Sunday Times 2
Fears of mass casualties as typhoon hits Philippines
View(s):MANILA, Nov 09, (AFP) – More than 100 bodies were lying in the streets of a Philippine city smashed by Super Typhoon Haiyan, authorities said today, as soldiers raced to reach many other devastated communities.
Haiyan tore into the eastern islands of Leyte and Samar on Friday with sustained winds of around 315 kilometres (195 miles) an hour, making it the strongest typhoon in the world this year and one of the most intense ever to make landfall.
A resident (R) walks past high waves pounding the sea wall amidst strong winds as Typhoon Haiyan hit the city of Legaspi, Albay province, south of Manila on Friday. AFP
Most of the worst-hit areas were cut off from communications throughout Friday, with power and telephone networks destroyed, and the first reports that began to emerge after daybreak on today painted a deeply ominous picture.
In Tacloban, the capital of Leyte, the city’s airport manager reported seeing more than 100 bodies littered around the facility, with at least 100 more people injured.
“The terminal, the tower, including communication equipment, were destroyed,” Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines deputy chief John Andrews told AFP, as he recounted the airport manager’s assessment.
The military began flying C-130 planes full of relief supplies to Tacloban, which has a population of 220,000 people, this morning.
Andrews said the deaths were likely caused by huge waves whipped up by the typhoon, with the airport and surrounding areas lying alongside the coast.
The initial reports from Tacloban and Palo raised fears of mass casualties, with Haiyan having devastated many other communities across the central Philippines that remained cut off from communications.
“We have reports of collapsed buildings, houses flattened to the ground, storm surges and landslides,” Philippine Red Cross chief Gwendolyn Pang told AFP, giving an assessment across the whole region.