Typhoon Haiyan

[OldUgly&Cranky]

tried using that google people finder for my friend no results were found i dont know if thats a good thing or bad ? tried calling all morning still goes to subscriber is out of coverage area posted messages to her friend to contact me if any news on the family ! nothing came back yet that was 16 hours ago , m really starting to worry !! feel kind of helpless with no info on them !!

 

O-U-C :(

[Medic Mike]

AP PHOTOS: Devastation and death in Philippines

Edited November 10, 2013 by Medic Mike

[OldUgly&Cranky]

i cant look at this any more !!!! :(

[Medic Mike]

Philippine Typhoon Deaths Climb Into Thousands

 

As many as 10,000 people are believed dead in one Philippine city alone after one of the worst storms ever recorded unleashed ferocious winds and giant waves that washed away homes and schools. Corpses hung from tree branches and were scattered along sidewalks and among flattened buildings, while looters raided grocery stores and gas stations in search of food, fuel and water.

Officials projected the death toll could climb even higher when emergency crews reach areas cut off by flooding and landslides. Even in the disaster-prone Philippines, which regularly contends with earthquakes, volcanoes and tropical cyclones, Typhoon Haiyan appears to be the deadliest natural disaster on record.

Haiyan hit the eastern seaboard of the Philippine archipelago on Friday and quickly barreled across its central islands before exiting into the South China Sea, packing winds of 235 kilometers per hour (147 miles per hour) that gusted to 275 kph (170 mph), and a storm surge that caused sea waters to rise 6 meters (20 feet).

It wasn't until Sunday that the scale of the devastation became clear, with local officials on hardest-hit Leyte Island saying that there may be 10,000 dead in the provincial capital of Tacloban alone. Reports also trickled in from elsewhere on the island, and from neighboring islands, indicating hundreds, if not thousands of more deaths, though it will be days before the full extent of the storm's impact 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 kilometers (360 miles) to the northwest. "They were covered with just anything — tarpaulin, roofing sheets, cardboards." She said she passed "well over 100" dead bodies along the way.

Haiyan raced across the eastern and central Philippines, inflicting serious damage to at least six of the archipelago's more than 7,000 islands, with Leyte, neighboring Samar Island, and the northern part of Cebu appearing to take the hardest hits. It weakened as it crossed the South China Sea before approaching northern Vietnam, where it was forecast to hit land either late Sunday night or early Monday morning.

On Leyte, regional police chief Elmer Soria said the provincial governor had told him there were about 10,000 deaths there, primarily from drowning and collapsed buildings. Most of the deaths were in Tacloban, a city of about 200,000 that is the biggest on Leyte Island.

On Samar, Leo Dacaynos of the provincial disaster office said 300 people were confirmed dead in one town and another 2,000 were missing, while some towns have yet to be reached by rescuers. He pleaded for food and water and said power was out and there was no cellphone signal, making communication possible only by radio.

Reports from the other affected islands indicated dozens, perhaps hundreds more deaths.

Television footage from Eastern Samar province's Guiuan township — the first area where the typhoon made landfall — showed a trail of devastation. Many houses were flattened and roads were strewn with debris and uprooted trees. The ABS-CBN footage showed several bodies laid out on the street, covered only with blankets.

 

"Even me, I have no house, I have no clothes. I don't know how I will restart my life, I am so confused," an unidentified woman said, crying. "I don't know what happened to us. We are appealing for help. Whoever has a good heart, I appeal to you — please help Guiuan."

A massive relief operation was underway, but the Philippine National Red Cross said its efforts were being hampered by looters, including some who attacked trucks of food and other relief supplies the agency was shipping Sunday from the southern port city of Davao to Tacloban.

With other rampant looting being reported, President Benigno Aquino III said Sunday that he was considering declaring a state of emergency or martial law in Tacloban, as city officials have proposed. The national disaster agency can recommend such a measure if the local government is unable to carry out its functions, Aquino said.

A state of emergency usually includes curfews, price and food supply controls, military or police checkpoints and increased security patrols.

The massive casualties occurred even though the government had evacuated nearly 800,000 people ahead of the typhoon. About 4 million people were affected by the storm, the national disaster agency said.

Aquino flew around Leyte by helicopter on Sunday and landed in Tacloban to get a firsthand look at the disaster. He said the government's priority was to restore power and communications in isolated areas and deliver relief and medical assistance to victims.

Challenged to respond to a disaster of such magnitude, the Philippine government also accepted help from its U.S. and European allies.

In Washington, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel directed the military's Pacific Command to deploy ships and aircraft to support search-and-rescue operations and airlift emergency supplies.

The United Nations office in Geneva said in a statement Sunday that the U.N. and the "humanitarian community have ramped up critical relief operations," but that access remains a challenge because some areas are still cut off.

