A Terrible Human Tragedy - SUPER TYPHOON HAIYAN Starvation and fear in the land laid waste by 200mph typhoon that killed at least 10,000: Dazed survivors scour the streets for food and mobs attack aid-trucks in Philippines. • Typhoon HAIYAN was a maximum category-five storm with gusts of up to 235mph. • Authorities say in the city of Tacloban, Leyte, alone, 10,000 could be dead. • Up to 4.3 million people have been affected, Filipino national disaster agency say. • Bodies were seen floating in flooded streets in reminder of 2004 Tsunami. • Filipino government now considering introducing martial law to combat looting. • Britain has pledged more than £6million in aid and support for the Philippines. • UN says 2.5m people need of food aid and UNICEF estimate 1.5 m children affected. • A team of about 90 US Marines and sailors have been dispatched to the nation. • Hundreds of thousands of people in South-East Asia have been evacuated. • Vietnam authorities have moved 883,000 people in 11 central provinces to safe zones. • Typhoon has now made landfall in Sanya in south Chinas Hainan province. Super-Typhoon Haiyan struck with such force on Friday (8 Nov. 2013) that entire villages were flattened, ships were swept inland, and corpses were left hanging from trees. In the worst-hit areas, 235mph winds created 20ft waves that are thought to have killed between 10,000 and 15,000, and left 500,000 homeless after their houses were reduced to splinters. Even as families began to grieve for their dead, they faced a grim battle to find shelter and forage for food and clean water. Dazed survivors walked the streets ‘like zombies looking for food,’ while looters ransacked shops and mobs attacked aid-trucks loaded with food, tents and water. Reports of lawless gangs targeting ATMs and electrical shops forced President Benigno Aquino to deploy police and army troops to the area to restore calm. He said: Tonight, a column of armoured vehicles will be arriving in Tacloban to show the governments resolve and to stop this looting. Many areas were left without clean water, electricity or food and relief workers said some regions were still cut off by the damage and debris, following what could be the most powerful storm ever recorded. The death toll may soar once the true extent of the damage is known. More than 600,000 people were displaced by the storm across the country, and some have no access to food, water, or medicine, the UN says. Authorities in the city estimated that 10,000 people were killed - almost one in twenty of its 220,000 population. Haiyan is estimated to have destroyed about 70 to 80 percent of structures in its path as it tore into the coastal provinces of Leyte and Samar. The damage to the coconut and rice-growing region was expected to amount to more than 3 billion pesos ($69 million), Citi Research said in a report, with massive losses for private property. Most of the damage and deaths were caused by huge waves that inundated towns and swept away coastal villages in scenes that officials likened to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Bodies litter the streets of the Tacloban, rotting and swelling under the hot sun and adding to the health risk. Flattened by surging waves and monster winds up to 235 mph (378 kph), Tacloban was relying almost entirely for supplies & evacuation on just three military transport planes flying from nearby Cebu city. Teacher Andrew Pomeda, 36, added: Tacloban is totally destroyed. Some people are losing their minds from hunger or losing their families. People are becoming violent. I am afraid that in one week, people will start killing others from hunger. My husband tied us together but still we got separated among the debris. I saw many people drowning, screaming and going under... I haven’t found my husband. Mass burials are underway in Tacloban, but hundreds of bodies remain piled along roads and pinned under the wreckage. Families clawing at the ruins to find survivors or food, were overpowered by the reek of the rotting bodies. Village councillor and father-of-four, Edward Gualberto said, he stepped on corpses as he took food from the remains of their homes. He added: I am a decent person. But if you have not eaten for three days, you do shameful things to survive. We have no food and no water. This typhoon has stripped us of our dignity, but I still have my family and I am grateful for that. Medical student Jenny Chu said, families had gone without food and water for days, saying: People are walking like zombies looking for food. It’s like a movie. Shopkeepers said, looters forced their way into stores that had survived the storm, only to be ransacked. There were reports of ATM machines being broken open. Soldiers are trying to restore order, but pastry shop owner Emma Bermejo said: People are dirty, hungry and thirsty. A few more days and they will begin to kill each other. This is shameful. We have been hit by a catastrophe and now our businesses are gone, looted. I can understand if they take our food and water, they can have it. But TV sets? Washing machines? One young mother fought tears as she told how the typhoon killed 11 members of her family, including her two-year-old daughter. Another one, Jenny Dela Cruz, who is eight months pregnant, added: All we can do is survive the day, but I don’t know what will happen tomorrow or the day after – or if we can continue surviving. Today, survivors queued in lines, waiting for hand-outs of rice and water. Some covered their faces with rags in a futile attempt to keep out the stench of the dead. Others trekked for three hours to reach the airport in the hope of evacuation. Roads to and from the city were left impassable by fallen trees. The UN has said that 2.5 m people are in need of food aid in the Philippines, and UNICEF have estimated 1.5 m children live in affected areas. The World Food Programme said, it was airlifting 40 tonnes of high-energy biscuits, enough to feed 120,000 people for a day, to the Philippines, as well as emergency supplies and telecommunications equipment. