Sunday, November 10, 2013

Typhoon Haiyan - 'It's like the end of the world'

 Bodies still lie in the roads and thousands of homes lie destroyed near the fish port after super Typhoon Haiyan battered Tacloban city

'It's like the end of the world': Typhoon Haiyan feared to have killed TEN THOUSAND Filipinos in one of the most powerful storms ever record

  • Typhoon Haiyan was a maximum category-five storm with ground winds of up to 235mph
  • Authorities say the death toll could be 10,000 in the city of Tacloban, Leyte, alone
  • 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 and survivors said the aftermath is like the 2004 Tsunami
  • 800,000 evacuated before gales whipped up 19ft waves that battered the islands of Leyte and Samar
  • Hundreds of thousands of people in South East Asia have been evacuated and moved to shelters
  • UN says 2.5m people are in need of food aid and UNICEF have estimated 1.5 m children live in affected areas
By Becky Evans
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At least 10,000 people are feared to have been killed in just one Philippines' city by super typhoon Haiyan - one of the most powerful storms ever recorded. 

Haiyan destroyed about 70 to 80 per cent of the area in its path as it tore through Leyte province on Friday and huge waves swept away entire coastal villages, police chief superintendent Elmer Soria said. 

As rescue workers struggled to reach ravaged villages along the coast, where the death toll is as yet unknown, survivors foraged for food as supplies dwindled or searched for lost loved ones.

'People are walking like zombies looking for food,' said Jenny Chu, a medical student in Leyte. 'It's like a movie.'

10,000 people have been killed in super typhoon Haiyan that hit the central Philippines on Friday, according to a police chief in the area
10,000 people have been killed in super typhoon Haiyan that hit the central Philippines on Friday, according to a police chief in the area
A Filipino father and his children wait for food relief outside their makeshift tent.
A Filipino father and his children wait for food relief outside their makeshift tent. Survivors have foraged for food as supplies dwindled
The storm is one of the most powerful ever recorded
The storm is one of the most powerful ever recorded and huge waves swept away entire coastal villages and destroyed up to 80 per cent of the area in its path
A ship was washed ashore in the huge storm. Surging sea water strewed debris for miles and survivors said the devastation was like a tsunami
A ship was washed ashore in the huge storm. Surging sea water strewed debris for miles and survivors said the devastation was like a tsunami 

Most of the deaths appear to have been caused by surging sea water strewn with debris that many said resembled a tsunami, levelling houses and drowning hundreds of people in one of the worst natural disasters to hit the typhoon-prone Southeast Asian nation.
 
The national government and disaster agency have not confirmed the latest estimate of deaths, a sharp increase from initial estimates on Saturday of at least 1,000 killed by a storm whose sustained winds reached 195 miles per hour with gusts of up to 235 mph.

'We had a meeting last night with the governor and the other officials. The governor said, based on their estimate, 10,000 died,' Soria told Reuters.
'The devastation is so big.'

More than 330,900 people were displaced and 4.3million 'affected' by the typhoon in 36 provinces, the U.N.'s humanitarian agency said, as relief agencies called for food, water and tarpaulins for the homeless.

More than 330,900 people were displaced and 4.3million 'affected' by the typhoon in 36 provinces, the U.N. has said
More than 330,900 people were displaced and 4.3million 'affected' by the typhoon in 36 provinces, the U.N. has said
Residents try to salvage belongings in Tacloban city, Leyte province.
Residents try to salvage belongings in Tacloban city, Leyte province. Rescuers have not even been able to contact some towns on the coast where the storm first hit
Dozens of people crowd outside a store in Tacloban
Dozens of people crowd outside a store in Tacloban. There have been reports of looting in the area as aid supplies struggle to get through

Witnesses and officials described chaotic scenes in Leyte's capital, Tacloban, a coastal city of 220,000 about 360 miles southeast of Manila, with hundreds of bodies piled on the sides of roads and pinned under wrecked houses.

The city lies in a cove where the seawater narrows, making it susceptible to storm surges.

The city and nearby villages as far as half a mile from shore were flooded, leaving floating bodies and roads choked with debris from fallen trees, tangled power lines and flattened homes. TV footage showed children clinging to rooftops for their lives.
Flash floods also turned Tacloban's streets into rivers, while bamboo houses washed away by the waters. 

Civil aviation authorities in Tacloban reported the seaside airport terminal was 'ruined' by storm surges caused by Haiyan - Chinese for 'sea-bird'.

'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,' said Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas, who had been in Tacloban since before the typhoon struck the city.

