Typhoon Haiyan

[Jollygoodfellow]

http://www.pagasa.do.../tcupdate.shtml   These are the area that have a Signal 4 alert now.  All predictions have the main body of this storm passing over or close to my house It seems as though it will start in about 12 hours and last for 12 hours.  It seems to be a small. fast moving, destructive storm.   I am in a solid concrete house but the roof is typical sheet metal (which has already weathered years of smaller typhoons) so here's hoping the roof don't blow off and the windows and doors stay where they are supposed to stay.  God willing, it will all turn out alright.   The difference between this storm and any other typhoon I have lived through here is that this one is incredibly quiet as it sneaks up. Hardly any rain at all during the day, a little cloud cover and no wind.  Methinks that will change tomorrow.

 

Bit concerned about you Dave even if I  don't like to show my soft side. Where you live I think would have taken a direct hit. Hope you're fine and we hear from you soon.  :unsure:

[Medic Mike]

Thousands feared killed in Philippine Typhoon

 

 

Philippine Red Cross estimates that more than 1,000 people killed in coastal city of Tacloban and 200 dead in Samar.

 

 

Thousands feared killed in Philippine Typhoon

 

 

Philippine Red Cross estimates that more than 1,000 people killed in coastal city of Tacloban and 200 dead in Samar.

 

Last updated: 09 Nov 2013 13:40

 

 

 

 

The Philippine Red Cross has estimated that more than 1,000 people have been killed in the coastal city of Tacloban and at least 200 in hard-hit Samar province when one of the strongest typhoons slammed into the country.

Gwendolyn Pang, secretary general of the Philippine Red Cross, said on Saturday that the numbers came from preliminary reports by Red Cross teams in Tacloban and Samar, among the most devastated areas hit by Typhoon Haiyan on Friday.

Almost all houses were destroyed, many are totally damaged. Only a few are left standing, but with partial damage

Major Rey Balido, Spokesman for the national disaster agency

"An estimated more than 1,000 bodies were seen floating in Tacloban as reported by our Red Cross teams," she told Reuters.

"In Samar, about 200 deaths. Validation is ongoing."

She said she expected a more exact number to emerge after a more precise counting of bodies on the ground in those regions.

The Philippines has yet to resume communications with officials in Tacloban, a city of about 220,000 that suffered the worst of the typhoon. Reports say the sea flooded the entire city.

It is a similar story in the town of Palo, further south. It is said to be under three and a half metres of water.

One UN official said the damage was similar to the devastation caused by the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004.

A huge rescue operation is under way after the strongest storm to hit land since records began smashed into the Philippines, destroying most houses in a surge of flood water and high winds, officials said.

 

The death toll and material damage estimates are expected to rise sharply as rescue workers and soldiers on Saturday reach areas cut off by the massive storm, now leaving the Philippines and heading towards Vietnam.

 

 

 

Speaking from Tacloban, Al Jazeera's Jamela Alindogan said that the local government feared that the death toll could reach thousands in on the island of Leyte alone.

The category 5 storm weakened after hitting six spots in the Philippines and has been downgraded to category 4, though forecasters said it could strengthen again over the South China Sea on its course to hit Vietnam on Sunday.

 

Houses flattened

"Bodies are lying on the street," said Captain John Andrews, deputy director general of the country's Civil Aviation Authority, citing a 5am message from a station manager who only makes contact every four hours to conserve battery power.

He said the deaths were likely caused by huge waves whipped up by the typhoon,

Before communications were cut on Friday, city officials had reported heavy flooding. Mobile phone networks, power lines and trees were toppled and most roads were cut off.

"Almost all houses were destroyed, many are totally damaged.  Only a few are left standing, but with partial damage," said Major Rey Balido, a spokesman for the national disaster agency, adding that severed communication links made it hard to fix casualties. 

In the island province of Capiz, at least six people were killed and 10 missing, according to the provincial disaster response agency.

As much as 90 percent of the houses and buildings in the province were also destroyed, according to national media.

About a million people took shelter in 37 provinces after President Benigno Aquino appealed to those in the typhoon's path to leave vulnerable areas.

