Typhoon Haiyan: at least 10,000 dead as angry survivors berate Philippines President Benigno Aquino



David Eimer, Manila

5:22PM GMT 10 Nov 2013

The typhoon death toll in just one city is now 10,000 and 4.3 million people across the Philippines have been affected by one of the strongest storms ever

With the death toll from 'super' typhoon Haiyan now estimated to be well over 10,000, the Philippines government and international aid agencies are engaged in a desperate struggle to get help to increasingly angry victims of what may have been the strongest storm ever to make landfall.

Philippines President Benigno Aquino was forced to walk out of a meeting with local government officials in Tacloban City, where 10,000 people alone are feared to have perished, after furious survivors interrupted it to berate him for the authorities' slow response to the disaster.

Damaged buildings of Baladian in the municipality of Concepcion Photo: CAPIDIPC / EPA

Almost every building in Tacloban was flattened on Friday, as raging, tsunami-like floods sent waves as high as seven metres crashing through the streets.

Wind speeds in the city came close to 200mph. One resident described Haiyan's impact as being "like a tornado that lasted for four hours". Local police chief Elmer Soria said the death toll in the city of 220,000 people is at least 10,000.

"We had a meeting last night with the governor and other officials," he said. "The governor said, based on their estimate, that 10,000 people died. The devastation is so big."

There is now a rising threat of serious disorder in Tacloban, with widespread looting of shops by homeless and shocked survivors left without food and water.

Residents walk through debris and toppled power lines in Tacloban City (TED ALJIBE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

"Security is becoming a real problem," Gwendolyn Pang, the secretary-general of the Philippines Red Cross, told The Telegraph.

"People are starting to get very angry and impatient at the lack of help. They're raiding the shops for food."

So dire is the shortage of medical supplies that just one hospital in Tacloban is still open, but it can only offer basic first-aid.

"Many of the hospitals have had to close down. They're sending people away saying they can't help them because they have no medicine," said Mrs Pang.

While Tacloban, 380 miles south of the Philippines capital Manila, is the worst-hit area so far reached, the situation is believed to be even more serious in surrounding Leyte Province where unknown tens of thousands of people have been cut off from the outside world since Haiyan tore into the central Philippines.

Although Tacloban's airport has been re-opened for military flights carrying aid, and Mr Aquino was able to fly in for a brief visit to assess the damage, blocked roads mean it is impossible to reach more remote coastal areas.

"There's very heavy damage along the coast," said Orla Fagan, from the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Manila.

"Distribution of aid is the real challenge. Planes are landing in Tacloban but getting it out of Tacloban is the problem."

Fears are also mounting that the death toll in Samar Province, where Haiyan first smashed into the Philippines on Friday, may match that of Tacloban.

Survivors walk past a ship that lies on top of damaged homes after it was washed ashore in Tacloban city (AP)

The region remains without power or communications.

"We're really worried, given the level of reported casualties in Tacloban," said Marie Madamba-Nunez, Oxfam's spokesman in Manila. ""It's been two days since the storm hit and we have heard nothing from most of Samar Province."

In all, some 4.3 million in 36 provinces were affected by Haiyan, which is now heading towards Vietnam and southern China at a weakened strength, where it is expected to make landfall Monday morning.

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