PHILIPPINES: Locals in Tacloban wait for evacuation as rescue workers try to reach towns and villages in central Philippines that were cut off following Friday's powerful typhoon

Record ID: 564750

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: Locals in Tacloban wait for evacuation as rescue workers try to reach towns and villages in central Philippines that were cut off following Friday's powerful typhoon
  • Date: 12th November 2013
  • Summary: TACLOBAN AIRPORT, PHILIPPINES (NOVEMBER 12, 2013) (REUTERS) WIDE OF AREA NEAR TACLOBAN AIRPORT PHILIPPINES FLAG BROKEN TREES TACLOBAN AIRPORT WITH DAMAGED ROOF PEOPLE GATHER NEAR PILES OF DEBRIS VARIOUS OF LOCAL PEOPLE GATHERED ON TARMAC HOPING FOR EVACUATION. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARIDOLL, LOCAL RESIDENT, SAYING: "We'er still surviving, even though it's pretty hard in here, everything is gone, our houses, everything. There is nothing to eat, there is nothing to drink. (JOURNALISTS QUESTION) There is nothing here, we need to go somewhere, where we can eat, where we can stay, wherew we can have some shelter, yeah." DAMAGED AIRPORT BUILDING MAN SWEEPING RAIN WATER OUT OF BUILDING WITH A SHEET OF WOOD AID WORKERS PREPARING SACKS BOTTLES OF WATER VARIOUS OF PEOPLE BEING HELPED ACROSS WATER SOAKED FLOOR MAN USING A LOUDHAILER AIRFORCE C130 PLANE / PEOPLE WAITING ON RUNWAY AIRFORCE WORKERS KEEPING LOCALS BACK VARIOUS OF A LOCAL WOMAN COLLAPSING AND BEING ASSISTED (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARLON OBANDO, PHILIPPINES DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT, SAYING: "We need more people to come to help the current situation. Food, medicine, shelter, that's why we need to go back immediately to report the situation right now." MORE OF LOCALS WAITING TO BE EVACUATED C130S ON TARMAC / PEOPLE WAITING ON TARMAC
  • Embargoed: 27th November 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Philippines
  • Country: Philippines
  • Topics: Disasters,People
  • Reuters ID: LVABN0WBFZQNLVLN7DHN4LBPO42M
  • Story Text: Rescue workers tried to reach towns and villages in the central Philippines on Tuesday (November 12) that were cut off by a powerful typhoon, fearing the estimated death toll of 10,000 could jump sharply, as relief efforts intensified with the help of U.S. military.
    The United States will send an aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington, to the Philippines, a U.S. defense official told Reuters, in a move that could further scale up air operations at a time when ground teams are struggling to reach areas where roads are impassable and bridges destroyed.
    The carrier is already in the region, having been on a port visit to Hong Kong.
    Officials in Tacloban, which bore the brunt of one of the strongest storms ever recorded when it slammed into the Philippines on Friday (November 8), have said the death toll could be 10,000 in their city alone.
    Compounding the misery for survivors, a depression is due to bring rain to the central and southern Philippines on Tuesday, the weather bureau said.
    International relief efforts have begun to accelerate, with dozens of countries and organisations pledging tens of millions of dollars in aid.
    Operations have been hampered because roads, airports and bridges were destroyed or covered in wreckage by surging waves and winds of up to 235 mph (378 kph).
    About 660,000 people were displaced and many have no access to food, water or medicine, the United Nations said.
    U.N. aid chief Valerie Amos, who is travelling to the Philippines, released $25 million for aid relief on Monday from the U.N. Central Emergency Response Fund.
    Amos and the Philippines government are due to launch an appeal and action plan on Tuesday to deal with the disaster.
    Aquino's declaration of a state of national calamity will allow the government to use state funds for relief and to control prices. He said the government had set aside 18.7 billion pesos ($432.97 million) for rehabilitation.
    Additional U.S. military forces also arrived in the Philippines on Monday (November 11) to bolster relief efforts, officials said, with U.S. military cargo planes transporting food, medical supplies and water for victims.
    Other U.S. aircraft were positioning to assist the Philippines, with U.S. forces operating out of Villamor Air Base in Manila and in Tacloban.
    Rescuers have yet to reach remote parts of the coast, such as Guiuan, a town in eastern Samar province with a population of 40,000 that was largely destroyed.
    The typhoon also levelled Basey, a seaside town in Samar province about 10 km (6 miles) across a bay from Tacloban in Leyte province. About 2,000 people were missing in Basey, said the governor of Samar province.
    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.
    Residents of Tacloban, 580 km (360 miles) southeast of Manila, told terrifying accounts of being swept away by a wall of water, revealing a city that had been hopelessly unprepared for a storm of Haiyan's power.
    Most of the damage and deaths were caused by waves that inundated towns, washed ships ashore and swept away villages in scenes reminiscent of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
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