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  • High death toll in Philippines

    Survivors 'walk like zombies' after Philippine typhoon kills estimated 10,000
    Sun Nov 10, 2013



    One of the most powerful storms ever recorded killed at least 10,000 people in the central Philippines, a senior police official said on Sunday, with huge waves sweeping away entire coastal villages and devastating the region's main city.
    Super typhoon Haiyan destroyed about 70 to 80 percent of the area in its path as it tore through Leyte province on Friday, said police chief superintendent Elmer Soria. As rescue workers struggled to reach ravaged villages along the coast, where the death toll is as yet unknown, survivors foraged for food as supplies dwindled or searched for lost loved ones. "People are walking like zombies looking for food," said Jenny Chu, a medical student in Leyte. "It's like a movie." Most of the deaths appear to have been caused by surging sea water strewn with debris that many said resembled a tsunami, leveling houses and drowning hundreds of people in one of the worst natural disasters to hit the typhoon-prone Southeast Asian nation.

    The national government and disaster agency have not confirmed the latest estimate of deaths, a sharp increase from initial estimates on Saturday of at least 1,000 killed by a storm whose sustained winds reached 195 miles per hour (313 km per hour) with gusts of up to 235 mph. "We had a meeting last night with the governor and the other officials. The governor said, based on their estimate, 10,000 died," Soria told Reuters. "The devastation is so big." The national government and disaster agency have not confirmed the latest estimate of deaths, a sharp increase from initial estimates on Saturday of at least 1,000 killed by a storm whose sustained winds reached 195 miles per hour (313 km per hour) with gusts of up to 235 mph.

    Tecson John Lim, the Tacloban city administrator, said city officials had so far only collected 300-400 bodies, but believed the death toll in the city alone could be 10,000. International aid agencies said relief efforts in the Philippines were stretched thin after a 7.2 magnitude quake in central Bohol province last month and displacement caused by a conflict with Muslim rebels in southern Zamboanga province. The World Food Programme said it was airlifting 40 tons of high-energy biscuits, enough to feed 120,000 people for a day, as well as emergency supplies and telecommunications equipment.
    Source

    A catastrophe of epic proportions. Global aid is desperately needed.
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  • #2
    The UN has failed miserably here. About 1000 US Marines and Air Force personnel are now there distributing airlifted supplies. The carrier USS George Washington is due to arrive in the coming hours. Britain has also dispatched warships to help with relief efforts. Two Boeing 747s with 234 Israeli doctors, nurses, and paramedics sent by the IDF have already set up a mobile unit and are operational. A baby delivered by an Israeli doctor yesterday was named Israel in gratitude.
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    • #3
      Originally posted by Minskaya View Post
      The UN has failed miserably here. About 1000 US Marines and Air Force personnel are now there distributing airlifted supplies. The carrier USS George Washington is due to arrive in the coming hours. Britain has also dispatched warships to help with relief efforts. Two Boeing 747s with 234 Israeli doctors, nurses, and paramedics sent by the IDF have already set up a mobile unit and are operational. A baby delivered by an Israeli doctor yesterday was named Israel in gratitude.
      How does that translate into the UN having failed miserably?

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      • #4
        Originally posted by cataphract View Post
        How does that translate into the UN having failed miserably?
        Despite relief being their raison d'être, UN emergency relief agencies/supplies are nowhere to be found in the wake of the catastrophe.
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        • #5
          Originally posted by Minskaya View Post
          Despite relief being their raison d'être, UN emergency relief agencies/supplies are nowhere to be found in the wake of the catastrophe.
          You should read the articles you post. Here's the last line:
          The World Food Programme said it was airlifting 40 tons of high-energy biscuits, enough to feed 120,000 people for a day, as well as emergency supplies and telecommunications equipment.
          WFP is a UN body.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by cataphract View Post
            You should read the articles you post. Here's the last line: WFP is a UN body.
            Indeed. I missed a days worth of biscuits.
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            • #7
              A Norwegian merchant vessel in the employ of the WFP arrived in Tacloban yesterday with 40 tons of rice, medical supplies and body bags. The UN said it has raised $72 million of the $301 million requested. Assistance has been slow but is rapidly improving with foreign military's taking the lead. China has been criticized for low-balling relief due to disagreements with the Philippines over island possessions.
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              • #8
                Originally posted by Minskaya View Post
                Indeed. I missed a days worth of biscuits.
                When I first read the info my thoughts were like "Someone in UN is suffering Marie Antoinette syndrome"

