Fears At Least 10,000 Dead In Philippines

[cappie]

Fears at least 10,000 dead in Philippines as Super Typhoon Haiyan approaches Vietnam. Unconfirmed reports suggest at least 10,000 people are dead in the central Philippines province of Leyte after Typhoon Haiyan hit the region.

 

A senior police official says about 70 to 80 per cent of the province was destroyed by the super storm, one of the most powerful on record.

 

"We had a meeting last night with the governor and the other officials," said regional police director, Chief Superintendent Elmer Soria.

 

"The governor said based on their estimate, 10,000 died."

 

Witnesses and officials described chaotic scenes in Leyte's capital Tacloban, a coastal city of 220,000 about 580 kilometres south-east of Manila, with hundreds of bodies piled on the sides of roads and pinned under wrecked houses.

 

The Red Cross had earlier estimated more than 1,000 people had been killed across the Philippines in the wake of the typhoon, one of the most powerful to make landfall on record.

 

Among the dead is former Australian priest Kevin Lee, who had been a whistleblower about child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.

 

It is believed the 50-year-old had been living in the Philippines with his Filipino wife and they had just had their first child.

 

Last year Mr Lee was removed from his parish responsibilities in western Sydney after admitting to marrying in secret.

 

He spoke out about abuse in the Catholic Church in the Four Corners program Unholy Silence, which aired on ABC1 last year.

 

Mr Lee also wrote a book about the abuse he became aware of during his time as a priest, but it was only posted online rather than published because some of the accused are yet to face court.

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-10/super-typhoon-haiyan-approaches-vietnam/5081524

[Spem in alium]

Praying for all affected, especially in light of the fact that several areas hit by the typhoon were the same affected by the earthquakes last month. I have been in touch with my friend in the Philippines. He is safe, praise God, but said the wind speed exceeded all predictions and has left major flooding. 

[Era Might]

10,000???

[CatherineM]

It's about population density. If a hurricane ever did a direct hit on Tampa or Miami, there'd be that many. Look at what happened in New Orleans and that wasn't a direct hit. They don't have our building codes, infrastructure, or emergency services.

[Archaeology cat]

:pray:

[southern california guy]

It's about population density. If a hurricane ever did a direct hit on Tampa or Miami, there'd be that many. Look at what happened in New Orleans and that wasn't a direct hit. They don't have our building codes, infrastructure, or emergency services.

 

Yeah, it could be all from one town. 

[Spem in alium]

Yeah, it could be all from one town. 

Reports are that most of the people who died were from Tacloban. The city is apparently completely destroyed.

[AnneLine]

My heart goes out to them.  All of them.   Praying....  :pray: :heart: :RIP:

[cappie]

 

 

 

[brandelynmarie]

:pray:

[PhuturePriest]

Dear goodness. One of my friends is half Filipino, and he was really worried about his family members. I just found out that they are okay, thank goodness. But still, this is a really awful thing to happen. An overwhelming majority of the people are Catholic over there, so hopefully their faith will keep them strong through this.