Pope Francis led tens of thousands of people at the Vatican in silent prayer for the victims of the typhoon. The Philippines has the largest number of Catholics in Asia, and Filipinos are one of Rome's biggest immigrant communities.

The Philippines is annually buffeted by tropical storms and typhoons, which are called hurricanes and cyclones elsewhere on the planet. The nation is positioned alongside the warm South Pacific where typhoons are spawned. Many rake the islands with fierce winds and powerful waves each year, and the archipelago's exposed eastern seaboard often bears the brunt.

Even by the standards of the Philippines, however, Haiyan is a catastrophe of epic proportions and has shocked the impoverished and densely populated nation of 96 million people. Its winds were among the strongest ever recorded, and it appears to have killed many more people than the previous deadliest Philippine storm, Thelma, which killed around 5,100 people in the central Philippines in 1991. The country's deadliest disaster on record was the 1976 magnitude-7.9 earthquake that triggered a tsunami in the Moro Gulf in the southern Philippines, killing 5,791 people.

 

Tacloban's two largest malls and groceries were looted and the gasoline stations destroyed by the typhoon. Police were deployed to guard a fuel depot to prevent the theft of fuel. Two hundred additional police officers came to Tacloban on Sunday from elsewhere in the country to help restore law and order.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said Aquino was "speechless" when he told him of the devastation the typhoon had wrought in Tacloban.

"I told him all systems are down," Gazmin said. "There is no power, no water, nothing. People are desperate. They're looting."

Tacloban, in the east-central Philippines, is near the Red Beach on Leyte Island where U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur waded ashore in 1944 during World War II and fulfilled his famous pledge: "I shall return."

It was the first city liberated from the Japanese by U.S. and Filipino forces and served as the Philippines' temporary capital for several months. It is also the hometown of former Filipino first lady Imelda Marcos, whose nephew, Alfred Romualdez, is the city's mayor.

One Tacloban resident said he and others took refuge inside a parked Jeep to protect themselves from the storm, but the vehicle was swept away by a surging wall of water.

"The water was as high as a coconut tree," said 44-year-old Sandy Torotoro, a bicycle taxi driver who lives near the airport with his wife and 8-year-old daughter. "I got out of the Jeep and I was swept away by the rampaging water with logs, trees and our house, which was ripped off from its mooring.

"When we were being swept by the water, many people were floating and raising their hands and yelling for help. But what can we do? We also needed to be helped," Torotoro said.

In Torotoro's village, bodies could be seen lying along the muddy main road, as residents who had lost their homes huddled with the few possessions they had managed to save. The road was lined with trees that had fallen to the ground.

UNICEF estimated that about 1.7 million children are living in areas impacted by the typhoon, according to the agency's representative in the Philippines, Tomoo Hozumi. UNICEF's supply division in Copenhagen was loading 60 metric tons of relief supplies for an emergency airlift expected to arrive in the Philippines on Tuesday.

"The devastation is ... I don't have the words for it," Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said. "It's really horrific. It's a great human tragedy."

In Vietnam, about 600,000 people living in the central region who had been evacuated returned to their homes Sunday after the weakened storm changed directions and took aim at the country's north. The storm was approaching landfall Sunday night with sustained winds of 133 kph (83 mph).

Four people from three central Vietnamese provinces died while trying to reinforce their homes ahead of the storm, the national floods and storms control department said Sunday.

———

Associated Press writers Oliver Teves and Teresa Cerojano in Manila, Minh Tran in Hanoi, Vietnam, and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.

Edited November 10, 2013 by Medic Mike

[Thomas]

tried using that google people finder for my friend no results were found i dont know if thats a good thing or bad ? tried calling all morning still goes to subscriber is out of coverage area posted messages to her friend to contact me if any news on the family ! nothing came back yet that was 16 hours ago , m really starting to worry !! feel kind of helpless with no info on them !!

 

O-U-C :(

I would worry much too, if it's people living in a hard hit place as Tacloban if living low,

but concerning other places it's MORE likely they are alive and safe, but have COMMUNICATION problems. Electricity is still out in many places, and I suppouse mobiles in many places too.

