the
remains of her home while a young boy, right, walks past a crushed car
in the destroyed town of Tacloban
Shock: A woman stands amidst the
devastation. Flood water can be seen in the background covering most of
the area around the demolished building
In Tacloban, a city of more than
200,000 believed to be one of the worst hit cities, corrugated
iron sheets were ripped from roofs before crashing into buildings,
according to video footage taken by a resident.
Flash
floods also turned Tacloban's streets into rivers, while a pictures
from an ABS-CBN television reporter showed six bamboo houses washed away
along a beach more than 200 kilometres to the south.
Civil
aviation authorities in Tacloban, about 360 miles southeast of Manila,
reported the seaside airport terminal was 'ruined' by storm surges.
U.S.
Marine Col. Mike Wylie, who surveyed the damage in Tacloban prior to
possible American assistance, said that the damage to the runway was
significant. However, military planes were still able to land with
relief aid.
Temporary: Bodies of victims lay in a deserted chapel in Tacloban. A woman and child, right, view the distressing scene
Flooding: Locals in Coron, Palawan, walk among
damaged buildings and flooded streets after the typhoon - one of the
most powerful to ever hit land
Terrifying: Filipino children are seen in the
city of Tacloban, Leyte. Behind them is a scene of devastation with
homes flattened and debris lying in the street
Picking up the pieces: Some residents try to go about their daily business despite the large-scale destruction
Tragedy: Bodies of residents can be seen in the
streets of Tacloban, while one local is forced to transport a body in a
wheelbarrow
Collapsed: A resident walks past her destroyed
home - flattened by piles of wood and branches from nearby trees - in
Tacloban city
Aftermath: A lorry that had been picked up by
the wind and slammed in to a tree, is pictured left, while residents
attempt to move their belongings across a fallen branch
Vice mayor Jim Pe of Coron town on
Busuanga, the last island battered by the typhoon before it blew away to
the South China Sea, said most of the houses and buildings there had
been destroyed or damaged.
Five
people drowned in the storm surge and three others are missing. He
said: 'It was like a 747 flying just above my roof.' adding that his
family and some of his neighbours whose houses were destroyed took
shelter in his basement.
ABS-CBN also showed fierce winds whipping buildings and vehicles as storm surges swamped Tacloban with debris-laden floodwaters.
In
the aftermath, people were seen weeping while retrieving bodies of
loved ones inside buildings and on a street that was littered with
fallen trees, roofing material and other building parts torn off in the
typhoon's fury.
All that was left of one large building whose walls were smashed in were the skeletal remains of its rafters.
ABS-CBN
television anchor Ted Failon, who was able to report only briefly
Friday from Tacloban, said the storm surge was 'like the tsunami in
Japan'.
'The sea
engulfed Tacloban,' he said, explaining that a major part of the city is
surrounded on three sides by the waters between Leyte and Samar
islands.
Workers: Local Red Cross staff place sand bags on the roof of a house in Danang, Vietnam
Before he left Tacloban today,
Failon said he saw people like a 'pack of rats' looting a department
store taking whatever they could lay their hands on including
refrigerators and TV sets. TV footage showed a group of men smiling as
they walked away with a large ice cream freezer and other goods.
Relief workers today said they are having
difficulties delivering food and other supplies, with roads blocked by
landslides and fallen trees.
The Philippines is made up of more than 7,000 islands, so delivering aid can take up to two or tree days.
Red Cross chief Gwendolyn Pang said they struggled to deliver aid in the adverse conditions.
She said: 'We've had reports of uprooted trees, very strong winds and houses made of light materials being damaged
'We
have put rescue teams and equipment at different places, but at the
moment we can't really do much because of the heavy rain and strong
winds. There is no power'.
Mrs Pang added the death toll, which is said to have exceeded 1,000, was just an 'estimate'.
Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said the enormous rescue operation was still ongoing.
He
added: 'We expect a very high number of fatalities as well as injured.
All systems, all vestiges of modern living - communications, power,
water - all are down. Media is down, so there is no way to communicate
with the people in a mass sort of way.'
Ben Webster, disaster response
manager for the Red Cross, added: 'Preparedness is strengthening over the
years as agencies become more proficient at preparing for disasters,
technology is improving so we can forecast a bit more reliably, so it is
getting better in terms of preparation.
