- Title: PHILIPPINES: Philippine typhoon victims desperate for clean water
- Date: 13th November 2013
- Summary: TACLOBAN CITY, PHILIPPINES (NOVEMBER 13, 2013) (REUTERS) FALLEN ELECTRIC POSTS ON ROAD PEOPLE QUEUING UP WITH PLASTIC CONTAINERS FOR WATER CONTAINER BEING FILLED WITH WATER (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino) DRIVER, 38, SURVIVOR FROM FISHING VILLAGE NEAR AIRPORT, CHRISTOPHER DORANO SAYING: "It's really very difficult because we source our water from an underground pipe that we have smashed. We don't know if it's safe. We need to boil it. But at least we have something. It's really difficult and unsafe because there have been a lot of people who have died here." DEBRIS IN AREA OF WATER SOURCE EMPTY JERRY CANS MORE PEOPLE FETCHING WATER GIRL PULLING FILLED-WATER BOTTLE MAN WITH WATER CONTAINER
- Embargoed: 28th November 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Philippines
- Country: Philippines
- Topics: Disasters
- Reuters ID: LVA23HOTDKE7ARCFU5X77J773F9L
- Story Text: Residents in typhoon-hit Tacloban city on Wednesday (November 13) dug out water pipes from underground and smashed them in a desperate bid to get water.
People queued up near a water source in downtown Tacloban which had been flattened by Super Typhoon Haiyan when it hit the country on November 8.
The most powerful storm ever recorded destroyed power and communication lines, leaving the coastal city of 220,000 without electricity, water and communication.
Among those in the queue was 38-year-old Christopher Dorano whose family is now taking shelter at a church after their house in a fishing village near the airport has been destroyed.
"It's really very difficult because we source our water from an underground pipe that we have smashed. We don't know if it's safe. We need to boil it. But at least we have something. It's really difficult and unsafe because there have been a lot of people who have died here," Dorano said.
About 660,000 people have been displaced and many have no access to food, water or medicine, the United Nations said.
Once a vibrant coastal city, Tacloban has now been turned into a city full of corpses with basic services totally destroyed following Super Typhoon Haiyan on November 8.
The death toll from Typhoon Haiyan's rampage through the Philippines is closer to 2,000 or 2,500 than the 10,000 previously estimated, President Benigno Aquino said on Tuesday (November 12) as U.S. and British warships headed toward his nation to help with relief efforts.
The official death toll stood at 1,774 on Tuesday. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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