[Medic Mike]

Tacloban Airport is covered by debris after powerful Typhoon Haiyan hit Tacloban city, in Leyte province in central Philippines, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013. Rescuers in the central Philippines counted at least 100 people dead and many more injured Saturday, a day after one of the most powerful typhoons on record ripped through the region, wiping away buildings and leveling seaside homes with massive storm surges. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Read more from Journal Sentinel: http://www.jsonline.com/news/usandworld/national/philippine-typhoon-death-toll-could-top-10000936bccade23b4d10b8c5745192a4b1f8-231321221.html#ixzz2kGCEkHC7
Follow us: @NewsHub on Twitter

 

Edited November 10, 2013 by Medic Mike

[Old55]

THanks for checking in Mike! :thumbsup:

[Medic Mike]

Aid team witnesses utter destruction in northern Philippines

 

Our team of aid experts assessing the level of Haiyan typhoon damage in Daanbantayan the northern-most tip of Cebu mainland said today that nearly all the houses and buildings were damaged, power lines were down and there was no electricity in the entire municipality. The team spoke of seeing children begging for help, holding up signs that read:

“Help. We need water, food and medicines.”

Roads to the area were hardly passable with trees and the wreckage of houses lining the highway.

Local officials said that 98 per cent of the houses and structures in the municipality were damaged. This included the town hall and a cultural centre which had served as an evacuation centre but had itself had to be evacuated due to the level of damage.

The town’s major told the team that the people needed water for drinking, food, medicines and emergency shelter.

“The scene is one of utter devastation. There is no electricity in the entire area and no water. Local emergency food stocks have been distributed but stocks are dwindling. The immediate need is for water, both for drinking and cleaning,” said Tata Abella-Bolo, a member of our emergency team in Cebu.

Edited November 10, 2013 by Medic Mike

[Medic Mike]

Relatives search for survivors in deadly Philippines typhoon

 

Cebu, PHILIPPINES - After two days with zero news from her family since Typhoon Haiyan blasted through their hometown on Leyte Island in the central Philippines, elementary teacher Cherry Gonzaga took action Sunday.

The nearest airport to home remains battered and closed, so she left Manila for Cebu City, then queued for a late-night ferry.

"There's no way to get through to them, and my entire family is there, 15 people," said Gonzaga, 24, as she waited for tickets at a Cebu pier with dozens of other Filipinos desperate to learn whether their relatives are safe.

As many as 10,000 people may have died when one of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded destroyed entire villages and devastated cities with huge waves and winds of nearly 150 mph.

To curb incidents of looting by hungry residents in hard-hit Tacloban city - Leyte's capital and air hub that is now closed to all but military and relief flights - authorities dispatched more than 100 additional police officers on Sunday.

"A privately owned chopper tried to land in Leyte Sunday but couldn't as the residents rushed it," Frederick Bonjoc, public affairs officer at Cebu airport, said. "They were unafraid of getting hit by the chopper as they are desperate for supplies."

The north part of Cebu Island also suffered extensive damage, Bonjoc said.

"In my mother's hometown, Bogo city, 70 to 80% of houses have had their roofs blown off, but luckily none of my relatives were killed," he said.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported many family tragedies Sunday in Tacloban. In one case, two men silently pushed a wooden cart bearing the bloated bodies of a woman, her teenage son and her baby though the flooded downtown, the newspaper reported.

The woman, Erlinda Mingig, was a 48-year old fish vendor who was trapped inside her one-story home with her two children.

"I told them to stay in the house because it was safer," said her husband Rogelio, 48, but the water rose so quickly she could not open the door to escape. "We found her embracing the children in one arm and grabbing on to the ceiling with the other."

As telethons continued nationwide to raise money for victims, residents in the spared capital of Manila said they were keeping a close eye on the destruction to the south.

"It's worrying and devastating, the strongest typhoon ever," said Lourdes Lozada, 50, an electrical engineer. "It will be really hard for them to recover, and it won't be quick, but help is coming from inside and outside the Philippines."

"I've been through many typhoons where roofs are blown off, but nothing this strong," she added. "The scariest part was the storm surge; people didn't expect it would be like a tsunami."

Edited November 10, 2013 by Medic Mike

[Medic Mike]

Smart Satellite Services link Tacloban, network restoration in full swing

 

Monday, November 11, 2013

AS RESTORATION of network facilities in areas hard hit by super typhoon Yolanda are underway, Smart Communications Inc. (Smart) has been able to commence Libreng Tawag free calls services in Tacloban City using satellite services in partnership with Telecoms Sans Frontieres (TSF).

“Tacloban is one of the most devastated areas in the Visayas with power and regular communication lines still down. Smart, as part of the Emergency Communications Cluster helping the government, flew in twice yesterday satellite and other telco equipment,” said Ramon R. Isberto, Smart public affairs group head.

For its Libreng Tawag station in Tacloban City, Smart is using TSF's BGAN, the world's first mobile communications service to deliver broadband data and voice, simultaneously, through a single portable device via satellite.

Smart Satellite Services, meanwhile, utilizes technologies like the SatSleeve which can transform an iPhone to a portable satellite unit to its Marino Phone Pal units.

