CORPSES hang from trees, are scattered on sidewalks and buried in flattened buildings. These are some of the 10,000 people believed killed in one Philippine city alone by ferocious Typhoon Haiyan that washed away homes and buildings with powerful winds and giant waves.
As the scale of devastation became clear from one of the worst storms ever recorded, officials projected the death toll could climb even higher when emergency crews reach parts of the archipelago cut off by flooding and landslides. Looters raided grocery stores and gas stations in search of food, fuel and water as the government began relief efforts and international aid operations got underway.
Lynette Lim, the Asia communications manager for Save the Children, arrived in Tacloban with aid workers to assess the damage.
“The water was knee high and there were bodies floating in the streets. I saw several dead children. I’d say two out of every five corpses I saw were kids. Most of the houses were wooden and they were completely destroyed,” she told the Telegraph.co.uk.
“There were trees and electrical poles strewn across the road and corrugated iron roofing that had been ripped off houses.”
One Australian has died in the devastation that has reportedly affected up to 4.3 million. Sydney former priest Kevin Lee, who helped blow the whistle on child sex abuse within the Catholic Church, perished as he went for his daily swim.
Mr Lee had been living in the Philippines with his wife Josefina and baby Michelle, The Daily Telegraph reported.
A Melbourne family are also searching for details regarding their missing daughter, Maiko “Michelle” Reimann, who was last heard from in the Philippines, telling friends she had found paradise and “may never leave”.
Michelle’s father, Werner Reimann, said he was desperately hoping to hear from his 28-year-old daughter since he received a text just before Typhoon Haiyan hit, The Herald Sun reported.
Even in a nation regularly beset by earthquakes, volcanoes and tropical storms, Typhoon Haiyan appears to be the deadliest natural disaster on record.
Haiyan hit the eastern seaboard of the Philippines on Friday and quickly barrelled across its central islands, packing winds of 235km/h that gusted to 275km/h, and a storm surge of 6 metres.
Its sustained winds weakened to 133km/h as it crossed the South China Sea before approaching northern Vietnam, where it was forecast to hit land early this morning. Authorities have evacuated hundreds of thousands of people.
Hardest hit in the Philippines was Leyte Island, where officials said there may be 10,000 dead in the provincial capital of Tacloban alone. Reports also trickled in from elsewhere on the island, as well as from neighbouring islands, indicating hundreds more deaths, although it will be days before the full extent of the storm can be assessed.
“On the way to the airport we saw many bodies along the street,” said Philippine-born Australian Mila Ward, 53, who was waiting at the Tacloban airport to catch a military flight back to Manila, about 580 kilometres to the northwest.
“They were covered with just anything – tarpaulin, roofing sheets, cardboard.” She said she passed “well over 100” bodies.
[divide]Source: News Ltd.