 

Transports halted

Another area of particular concern was Guiuan, a fishing town of about 40,000 people on Samar that was the first to be hit after Haiyan swept in from the Pacific Ocean.

Meteorologists said the impact may not have been as strong as feared because the storm was moving so quickly, reducing the risk of flooding and landslides from torrential rain, the biggest causes of typhoon casualties in the Philippines.

Ferry services and airports in the central Philippines remained closed, hampering aid deliveries to Tacloban, although the military said two C-130 transport planes managed to land at its airport on Saturday.

 

 

Andrews said the airport terminal was destroyed by the typhoon, which also blew off the roof of the airport tower in Roxas City in Capiz province to the west.

At least two more people had been killed on the tourist destination of Cebu island, radio reports said.

For the islands of Bohol and Cebu it is a second disaster in a month. They have been struggling to recover from an earthquake that killed more than 200 people just a few weeks ago.

Haiyan was the second Category 5 typhoon to hit the Philippines this year after Typhoon Usagi in September. An average of 20 typhoons strike every year, and Haiyan was the 24th in 2013. 

Last year, Typhoon Bopha flattened three towns in southern Mindanao, killing 1,100 people and causing damage of more than $1bn.

Edited November 9, 2013 by Medic Mike

[Thomas]

"An estimated more than 1,000 bodies were seen floating in Tacloban as reported by our Red Cross teams,"

Didn't they evacuate to higher ground in Tacloban, as they DID in provinces they expected to be LESS hit???

[Medic Mike]

Super Typhoon Haiyan Strips Children of Normalcy and Structure

 

•  

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 11/09/13 -- Thousands of schools affected by super typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines Aid agency battles for access to Tacloban.

Up to 7,000 schools could have been damaged by super storm Haiyan in the Philippines warns Save the Children as the aid agency battles to reach the hardest hit areas like the city of Tacloban.

"We are very concerned for the poorest and most vulnerable children in some of the hardest hit places like Tacloban where there is likely to be catastrophic damage, especially to the homes of the poorest people who live in buildings made from flimsy materials, " said Save the Children's Country Director in the Philippines, Anna Lindenfors."While the immediate focus must be on saving lives, we are also extremely worried that thousands of schools will have been knocked out of action or badly affected by the typhoon. In the worst hit areas this will have a terrible impact on children's education and it will be important that we help them back to school as quickly as possible."

Save the Children has teams of aid workers in places like Bohol and Iloilo and is now battling to reach Tacloban, which is reported to have been severely affected the typhoon.

"Our aid teams in Bohol and Manila will tomorrow fly to Cebu and then travel by road and ferry to reach Tacloban. When they arrive they will work with our team already on the ground there to meet the basic needs of children such as giving them food and water," added Ms. Lindenfors.

Save the Children has been working in the Philippines since 1981, responding to dozens of emergencies across the country. The aid agency mounted large-scale emergency responses to Typhoon Washi in 2011, as well as Typhoon Bopha and the Manila floods last year.

Help Save the Children restore normalcy and save lives by donating to this emergency: www.savethechildren.ca/helpnow

About Save the Children

Save the Children is the world's leading independent organization for children, delivery programs and improving lives in about 120 countries worldwide. Working toward a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation, Save the Children's mission is to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives. Learn more at www.savethechildren.ca and www.facebook.com/savethechildren.ca.

Contacts:
For additional information and/or an interview with
emergency experts on-the-ground and in Canada:
Kirsten Walkom, National Senior Manager, Public Relations
Save the Children

 

Edited November 9, 2013 by Medic Mike

[Medic Mike]

<sub>More than 1,200 feared dead in Philippines as Haiyan heads for Vietnam

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2013/11/09/More-than-1200-feared-dead-in-Philippines-as-Haiyan-heads-for-Vietnam/UPI-70091383980505/#ixzz2kA83gTAF</sub>

 

MANILA, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- More than 1,200 people may have died in Super Typhoon Haiyan, aid officials said Saturday, as efforts began to restore normality to the central Philippines.