'I don't know how to describe what I saw. It's horrific.'
A man carries boxes of milk as he passes by ships washed ashore by enormous waves in Tacloban city, Leyte province
A man carries boxes of milk as he passes by ships washed ashore by enormous waves in Tacloban city, Leyte province
One survivor said the scenes of utter devastation caused by the typhoon was 'like the end of the world'
One survivor said the scenes of utter devastation caused by the typhoon was 'like the end of the world'
Aid agencies have made emergency appeals for funds and are trying to reach survivors who are in desperate need of clean water and shelter
Aid agencies have made emergency appeals for funds and are trying to reach survivors who are in desperate need of clean water and shelter

Bodies still lie in the roads and thousands of homes lie destroyed near the fish port after super Typhoon Haiyan battered Tacloban city
Bodies still lie in the roads and thousands of homes lie destroyed near the fish port after super Typhoon Haiyan battered Tacloban city

Mila Ward, an Australian citizen and Filipino by birth who was in Leyte on vacation visiting her family, said she saw hundreds of bodies on the streets.

'They were covered with blankets, plastic. There were children and women,' she said.
The U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said aerial surveys showed 'significant damage to coastal areas with heavy ships thrown to the shore, many houses destroyed and vast tracts of agricultural land decimated.'

The destruction extended well beyond Tacloban. Officials had 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 per cent under water, the U.N. said.

There were reports of damage across much of the Visayas, a region of eight major islands, including Leyte, Cebu and Samar.

Many tourists were stranded. 

'Seawater reached the second floor of the hotel,' said Nancy Chang, who was on a business trip from China in Tacloblan City and walked three hours through mud and debris for a military-led evacuation at the airport. 'It's like the end of the world.'
Survivors walk towards the evacuation center to get relief goods after super Typhoon Haiyan battered Tacloban city, central Philippines
Survivors walk towards the evacuation center to get relief goods after super Typhoon Haiyan battered Tacloban city, central Philippines
City administrators in Tacloban said about 400 bodies have been collected so far but said the death toll in the city alone could be 10,000
City administrators in Tacloban said about 400 bodies have been collected so far but said the death toll in the city alone could be 10,000
A girl looks out from a makeshift shelter in Tacloban.
A girl looks out from a makeshift shelter in Tacloban. The World Food Programme said it was airlifting 40 tonnes of high-energy biscuits to the region
A woman holds her umbrella stands on debris of houses in Tacloban
A woman holds her umbrella stands on debris of houses in Tacloban. Millions of people are believed to have been 'affected' by the storm, including hundreds of thousands who have lost their homes

Six people were killed and dozens wounded during heavy winds and storms in central Vietnam as Haiyan approached the coast, state media reported, even though it had weakened substantially since hitting the Philippines.

Vietnam authorities have moved 883,000 people in 11 central provinces to safe zones, according to the government's website.

Despite weakening, the storm is likely to cause heavy rains, flooding, strong winds and mudslides as it makes its way north in the South China Sea.

Looters rampaged through several stores in Tacloban, witnesses said, taking whatever they could find as rescuers' efforts to deliver food and water were hampered by severed roads and communications.

Gangs attacked trucks loaded with food, tents and water on Tanauan bridge in Leyte, said Philippine Red Cross chairman Richard Gordon. 

'These are mobsters operating out of there.'

Tecson John Lim, the Tacloban city administrator, said city officials had so far only collected 300 to 400 bodies, but believed the death toll in the city alone could be 10,000.
Children pull sacks of goods they recovered from abandoned stores as they go past the rubble of houses in Tacloban
Children pull sacks of goods they recovered from abandoned stores as they go past the rubble of houses in Tacloban
A woman mourns in front of her husband's dead body, which lies no the street under tarpaulin alongside other bodies
A woman mourns in front of her husband's dead body, which lies no the street under tarpaulin alongside other bodies
An injured Filipino boy stand in front of the rubble of houses in Tacloban - destroyed by the typhoon that has left thousands of people dead
An injured Filipino boy stand in front of the rubble of houses in Tacloban - destroyed by the typhoon that has left thousands of people dead
A man with an injured leg is carried through the devastation of former residential roads in Tacloban
A man with an injured leg is carried through the devastation of former residential roads in Tacloban

International aid agencies said relief efforts in the Philippines were stretched thin after a 7.2 magnitude quake in central Bohol province last month and displacement caused by a conflict with Muslim rebels in southern Zamboanga province.

The World Food Programme said it was airlifting 40 tonnes of high-energy biscuits, enough to feed 120,000 people for a day, as well as emergency supplies and telecommunications equipment.

Tacloban city airport was all but destroyed as seawaters swept through the city, shattering the glass of the airport tower, levelling the terminal and overturning nearby vehicles.

Airport manager Efren Nagrama, 47, said water levels rose up to 13 feet.

'It was like a tsunami. We escaped through the windows and I held on to a pole for about an hour as rain, seawater and wind swept through the airport,' he said. 

'Some of my staff survived by clinging to trees. I prayed hard all throughout until the water subsided.'

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.

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