10,000 feared dead in Typhoon Haiyan: Philippines

A senior Philippine official says at least 10,000 people are feared dead in the central province of Leyte after Typhoon Haiyan swept through the Southeast Asian country.

Regional Police Chief Elmer Soria said on Sunday that Haiyan destroyed nearly 70 to 80 percent of the area in its path in Leyte province.

“We had a meeting last night with the governor and the other officials. The governor said based on their estimate, 10,000 died,” Soria added.

Haiyan, possibly one of the most powerful typhoons on record that has stricken the Philippines, trampled houses, triggered landslides and floods and cut off power and communications in six central Philippine islands on Friday.

The typhoon caused most of the deaths and damages on Leyte Island and weakened on Sunday after it approached central and northern Vietnam.

Vietnamese officials have also evacuated over 500,000 people in recent days.

After visiting the coastal city of Tacloban on Saturday, Philippine Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said, “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.”

Philippine Red Cross Chairman Richard Gordon said the agency and its partners are prepared to perform a major relief effort because of the magnitude of the disaster.

An average of 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year. In December 2011, Typhoon Washi claimed the lives of 1,200 people, displaced 300,000 and destroyed more than 10,000 homes.

Typhoon Bopha last year flattened three coastal towns on the southern island of Mindanao, killing 1,100 people and wreaking damage estimated at $1.04 billion.

Source: PressTV