Gwendolyn Pang, secretary general of the Philippine Red Cross, said 1,000 people may have died in Tacloban, the capital of Leyte province, alone, CNN reported.

"Numbers of undetermined casualties" have been found along roads in the area, said Lt. Jim Aris Alago, information officer for the Navy Central Command.

Officials have already found more than 100 bodies on the streets of Tacloban, a city of about 220,000 residents.

Another 200 people may have died in neighboring Samar province that, like Tacloban, sits along the Leyte Gulf.

Some 100 residents of Tacloban have been reported injured, said Capt. John Andrews, deputy director of the national Civil Aviation Authority.

Rescue crews have been distributing water, medicine, clothing, blankets and ready-to-eat meals, Alago said.

In Cebu province, Dennis Chiong, operations manager for the emergency agency, said communications were totally down in most areas with radio, landline phones and cellphone service all out.

Haiyan is now headed for Vietnam, where officials have been evacuating hundreds of thousands of people from coastal areas, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The storm's winds, which were as high as 195 mph when it hit the Philippines, weakened after it entered the South China Sea, but are still a strong 101 mph, said the Vietnam National Center for Hydro-Meteorology Forecasting.

The typhoon is expected to make landfall about mid-morning Sunday along the country's central coastal provinces.The government said it planned to evacuate some 200,000 people from Danang, a popular tourist destination, by 4 p.m. Saturday.

Dr. Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at Weather Underground, said the region could receive one to two feet of rain.

Haiyan was exceptionally fast-moving, with a forward speed of 25 mph. That spared the Philippines the damage done by sustained heavy rain.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2013/11/09/More-than-1200-feared-dead-in-Philippines-as-Haiyan-heads-for-Vietnam/UPI-70091383980505/#ixzz2kA8CThLV

 

Edited November 9, 2013 by Medic Mike

[BrettGC]

If nothing else, this has just made me realise how much I love my girl and care for you "invisible friends";  Been worried sick for SAO and family  and you all as well.  Feeling powerless right now but just know, if you need any support at all, even just to chat, please contact me.  I know it's not much but it's all I have to offer right now.

 

Some of you know what I do for a living when I'm not selling adult products. 

[OnMyWay]

I think the storm surge was so huge that it went much farther inland than most expected.  They said it was 5 meters in the worst areas.  I wonder if the surge worsened by the speed of the storm.  It was moving at 40 kph, which is usually a good thing as you don't want it sticking around, but maybe that caused the surge to come in quicker, like a Tsunami.

[Old55]

Philippines Red Cross

 

 

http://www.redcross.org.ph/

[Medic Mike]

Looting reported in Leyte

 

 

By Rebelander S. Basilan

Sunday, November 10, 2013

INTERIOR and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas said more military and police personnel were deployed to restore order in Tacloban City in Leyte following reports of widespread looting in the city.

Roxas, in a press conference at the Mactan Air Base yesterday, said he still has no figures on the number of casualties as local government units have not been able to communicate with them.

Official toll

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During the DILG’s survey in Tacloban on Saturday, Roxas said several bodies were found on the streets.

“Malubhang malubha ang sitwasyon sa Leyte (The situation in Leyte is very bad),” he said.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said that around 100 people were reported killed and 100 others were injured in Leyte.

The official death toll, however, remained at four on Saturday, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

CAAP Director General William Hotchkiss III said a report from the CAAP ground personnel in Tacloban showed that some 100 dead bodies were seen lying on the street near the airport.

Hotchkiss said there were no casualties at the airport but communication was limited because of power outage.

He directed Captain John Andrews, CAAP deputy for operations, to fly to Tacloban airport to bring with him needed supplies, food, medicine and another set of CAAP communication equipment.

Hotchkiss said his team will also go to Tacloban today to assess the situation.

National Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, who arrived with Roxas yesterday after two days in Tacloban, said there is no water, power and communication in the city.

“It’s all systems down,” he told reporters.

Search and rescue

Roxas said military scouts are conducting search and rescue operations on foot and bike because of fallen trees and debris blocking the roads.