'But
there are still hundreds of thousands of families likely to have been
impacted, and even if the loss of life isn't as high as it usually is,
these are still people who need homes and livelihoods which will have
been impacted by this huge storm.
Debris: Helicopters hover over the damaged area of Tacloban city, which was battered with strong winds yesterday
Destroyed: Typhoon Haiyan also badly damaged an
airport, pictured, in battered Tacloban city - which could affect
deliveries of essential aid supplies
Disaster zone: This map shows the trajectory of the devastating storm as it heads towards Vietnam
Washed up: Filipino soldiers disembark from a plane stopped at the devastated airport in Tacloban city, Leyte
Ruin: A man wipes his face while surveying the
damage to one area of Tacloban. Branches from trees can be seen strewn
across the land
Victim: A resident walks past dead bodies that lie on the street in Tacloban city, Leyte province
'The
British Red Cross launched an appeal yesterday which the public can
support. We have already released £100,000 yesterday which will support
relief items, 10,000 tarpaulins were sent from Kuala Lumpur, and 2,000
hygiene parcels as well.
'The
whole international Red Cross movement will be mobilising to support
the Philippines Red Cross and the International Federation in country to
be able to respond to the situation.'
Marie Madamba-Nunez of Oxfam, which
has already dispatched aid to the Philippines, said: 'Making sure people
have clean water, safe sanitation and a roof over peoples heads will be
an immediate priority.
'These
disasters compound the burden of Philippines' poorest people. Small
scale farmers and those relying on fishing to make a living will be
hardest hit. Their fields and their boats and tackle will be badly
damaged and they will need help not only today but in months to come.
'Economic
solutions to root out poverty and inequality must be paired with
minimising the risk of poor communities to the vagaries of weather and
climate change.'
Under water: Residents wade through a flooded street in Mindoro, Philippines this morning following the typoon
Pile up: Vehicles and rubbish are pictured strewn across a flooded street in Tacloban, Leyte
Upside down: A devastated airport in Tacloban city, Leyte province - where roofs were ripped on hundreds of houses
Shock: These two pictures show
the devastation in Coron, Palawan where buildings have been flattened,
left and right, leaving residents helplessly walking the streets.
Save the Children said up to 7,000
schools could have been damaged by Haiyan, as the aid agency battles to
reach the hardest hit areas.
The charity's country director Anna Lindenfors said: 'We
are very concerned for the poorest and most vulnerable children in some
of the hardest hit places like Tacloban where there is likely to be
catastrophic damage, especially to the homes of the poorest people who
live in buildings made from flimsy materials.'
'While
the immediate focus must be on saving lives, we are also extremely
worried that thousands of schools will have been knocked out of action
or badly affected by the typhoon.
'In
the worst hit areas this will have a terrible impact on children's
education and it will be important that we help them back to school as
quickly as possible.'
Speaking in the aftermath of the
storm Paul Knightley, forecast manager at MeteoGroup, described Haiyan
as 'one of the strongest typhoons ever seen before on the planet in the
modern age'.
Space: A digital composite of Typhoon Haiyan
approaching the Philippines, made using images captured geostationary
satellites of the Japan Meteorological Agency
Rebuilding their lives: Two men in Iloilo move some of their belongings through flood waters covering the streets
Assessment: A resident of Manila looks at the
damage to his home. Poorer families with less stable houses were the
worst affected, according to reports
Carrying on: Despite the devastation Filipinos
have emerged from their shelters today to begin the recovery effort.
Some used motorcycles to ford the flood waters
Devastation: Debris which was
washed in by the storm litters the road by the coastal village in
Legazpi city. Residents now face a long clean up operation
'It is an
incredibly powerful storm, which has now moved through the Philippines.
No doubt we will see all sorts of damage has been caused.
'As
far as tropical storms go, this is about the top of the ladder. To get
winds approaching 200mph as an average wind speed within the storm -
you're talking the top few percent of all storms that have ever
occurred.
'It may be one of the - if not the - strongest land-falling storm we've seen for many years, possibly in recorded history.'
The
storm brought further misery to thousands of residents of Bohol who had
been camped in tents and other makeshift shelters after a magnitude 7.2
earthquake struck the island last month.
At least
5,000 survivors were still living in tents on the island, and they were moved
to schools that had been turned into evacuation centres.
