The massive devastation in the Philippines and the overwhelmed police & military officials on the islands is leading to conditions of lawlessness and looting.
Officials reported shooting dead two men who were part of a gang that tried to raid and hijack a series of trucks carrying relief supplies. In several towns, shopkeepers are using deadly force and working in around-the-clock shifts to provide armed security for their stores to prevent looting.
Prisoners from local jails were released and told to try and save themselves from the storm and police have made no effort to recapture them.
The Philippine government has sent in columns of armored vehicles to Tacloban and other ruined communities in an attempt to stop the looting and violence. However, without bringing clean water and food to the same regions, officials say it’s likely the actions of desperate people will magnify an already bad situation.
One store owner told the Daily Mail they cannot understand why someone would steal televisions and washing machines when it’s harder to find food or water.
The death toll from Super Typhoon Haiyan continues to climb as makeshift mortuaries are being set up outside buildings that remain mostly intact. Police and soldiers tell various media outlets that they are finding entire towns wiped out because of the storm surges and wind gusts of the typhoon.
The governor of Samar province said the entire town of Basey was gone and its 2,000 residents are missing.
And complicating efforts is Tropical Storm Zoraida is now hovering over the area impacted by Haiyan dumping more rain and causing more flooding. Search and rescue efforts were suspended for hours Tuesday because of heavy rains.
One official told the Daily Mail “two out of every five dead are children.”
The town of Baco, a city of 35,000, remains 80% underwater and officials cannot even access most of the community to search for victims.
Health officials are already raising the alarm over disease as many residents are beginning to show signs of dysentery. The officials lament the lack of clean water in the region and the inability to get equipment to clean water to the villages hit hardest by the storm.
The U.S. military has dispatched aid and troops to some of the areas of the Philippines that were hardest-hit by a deadly typhoon Friday, providing the first outside help of what is expected to be a major aid mission in the coming days and weeks.
Two U.S. C-130 transport planes containing water, generators, and a contingent of Marines flew from Manila’s Vilamor air base to the city of Tacloban, where officials fear that Typhoon Haiyan may have killed as many as 10,000 people.
A U.S. Marine brigadier general who took a helicopter flight over Tacloban says “every single building” was destroyed or severely damaged. Paul Kennedy spoke as supplies were unloaded from the two Marine C-130 planes.
Source: FOX News – FOX News: US sends water, generators, and troops to aid deadly typhoon survivors
As many as 10,000 people are believed to have died in one Philippine city alone when one of the worst storms on record sent giant sea waves, washing away homes, schools and airport buildings, officials said Sunday. Ferocious winds ravaged several central islands, burying people under tons of debris and leaving corpses hanging from trees.
Regional police chief Elmer Soria said he was briefed by Leyte provincial Gov. Dominic Petilla late Saturday and told there were about 10,000 deaths in the province, mostly by drowning and from collapsed buildings. The governor’s figure was based on reports from village officials in areas where Typhoon Haiyan slammed Friday.
Tacloban city administrator Tecson Lim said that the death toll in the city alone “could go up to 10,000.” Tacloban is the Leyte provincial capital of 200,000 people and the biggest city on Leyte Island.
Source: The Huffington Post – The Huffington Post: Philippines Typhoon Death Toll Rises In Storm’s Aftermath
The U.S. military is joining forces from around the world in rushing to the Philippines to help in search and rescue after the strongest storm in recorded history destroyed entire towns.
Two U.S. C-130 planes with water, generators and U.S. Marines flew to the city of Tacloban where officials say Super Typhoon Haiyan killed at least 10,000 people. The Marines will help in search and rescue along with working to help restore communications throughout the region.
The Philippine National Red Cross said their efforts to help those who lost everything in the storm is being hampered by attacks from looters. The group says an entire shipment of food and relief supplies was hijacked from a port city where the items were on the way to rescuers.
