PHILIPPINES: President Benigno Aquino visits Tacloban City, one of the places hardest hit by Typhoon Haiyan

Record ID: 564760

  • Title: PHILIPPINES: President Benigno Aquino visits Tacloban City, one of the places hardest hit by Typhoon Haiyan
  • Date: 17th November 2013
  • Summary: TACLOBAN CITY, LEYTE PROVINCE, THE PHILIPPINES (NOVEMBER 17, 2013) (REUTERS) AQUINO SEATED IN MOVING CAR EXTERIOR OF EASTERN VISAYAS REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTRE DAMAGED SIGN OF MEDICAL CENTRE VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS STANDING AQUINO WALKING OUT OF BUILDING AND GETTING INTO VEHICLE VEHICLES DRIVING DOWN RAMP AQUINO IN VEHICLE DRIVING DOWN RAMP CONVOY DRIVING AWAY
  • Embargoed: 2nd December 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Philippines
  • Country: Philippines
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9NKUZRIXFRM6D1P76TBBRRP2D
  • Story Text: Philippine President Benigno Aquino arrived in Tacloban City on Sunday (November 17) as he sought to deflect criticism of the government response to Typhoon Haiyan.
    The president arrived in the heavily-hit city by helicopter and visited a medical centre. He has been criticised for the slow pace of aid distribution and unclear estimates of casualties, especially in Tacloban, capital of hardest-hit Leyte province.
    The Philippines is facing up to an enormous rebuilding task from Typhoon Haiyan, which killed at least 3,974 people, with many isolated communities yet to receive significant aid despite a massive international relief effort.
    The number of people displaced by the catastrophe is now estimated at 4 million, up from earlier estimates of 900,000.
    There are 1,186 people missing, according to the national count.
    In Tacloban work has begun clearing debris from roadsides, but side streets remain blocked by flattened houses. City officials fear hundreds more bodies could be revealed when they are eventually cleared.
    Aquino, caught off guard by the scale of the disaster and criticised by some for the sometimes chaotic response, visited affected areas on Sunday.
    He has sought to deflect some blame toward mayor of Tacloban Alfred Romualdez's administration, whose staff and security forces have been decimated by the storm.
    Aquino told reporters that the city appeared to be unprepared compared to other areas a day after the typhoon hit.
    Nearly half a million houses were damaged by the storm, half of them destroyed, according to the United Nations.
    While aid packages have begun to reach more remote areas, much of it carried by helicopters brought by the USS George Washington aircraft carrier, the United Nations said people were still going hungry in some mountainous provinces.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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