Philippine typhoon death toll could reach 10,000

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Philippine typhoon death toll could reach 10,000

King 5.com

by KING Staff and Associated Press

Posted on November 9, 2013 at 11:07 AM

Updated yesterday at 5:50 PM

TACLOBAN, Philippines -- The death toll from one of the strongest storms on record that ravaged the central Philippine city of Tacloban could reach 10,000 people, officials said Sunday after the extend of massive devastation became apparent and horrified residents spoke of storm surges as high as trees.
Regional police chief Elmer Soria said he was briefed by Leyte provincial Gov. Dominic Petilla late Saturday and told there were about 10,000 deaths on the island, mostly by drowning and from collapsed buildings. The governor's figure was based on reports from village officials in areas where Typhoon Haiyan slammed Friday.
Tacloban city administrator Tecson Lim said that the death toll in the city alone "could go up to 10,000.”

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Credit: AFP/Getty Images

Residents walk past debris of destroyed houses in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban, eastern island of Leyte on November 9, 2013. One of the strongest typhoons on record killed more than 100 people as savage winds and giant waves flattened communities across the Philippines, authorities said on November 9 while corpses lay amid the devastation. AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS (Photo credit should read NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images)

About 300-400 bodies have already been recovered, Lim said.
The typhoon barreled through six central Philippine islands on Friday, wiping away buildings and leveling seaside homes. Most of the deaths and destruction were on Leyte Island, where Tacloban is located.
The typhoon weakened Sunday as it approached central and northern Vietnam where authorities evacuated more than 500,000 people.

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Credit: AFP/Getty Images

People walk among debris of fallen tress at Tacloban airport in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban, eastern island of Leyte on November 9, 2013. One of the strongest typhoons on record killed more than 100 people as savage winds and giant waves flattened communities across the Philippines, authorities said on November 9 while corpses lay amid the devastation. AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS (Photo credit should read NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images)

"The rescue operation is ongoing. We expect a very high number of fatalities as well as injured," Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said after visiting Tacloban on Saturday. "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.”
The EMPACT Northwest Team is among the international groups on the way to help.
The group of medical specialists and first responders from the Puget Sound area have dropped everything and paid their own way to disasters in Japan, Pakistan, Haiti, Sierra Leone, Haiti and now the Philippines.

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Credit: AFP/Getty Images

A man (C) walks among debris of destroyed houses in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban, eastern island of Leyte on November 9, 2013. One of the strongest typhoons on record killed more than 100 people as savage winds and giant waves flattened communities across the Philippines, authorities said on November 9 while corpses lay amid the devastation. AFP PHOTO / NOEL CELIS (Photo credit should read NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images)

Now they’ve teamed up with a Filipino physicians group and will pave the way for other aid organizations.
"I think Seattle and Washington have a strong tie to the Pacific community, so I think it's a huge opportunity for us to be able to go help our brothers and sisters on that rim,” said Jake Gillanders.
HOW TO HELP

EMPACT Northwest: www.empactnorthwest.org/
Filipino Community of Seattle: http://fcseattle.org/

President Benigno Aquino III said the government's priority was to restore power and communications in isolated areas to allow for the delivery of relief and medical assistance to victims.
The Philippine Red Cross and its partners were preparing for a major relief effort "because of the magnitude of the disaster," said the agency's chairman, Richard Gordon.
The airport in Tacloban, a city of 200,000 located about 580 kilometers (360 miles) southeast of Manila, looked like a muddy wasteland of debris Saturday, with crumpled tin roofs and upturned cars. The airport tower's glass windows were shattered, and air force helicopters were busy flying in and out at the start of relief operations.
"The devastation is, I don't have the words for it," Roxas said. "It's really horrific. It's a great human tragedy.”
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said Aquino was "speechless" when he told him of the devastation the typhoon had wrought in Tacloban.
"I told him all systems are down," Gazmin said. "There is no power, no water, nothing. People are desperate. They're looting.”
U.S. Marine Col. Mike Wylie surveyed the damage in Tacloban prior to possible American assistance. "The storm surge came in fairly high and there is significant structural damage and trees blown over," said Wylie, who is a member of the U.S.-Philippines Military Assistance Group based in Manila.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement that America "stands ready to help.”
Tacloban is near the Red Beach on Leyte Island where U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur waded ashore on October 20, 1944, fulfilling his famous pledge, "I shall return," made in March 1942 after President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered him to relocate to Australia as Japanese forces pushed back U.S. and Filipino defenders.
Tacloban was the first city to be liberated by U.S. and Filipino forces and served as the Philippines' temporary capital for several months. It is also the home town of former Filipino first lady Imelda Marcos, whose nephew, Alfred Romualdez, is the city's mayor.
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