                Minnie, UN doesn't have a standing army, nor Air Fleet. Is it good or bad is totally another topic, but the fact is they were never ready to hop in at once. Anywhere.
                On top of that add those layers of bureaucracy to make a decision.
                No such thing as a good tax - Churchill

                To make mistakes is human. To blame someone else for your mistake, is strategic.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Doktor View Post
                  Minnie, UN doesn't have a standing army, nor Air Fleet. Is it good or bad is totally another topic, but the fact is they were never ready to hop in at once. Anywhere.
                  On top of that add those layers of bureaucracy to make a decision.
                  Dok, I realize the UN has limitations. But everyone knew at least a week in advance that this storm (the largest recorded typhoon) was going to hit the Philippines dead-on. This wasn't a surprise like the Haiti earthquake or the Fukushima disaster.
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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Minskaya View Post
                    Dok, I realize the UN has limitations. But everyone knew at least a week in advance that this storm (the largest recorded typhoon) was going to hit the Philippines dead-on. This wasn't a surprise like the Haiti earthquake or the Fukushima disaster.
                    The scale of devastation is the surprise. Even to the Phillippines themselves. Far be it from me to like the UN, but credit must be given where it is deserved. The UN hasn't been sitting on its arse for this one.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by cataphract View Post
                      The scale of devastation is the surprise. Even to the Phillippines themselves.
                      The devastation shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. The same storm striking the United States would have caused severe damage. Far greater than Hurricane Katrina.

                      Weather forecasters had warned that Super Typhoon Haiyan was one of the strongest storms ever seen on earth and would be a Category 5+ when it struck the Philippines.


                      Super Typhoon Haiyan and the Phillipines superimposed on a map of the United States
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                      • #12
                        Team Rubicon is on the ground with two emergency SAR/Medical teams, likely more coming. Included in the already there teams is my friend Lourdes Tigalo, a native of the area now a naturalized citizen and American vet. Also there is Chris Warton aka the Brit, another American vet who delayed taking his oath of loyalty to his adopted nation in order to deploy. The are working with the PI gov, PI military and the US military do triage, SAR and thanks to their mastery of the Palantir system, damage assessment ans recon on to remote islands where they are often the first help to arrive since the storm.

                        No I am not going.

                        Edit, just got word when I logged into FB that another really good friend of mne Tina Rooker aka queen of the fobbits a USMC vet) is busy working the log end of the response from TR's HQ in LA. If you want to donate to a group that has as its unofficial moto- "burn the bridges and get some...."
                        Last edited by zraver; 16 Nov 13,, 14:38.

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                        • #13
                          Also if you have excess air line miles... Airlink - Connecting Humanitarian Organizations with Air Transportation

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Minskaya View Post
                            Dok, I realize the UN has limitations. But everyone knew at least a week in advance that this storm (the largest recorded typhoon) was going to hit the Philippines dead-on. This wasn't a surprise like the Haiti earthquake or the Fukushima disaster.
                            The govt of the phillipines could not move people out of the way ?

                            10k is pretty damn high.

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Double Edge View Post
                              The govt of the phillipines could not move people out of the way ?

                              10k is pretty damn high.
                              Obviously you have never been to the Philippines. I have and their government couldn't find their way out of a paper bag sorry to say.

                              I like the country. My wife is from Rizal. None of that changes the fact that the government in inept and the people of the Philippines have limitations themselves.

                              Been to Leyte for the 50th Anniversary of MacArthur's landing in 1994. Seen Talcolban and the general area. I'd say not much had changed since 1944 in the rural area. Most of Leyte I would consider the boonies with precious few roads as we know them.

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