The free call station was held at the police station near the city hall and started yesterday afternoon until evening. The service is expected to resume today at the city hall premises.

Smart with TSF will continue to provide satellite voice and data communications for the responders and affected residents.

The same range of satellite services have been extended to various institutional partners and local government units to expedite post-disaster response coordination.

Smart Satellite Services and TSF's BGAN are now being used by the following: Office of Civil Defense Region 8 Operations Center, Department of Social Welfare and Development, AFP Central Operations Center; Cebu Provincial Ofc; Phil Air Force; Phil Red Cross; Oxfam Philippines; and TV5. Meanwhile, SatSleeves are also now being used by the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) and Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla.

Meanwhile, Smart and Digitel Mobile Philippines (DMPI) through its brand Sun Cellular (Sun) continue to extend Libreng Tawag services today to the public at the City Plaza in Ormoc City and in Tubigon Community Hospital in Potohan, Tubigon, Bohol.

The public may also proceed to the San Francisco municipal hall in Camotes, Cebu c/o NTC-7, the Smart Retail Store in Ormoc City and the Smart cell sites in Roxas City proper and Sta. Fe in Cebu for free charging of mobile phone batteries.

Updates will be provided as more free calls and mobile phone charging stations are opened.

Yesterday, Libreng Tawag stations were made available in certain areas in Iloilo, Masbate and Mindoro.

Smart has also been working closely with institutional partners and LGUs in post-disaster response and has provided much-needed communications support.

Various assistance such as airtime load, SIM units, devices and broadband connectivity including Smart LTE were extended to NTC7 in San Francisco, Camotes, Cebu; Mindoro Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (DRRMO); Iloilo City DRRMO; Dumaguete City DRRMO; Red Cross National Operations Center; Office of Civil Defense Region 8 Operations Center in Palo, Leyte; Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office in Legazpi City; and Cebu Province DRRMO.

Meanwhile, restoration of Smart and Sun networks in areas most affected by Super Typhoon Yolanda are now in full swing.

Sunday morning, network services have been restored in the following areas: Cabulihan, Maasin in Southern Leyte and the municipalities of Matalom, Bato, Hilongos, Macrohon and Hindang in Leyte; San Carlos, Negros Oriental; Bantayan Island, Cebu; Calatrava, Negros Occidental; Dimiao, Bohol; Badiangan, Ajuy-Culasi, Cabatuan, Anilao, Banate, Maasin, PD Monfort, Janiuay, Sta. Barbara, Leganes, Barotac Nuevo, Pavia, San Miguel, Dumangas, Alimodian, Sta. Barbara, Tiwi, Barotac Nuevo, Mina, Dingle, Zarraga, Pototan in Iloilo, and all of Masbate except for Mobo, Cataingan, Palanas, and Pio V. Corpuz.

Network services have been operational since yesterday in Ormoc City in Leyte as well in the following areas in Western Samar: Calbayog City, Calbiga, City of Catbalogan, Daram, Gandara, Jiabong, Macrohon, Matuguinao, Paranas(Wright), San Jose de Buan, Santa Margarita, Tarangnan, Villareal.

“We're doing our best to normalize operations in most areas. Lack of commercial electricity still remains a big challenge. While Smart has already started dispatching additional generation sets to augment local power, in some areas like the coastal towns of Leyte and Eastern Samar, transporting fuel and equipment is not as easy as roads still have to be cleared,” said Isberto.

Because of the post-disaster effects of the Typhoon Yolanda, subscribers of Sun in the Visayas are encouraged to use the Smart network to boost their network signal by doing the following: go to their phone settings, choose Operator selection, choose Manual, and select SMART. Then return to Automatic mode. This can be used for call, text and data services.

This will allow subscribers to use the Smart network while network enhancements for Sun are ongoing. The same rates and rules apply as if the subscriber is on the Sun network.

This service for Sun is available in the following areas in the Visayas; Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Cebu, Eastern Samar, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Northern Samar, Siquijor, Southern Leyte, Leyte and Western Samar. Queries can be directed to Sun Hotline 200.

Smart and Sun subscribers can use text facilities to donate to the victims of Typhoon Yolanda. For donations to the Philippine Red Cross, subscribers can text RED and send to 4143. Ex: RED 100. Denominations accepted are for PhP10, PhP24, PhP50, PhP100, Php300, PhP500 and PhP1000.

Text donations via the Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation (PDRF) Brick by Brick YolandaPh fund raising initiative.Just text TulongPH and send to 4483 (Ex. TulongPh 25). The same denominations as for Red Cross applies. Donations via PayPal and Smart Money can be done through the PDRF Brick by Brick site (www.pdrf.org/brickbybrick).

 

Edited November 10, 2013 by Medic Mike