The death toll from a super
typhoon that decimated entire towns in the
Philippines could soar well over 10,000,
authorities warned Sunday, making it the
country’s worst recorded natural disaster. The horrifying estimates came as rescue workers
appeared overwhelmed in their efforts to help
countless survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan,
which sent tsunami-like waves and merciless
winds rampaging across a huge chunk of the
archipelago on Friday. Police said they had deployed special forces to
contain looters in Tacloban, the devastated
provincial capital of Leyte, while the United States
announced it had responded to a Philippine
government appeal and would send military help. “Tacloban is totally destroyed. Some people are
losing their minds from hunger or from losing
their families,” high school teacher Andrew
Pomeda, 36, told AFP, as he warned of the
increasing desperation of survivors. “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.” Authorities were struggling to even understand
the sheer magnitude of the disaster, let alone
react to it, with the regional police chief for Leyte
saying 10,000 people were believed to have died
in that province alone. “We had a meeting last night with the governor
and, based on the government’s estimates,
initially there are 10,000 casualties (dead),” Chief
Superintendent Elmer Soria told reporters in
Tacloban. “About 70 to 80 percent of the houses and
structures along the typhoon’s path were
destroyed.” On the neighbouring island of Samar, a local
disaster chief said 300 people were killed in the
small town of Baser. He added another 2,000 were missing there and
elsewhere on Samar, which was one of the first
areas to be hit when Haiyan swept in from the
Pacific Ocean with maximum sustained winds of
315 kilometres an hour. Dozens more people were confirmed killed in
other flattened towns and cities across a 600-
kilometre (370-mile) stretch of islands through
the central Philippines. Deadliest natural disaster The Philippines endures a seemingly never-
ending pattern of deadly typhoons, earthquakes,
volcano eruptions and other natural disasters. This is because it is located along a typhoon belt
and the so-called Ring of Fire, a vast Pacific Ocean
region where many of Earth’s earthquakes and
volcanic eruptions occur. However, if the feared death toll of above 10,000
is correct, Haiyan would be the deadliest natural
disaster ever recorded in the Philippines. Until Haiyan, the deadliest disaster in the
Philippines was in 1976, when a tsunami
triggered by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake
devastated the Moro Gulf on the southern
Philippine island of Mindanao, killing between
5,000 and 8,000 people. Haiyan set other apocalyptic-style records with its
winds making it the strongest typhoon in the
world this year, and one of the most powerful
ever recorded. Witnesses in Tacloban recalled waves up to five
metres (17 feet) high surging inland, while aerial
photos showed entire neighbourhoods destroyed
with trees and buildings flattened by storm
surges that reached deep inland. “The effects are very similar to what I have seen in
a tsunami rather than a typhoon,” the Philippine
country director of the World Food Program,
Praveen Agrawal, who visited Tacloban, told AFP. “All the trees are bent over, the bark has been
stripped off, the houses have been damaged. In
many cases they have collapsed.” In Washington, the Pentagon announced that US
Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel had responded to a
request from the Philippines for military aid. “Secretary Hagel has directed US Pacific Command
to support US government humanitarian relief
operations in the Philippines in the wake of
Typhoon Haiyan,” it said. “The initial focus includes surface maritime
search and rescue, medium-heavy helicopter lift
support, airborne maritime search and rescue,
fixed wing lift support and logistics enablers.” United Nations leader Ban Ki-moon also pledged
that UN humanitarian agencies would “respond
rapidly to help people in need”. Ban is “deeply saddened by the extensive loss of
life” and devastation caused by Haiyan, said UN
spokesman Martin Nesirky in a statement. Haiyan moved out of the Philippines and into the
South China Sea on Saturday, from where it
tracked towards Vietnam. Although it weakened out at sea, more than
600,000 people were evacuated in Vietnam ahead
of its expected landfall on Monday morning
typhoon that decimated entire towns in the
Philippines could soar well over 10,000,
authorities warned Sunday, making it the
country’s worst recorded natural disaster. The horrifying estimates came as rescue workers
appeared overwhelmed in their efforts to help
countless survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan,
which sent tsunami-like waves and merciless
winds rampaging across a huge chunk of the
archipelago on Friday. Police said they had deployed special forces to
contain looters in Tacloban, the devastated
provincial capital of Leyte, while the United States
announced it had responded to a Philippine
government appeal and would send military help. “Tacloban is totally destroyed. Some people are
losing their minds from hunger or from losing
their families,” high school teacher Andrew
Pomeda, 36, told AFP, as he warned of the
increasing desperation of survivors. “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.” Authorities were struggling to even understand
the sheer magnitude of the disaster, let alone
react to it, with the regional police chief for Leyte
saying 10,000 people were believed to have died
in that province alone. “We had a meeting last night with the governor
and, based on the government’s estimates,
initially there are 10,000 casualties (dead),” Chief
Superintendent Elmer Soria told reporters in
Tacloban. “About 70 to 80 percent of the houses and
structures along the typhoon’s path were
destroyed.” On the neighbouring island of Samar, a local
disaster chief said 300 people were killed in the
small town of Baser. He added another 2,000 were missing there and
elsewhere on Samar, which was one of the first
areas to be hit when Haiyan swept in from the
Pacific Ocean with maximum sustained winds of
315 kilometres an hour. Dozens more people were confirmed killed in
other flattened towns and cities across a 600-
kilometre (370-mile) stretch of islands through
the central Philippines. Deadliest natural disaster The Philippines endures a seemingly never-
ending pattern of deadly typhoons, earthquakes,
volcano eruptions and other natural disasters. This is because it is located along a typhoon belt
and the so-called Ring of Fire, a vast Pacific Ocean
region where many of Earth’s earthquakes and
volcanic eruptions occur. However, if the feared death toll of above 10,000
is correct, Haiyan would be the deadliest natural
disaster ever recorded in the Philippines. Until Haiyan, the deadliest disaster in the
Philippines was in 1976, when a tsunami
triggered by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake
devastated the Moro Gulf on the southern
Philippine island of Mindanao, killing between
5,000 and 8,000 people. Haiyan set other apocalyptic-style records with its
winds making it the strongest typhoon in the
world this year, and one of the most powerful
ever recorded. Witnesses in Tacloban recalled waves up to five
metres (17 feet) high surging inland, while aerial
photos showed entire neighbourhoods destroyed
with trees and buildings flattened by storm
surges that reached deep inland. “The effects are very similar to what I have seen in
a tsunami rather than a typhoon,” the Philippine
country director of the World Food Program,
Praveen Agrawal, who visited Tacloban, told AFP. “All the trees are bent over, the bark has been
stripped off, the houses have been damaged. In
many cases they have collapsed.” In Washington, the Pentagon announced that US
Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel had responded to a
request from the Philippines for military aid. “Secretary Hagel has directed US Pacific Command
to support US government humanitarian relief
operations in the Philippines in the wake of
Typhoon Haiyan,” it said. “The initial focus includes surface maritime
search and rescue, medium-heavy helicopter lift
support, airborne maritime search and rescue,
fixed wing lift support and logistics enablers.” United Nations leader Ban Ki-moon also pledged
that UN humanitarian agencies would “respond
rapidly to help people in need”. Ban is “deeply saddened by the extensive loss of
life” and devastation caused by Haiyan, said UN
spokesman Martin Nesirky in a statement. Haiyan moved out of the Philippines and into the
South China Sea on Saturday, from where it
tracked towards Vietnam. Although it weakened out at sea, more than
600,000 people were evacuated in Vietnam ahead
of its expected landfall on Monday morning
No comments:
Post a Comment