Typhoon Haiyan swept across several islands over the weekend, leaving a trail of destruction.
About 10,000 people may have died over the weekend in Tacloban city in The Philippines after it was hit by Typhoon Haiyan, the BBC reported yesterday, November 10, 2013.
The typhoon destroyed homes, schools and an airport. Tacloban City Administrator, Tecson Lim, said the death toll could go up to 10,000. City Police Chief, Elmer Soria, said about 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the area in the path of the storm in Leyte Province was destroyed. He added that most of the deaths were from drowning or collapsed buildings. Tacloban, with a population of 220,000, is the provincial capital of Leyte, a mountainous island.
Neighbouring Samar Island was also badly affected, with reports of 300 people dead and 2,000 missing. By yesterday morning, the Filipino government confirmed only 151 deaths, but President Benigno Aquino III warned that the numbers will rise substantially. According to the Philippines’ National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the typhoon affected 4.5 million people, about five per cent of the population, leaving nearly half a million others displaced.
US Defence Secretary, Chuck Hagel, said the US was delivering helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and search and rescue equipment while the European Commission released emergency funds and is also sending a team of humanitarian experts. The UN is to provide tents, food and relief supplies. Survivors from a devastated chain of six Filipino islands described the destruction caused by Typhoon Haiyan as being like a tsunami. It brought waves that easily brought down storey buildings, The Washington Post newspaper said. Though the storm struck on Friday, November 8, 2013, the picture of the scale of destruction is only now emerging as aid workers reach damaged areas and communication lines slowly reopen.
Meanwhile, the authorities in Vietnam yesterday began mass evacuations in at least four central coastal provinces, Vietnam's state-run VNExpress news site said. It reported that over 200,000 people were evacuated as 170,000 soldiers were mobilised to provide emergency relief. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung recalled all Vietnamese vessels to shore and ordered hydropower reservoirs to step up safety measures.