Assistance: People queue for relief goods on the eastern island of Leyte this morning
Hanging on: A fisherman in Manila is forced to
cling on to his equipment, left, while there was little hope for other
less stable buildings in the storm's path, right
Higher ground: Residents of Legaspi, Albay
province, south of Manila resident, were forced to flee the coast as
Haiyan continued to pound the sea wall today
Speaking yesterday, Roger Mercado,
governor of Southern
Leyte, an island off the coast off the popular tourist region of Cebu,
told how dense clouds and heavy rains turned day into night.
‘When
you’re faced with such a scenario, you can only pray and pray and
pray,’ he said, as weather forecasters warned of ‘catastrophic’ damage.
The governor added: ‘My worst fear is that there will be many massive loss of lives and property.’
In preparation for the typhoon, officials
in Cebu province shut down electric services to the northern part
of the province to avoid electrocutions in case power pylons are
toppled, said assistant regional civil defence chief Flor Gaviola.
Downpour: As well as strong winds, the typhoon
brought with it torrential rain which caused landslides in rural parts
of the country
Terrifying: Residents run for their lives as the
terrible gusts of the typhoon buffet the popular tourist city of Cebu.
Trees and roofs were torn off by the storm
Blocked: Residents clear the road in the island province of Cebu after a tree was toppled by strong winds during typhoon Haiyan
President
Benigno Aquino assured the public of war-like preparations, with three
C-130 air force cargo planes and 32 military helicopters and planes on
standby, along with 20 navy ships.
Authorities
halted ferry services and fishing operations, while nearly 200 local
flights had been suspended. Commuter bus services were also stopped as
the storm dumped torrential rain and ripped iron roofs off buildings and
houses.
Schools, offices
and shops in the central Philippines were closed, with hospitals,
soldiers and emergency workers on standby for rescue operations.
'We
can hear the winds howling but the rains are not too strong. We have
encountered several distress calls regarding fallen trees and power
lines cut. We don't have power now,' Samar Vice Governor Stephen James
Tan said in a radio interview yesterday.
An average of 20 major storms or typhoons, many of them deadly, hit the Philippines each year.
Aid effort: Volunteers pack relief goods inside a
Department of Social Welfare and Development warehouse before shipping
out to devastated provinces
Shelter: Filipino residents sleep on the floor
of a gymnasium turned into an evacuation center in Sorsogon City in the
Bicol region
The
developing country is particularly vulnerable because it is often the
first major landmass for the storms after they build over the Pacific
Ocean.
The Philippine government and some scientists have said climate change may be increasing the ferocity and frequency of storms.
Others say Pacific waters were an important reason for the strength of
Haiyan, but added it was premature to blame climate change based on the
scanty historical data available.
The
poverty-stricken country has already endured a year of
earthquakes and floods, with no fewer than 24 disastrous weather events.
The Philippines
suffered the world's strongest storm of 2012, when Typhoon Bopha left
about 2,000 people dead or missing on the southern island of Mindanao.
Helpless: People look on as their village hall in Iloilo province is washed into the flood waters
Evacuations: Residents living near the slopes of
Mayon volcano are evacuated to public schools by police in anticipation
of the powerful typhoon Haiyan
Looking for cover: Filipino residents climb into a makeshift shelter at a coastal village in Las Pinas city, south of Manila
The Philippines has known disaster at the hands of mother nature as recently as 2011 when typhoon Washi killed 1,200 people, displaced 300,000 and destroyed more than 10,000 homes.
In
September, category-five typhoon Usagi, with winds gusting of up to 149
mph, battered the northern island of Batanes before causing
damage in southern China.
Bopha last year flattened three coastal towns on the southern island of Mindanao, killing 1,100 people and wreaking damage estimated at $1.04 billion.
Cambodian authorities said they were closely watching the development of the world's biggest storm to materialise.
Bopha last year flattened three coastal towns on the southern island of Mindanao, killing 1,100 people and wreaking damage estimated at $1.04 billion.
Cambodian authorities said they were closely watching the development of the world's biggest storm to materialise.
Storm
trackers have predicted the storm could reach China on Tuesday, but the
wind speeds will have dropped to between 25 and 35mph.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2494635/Philippines-super-typhoon-Haiyan-powerful-storm-history.html#ixzz2kDBvQSjw
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