The government says it is considering a state of emergency and martial law in the region because of the looting and other civil disruptions that threat the local government’s ability to help those in need.
Authorities say at least 2 million people have lost or damaged homes as a result of the storm. The storm surges from the Super Typhoon were so strong that large ships such as oil transports were washed into the middle of coastal towns.
While over 800,000 people were evacuated before the storm’s arrival, the thousands were killed because shelters like schools, churches and government buildings could not withstand the high wind and storm surges.
Haiyan isn’t through yet.
The massive Super Typhoon roared through the Philippines on Friday but is tracking to hit Vietnam this weekend with winds over 155 m.p.h.
The current storm track shows Haiyan making landfall in central Vietnam before turning north toward the city of Hanoi and southern China. The storm is expected to weaken but stay hurricane strength through Monday.
Thousands of flights throughout Asia have been cancelled because of the storm and residents of Vietnam have been told to evacuate coastal areas after the devastation caused in the Philippines. Several foreign governments, including Britain, Australia and Canada, have advised citizens not to travel to the Philippines because of the storm damage.
Philippine authorities are reporting massive landslides as a result of the heavy rain from the typhoon. The landslides have blocked many of the major roads that would be used by rescuers trying to reach remote villages or coastal areas.
Philippine President Benigno Aquino told residents the government and military were preparing a “war-like” response to the storm to be ready to assist in any way needed by local authorities.
Meterologists say Super Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in the Philippines with sustained winds of 195 miles per hour, making it the strongest storm to make landfall in recorded history.
The storm has forced millions to seek shelter in 20 provinces and authorities have been able to confirm three deaths already from the storm. Two were electrocuted in storm related incidents and a third was struck by lightning.
The storm is threatening to cause massive causalities and damage in Cebu, the country’s second largest city. Power and communications throughout the country have been taken out hampering the efforts of rescue teams.
Witnesses are saying the storm has been blowing large pieces of iron sheeting through the streets like they were kites and other debris is slamming into buildings like they were missiles.
Surigao City, which was not in the path of the storm’s center, reported that despite being sideswiped by the storm there was massive damage to homes and buildings. A pastor in the town told the BBC that most homes had their roofs blown off.
The storm is now moving into the South China Sea.
Super Typhoon Haiyan, which slammed into the Philippines early Friday morning, is one of the strongest storms ever recorded on the planet. Here are some fast facts about the storm:
• Super Typhoon Haiyan has winds of 195 mph and gusts of 235 mph. This is one of the highest wind speeds ever recorded in a storm in world history.
• The strength of Haiyan is equal to that of an extremely powerful Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic. (Typhoons are the same type of storms as hurricanes).
Source: USA Today – USA Today: Why everyone is talking about the super typhoon
Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever observed, made landfall Friday morning in the Philippines, the country’s weather service reported.
Thousands of people in vulnerable areas of the central Philippines were evacuated as the monster storm spun toward the country.
With sustained winds of 315 kph (195 mph) and gusts as strong as 380 kph (235 mph), Haiyan churned across the Western Pacific into the Philippines.
Source: CNN – CNN: Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of strongest storms ever, hits central Philippines
Thousands are fleeing the Philippine coastline as Category 5 Super Typhoon Haiyan moves closer to making Friday landfall.
The storm is maintaining winds of 190 m.p.h. with gusts recorded over 230 m.p.h.. Meteorologists say it’s possible that the storm could continue to strengthen over the warm Pacific Ocean water before making landfall.
The U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Hawaii said that Haiyan is the strongest tropical cyclone in the world for 2013 and one of the strongest in recorded history. The storm is so large that a day before the main part of the storm is to make landfall clouds have covered two-thirds of the entire nation.
The typhoon is tracking to make landfall in the same region a 7.3 magnitude earthquake killed 200 people last month. Military officials are trying to move tens of thousands still forced to live in tents to a more sturdy shelter before the storm’s arrival.
Haiyan is the 24th named storm to hit the Philippines this year.