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, this weekend, has ordered the U.S. militarys Pacific Command to assist with search and rescue operations, and provide air support in the wake of the super typhoon. A team of about 90 U.S. Marines and sailors have been dispatched to the Philippines on Sunday, as part of a first wave of promised American military assistance for relief efforts. The Marines said, a team of U.S. forces from the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade left for the Philippines from a U.S. base in Okinawa, Japan, aboard two KC-130J Hercules transport aircraft. 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. The storm is one of the most powerful ones ever recorded. Huge waves swept away entire coastal villages and destroyed up to 80 per cent of the area in its path. More than 330,900 people were displaced and 4.3million affected by the typhoon in 36 provinces, the UN has said. The typhoon is now making its way towards Vietnam and mainland China - with locals bracing themselves for the onslaught of the deadly typhoon. Heavy winds had already caused damage to Chinas Hainan island before the super typhoon made landfall. Above, a billboard is blown over by the strong winds. 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. 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. In Tacloban city, which has a population of 200,000 some 360 miles south east of Manila - it was feared the death toll would be very high, although Interior Secretary Max Roxas, who arrived there at the weekend, said it was too early to know how many people had died there. We expect a very high number of fatalities as well as injured, he said. All systems, all vestiges of modern living - communications, power, water, all are down. Radios are down, so there is no way to communicate with the people in a mass sort of way. Tescon John Lim, the Tacloban City Administrator, said that city officials had so far collected only 300 to 400 bodies, but believed the death toll in the city alone could be 10,000 or more. The National Disaster Agency said that up to four million people, in the country of 96 million, were affected by the storm - the worst to ever hit the land - by losing their homes, having their possessions damaged and, in extreme cases, losing their lives. Adding to the misery of the people who were forced to flee their homes from the approaching storm, were reports last night that looters were raiding houses, grocery stores and petrol stations that were still standing. Mr Leo Dacaynos of the Provincial Disaster Office on Samar Island said yesterday that the storm surge resulted in sea waters rising to 20ft, totally submerging small towns and villages. The flood waters were still preventing rescuers from reaching parts of the island, said Mr Dacaynos, and mobile towers had been destroyed, making communication difficult. Aerial photographs revealed scenes of utter devastation, with few buildings left standing in Tacloban city. Capt John Andrews, Deputy Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority, said the city’s airport was looking like a muddy wasteland filled with debris that included buckled tin roofs and overturned cars. 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. Eastern islands and the centre of the Philippines were battered by winds in excess of 200mph. Thousands more were reported missing in neighbouring Samar province, and almost half a million people were left homeless, according to the National Disaster Agency. Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said, the devastation was overwhelming, adding: It’s really horrific; It’s a great human tragedy. International Development Secretary Justine Greening has also pledged £6million worth of emergency aid. She said: My thoughts are with the people of the Philippines, in particular, those who have lost their loved ones. 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 is now under way. 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, also ensuring that partners are prioritising the protection of vulnerable girls and women. Typhoon Haiyan was expected to hit the coast of Vietnam tonight, and authorities have evacuated almost 700,000 people from their homes, although the winds were said to have weakened significantly. And those who did not move from their homes voluntarily would be forced, said the government. This afternoon, Haiyan made landfall in Sanya in south Chinas Hainan province. The typhoon, which is the 30th to hit China this year, is now making its way towards Vietnam and mainland China - with locals bracing themselves for the onslaught of the deadly storm. Chinese authorities have issued a level three emergency response throughout the country, ordering fisherman to shelter their boats to prevent any damage. Officials in China, as well as neighbouring Laos and Cambodia are currently taking precautions in an attempt to soften the impact of the ferocious storm. Cambodian authorities said they were closely watching the development of the worlds 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. Schools, offices and shops in the central Philippines were closed before the storm landed. 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 dont have power now, Samar Vice Governor, Stephen James Tan said in a radio interview yesterday. Vice mayor, Jim Pe of Coron town on Busuanga, the last island battered by the typhoon, said most of the houses and buildings there had been destroyed or badly damaged. 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 typhoons fury. All that was left of one large building whose walls were smashed in, were the skeletal remains of its rafters. An average of 20 major storms or typhoons, many of them deadly, hit the Philippines each year. 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 worlds strongest storm of 2012, when Typhoon Bopha flattened three coastal towns on the southern island of Mindanao, killing 1,100 people, and wreaking damage estimated at $1.04 billion. 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 this year, category-five typhoon Usagi, with winds gusting of up to 149 mph, battered the northern island of Batanes, before causing damage in southern China.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 15:34:09 +0000
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