The two officials are in Cebu to be able to communicate with President Benigno Aquino III. Communication lines in Leyte had yet to be restored as of yesterday.

During an aerial inspection of Tacloban, Roxas said all structures about one kilometer from the coast were like “crushed matchsticks.”

Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda, commander of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Central Command, said they will mobilize two helicopters today for an aerial survey of the affected towns in northern Cebu.

A naval vessel on standby in Mactan will also start shipping relief goods to northern Cebu today.

Deveraturda said roads to the north have been cleared and are already passable.

“Our problem now is the communication because the signal there is very weak,” he said.

During his briefing with secretaries Roxas and Gasmin, Deveraturda said all roads on the western part of Samar to the San Juanico Bridge, which connects Samar and Leyte, have been cleared.

Clearing operations on the roads from the bridge to Tacloban are ongoing.

He said northern Samar and Southern Leyte were not seriously affected.

At 6 a.m. today, Deveraturda said a Navy vessel from Cebu will ship 300,000 pounds of relief goods and two water purifiers to Tacloban.

Roxas said about half of the relief goods prepared for typhoon victims were swept away by the flood.

He said he instructed the National Food Authority to send rice for typhoon victims.

Verification

In Metro Manila, Secretary to the Cabinet Jose Rene Almendras yesterday confirmed reports of casualties in Tacloban in the aftermath of the typhoon but could not immediately give the exact numbers as authorities are retrieving them.

Addressing the media after presiding over a meeting of the NDRRMC in Camp Aguinaldo, Almendras said the NDRRMC will release figures as soon as the “confirmed numbers” come in.

“I am not saying it’s not accurate,” he said of the CAAP figures. “That’s probably the numbers being discussed right now but we cannot possibly, officially verify. We are in the process of recovering right now,” he added.

As of 6 a.m. last Saturday, the NDRRMC said there were four fatalities recorded--none of them from Tacloban City. The fourth and latest fatality was Rhandy Cejar, 56, of Calinog, Iloilo. He was electrocuted.

The NDRRMC’s list of fatalities includes those whose deaths were confirmed by the Department of Health.

At least four were missing, and were identified as Cecilito Baluntag (Cebu), Manuelito Casipong, 35, Emmanuel Gonzales, and Richard Gonzales (Quezon). Another seven were reported injured.

Official figures

The NDRRMC also said the typhoon affected 161,973 families, or 792,018 people, who were preemptively evacuated to 812 evacuation centers in 37 provinces.

At least 3,398 passengers, 76 vessels, 743 rolling cargoes and eight motor bancas were stranded in Southern Luzon, Bicol and Visayas, and even Zamboanga and Jolo.

Also, nine maritime incidents were reported by the Philippine Coast Guard in Bohol, Cebu and Samar. A total of 1,335 shipping passengers are still stranded in several ports in the areas affected by Yolanda.

Power was restored in parts of Sibulan and Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental and in Siquijor.

Iloilo, Caticlan, Romblon, Dumaguete, Bacolod, Masbate, Legaspi and Surigao airports are now back to normal operations.

Roxas airport will be closed until today, while Kalibo airport is expected to resume operations tomorrow.

Tacloban and Busuanga airports were still closed due to severe damage from the typhoon.

Almendras said they are trying their best to establish communication in affected areas but as of now, all they can do is wait for the assessment made by authorities on the ground.

Typhoon Yolanda left the Philippine Area of Responsibility yesterday afternoon and is headed for Vietnam.

Considered to be the biggest storm to hit the planet this year, typhoon Yolanda attracted a lot of international attention, including that of Pope Francis.

The pontiff, in his Twitter account, said: “I ask all of you to join me in prayer for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda, especially those in the beloved islands of the Philippines,” Pope Francis said in his Twitter account. (Sunnex)

 

 

 

Edited November 9, 2013 by Medic Mike

[Fred & Mimi]

I heard a story that they put all the foreigners living in Bantayan Island in a dump truck for their well being. It must have been atrocious. We will get to know more as time goes by and emergency teams get to the stricken places