(In the process of being established )

Typhoon Haiyan death toll rises over 5,000

(Sources:BBC News)

The death toll from Typhoon Haiyan has risen above 5,000, officials in the Philippines say, two weeks after the devastating storm hit the country.

The country’s National Disaster Agency says that 5,209 people are now known to have lost their lives, with many more still missing.

That makes Haiyan, known as Yolanda in the Philippines, the deadliest natural disaster in the country’s history.

Floods in the Ormoc region in 1991 killed 5,101 people.

Haiyan was one of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded.

Flattened

Winds of up to 270km/h hit the central Philippines when it made landfall on 8 November.

Parts of low-lying islands were completely flattened.

Eduardo del Rosario, executive director of the Philippines’ National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said that more than four million people were displaced by the storm.

Over a million houses were damaged.

Many residents in the worst hit areas are still without proper shelter as they try to rebuild their homes.

Many residents in the worst hit areas are still without proper shelter as they try to rebuild their homes.

Mr del Rosario told the Associated Press news agency he believed the worst was over.

“In the first week we can say we were in the emergency room,” he told the agency.

“This second week we are now in the ICU [intensive care unit], still critical but stabilised.”

He said he believed that the number of dead reported in the city of Tacloban was likely to go up.

The capital of Leyte province has reported 1,725 deaths.

More than 1,600 people are missing across the affected region.

Most of the dead had been buried in mass graves, and many bodies were unidentified, Mr del Rosario said.

Typhoon Haiyan: UK planes take aid to Philippines

(Sources:BBC NEWS)

A plane carrying 95 tonnes of emergency aid has left Britain bound for the typhoon-devastated Philippines.

UK International Development Secretary Justine Greening said it departed East Midlands Airport on Sunday evening.

On the island of Cebu, Royal Navy warship HMS Daring has been preparing to distribute relief supplies.

Later boy band One Direction will join a celebrity telethon as part of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal which has so far raised £35m.

Thousands of people have been killed by Typhoon Haiyan and a number of UK nationals remain unaccounted for.

‘Urgently needed’

HMS Daring has docked at Cebu after spending three days carrying out reconnaissance work using a Lynx helicopter ahead of international reliefteams.

The captain of the Type 45 destroyer, Commander Angus Essenhigh, told the BBC: “We’re loading the ship up, and now we’re getting the last of the stores on board.

“Overnight we’ll sail up towards the affected areas and start delivering some of the relief that is so urgently needed in the islands.”

A 12-strong medical team from the UK will be flown to different areas to treat victims of the typhoon.

The UK government flight is taking medical supplies, water tanks andforklift trucks, along with emergency equipment for Save the Childrenand Oxfam.

Ms Greening said: “This flight from East Midlands Airport is taking vital supplies to help those most in need after the terrible typhoon which hit the Philippines last week.

“The British public have shown incredible generosity over the past few days and it is great that alongside supplies from our own stores, this DfID [Department for International Development] chartered flight will also carry aid from our partners including stocks of medicine and newborn kits from Save the Children and water and sanitation equipment from Oxfam.

“As the arrival of HMS Daring shows, this joint working between the UK government and NGOs [Non-governmental organisations], alongside those on the ground in the Philippines, means we are able to target much needed support.”

Extra aid

Foreign Secretary William Hague has confirmed a number of Britons are missing following the typhoon.

They include Colin Bembridge, 61, from Grimsby, who was with his Filipino partner Maybelle, 35, and their three-year-old daughter Victoria near the city of Tacloban when the storm struck.

The Foreign Office said Mr Hague had spoken to his Philippines counterpart Albert Ferreros del Rosario.

The Disasters Emergency Committee, a group of 14 aid charities, said £35m had been raised so far by its appeal in the UK.

Later on Monday, celebrities will answer the phones at the BT Tower in central London as part of the DEC appeal.

Stars from ITV drama series Downton Abbey will join One Direction and other well-known names in taking the donations.

DEC chief executive Saleh Saeed said: “The kindness and generosity of the public has been overwhelming this weekend, a full week after the typhoon devastated parts of the Philippines, and the aid agencies represented by the DEC are extremely grateful for people’s continued compassion.”

A Royal Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft will also be sent to help carry aid workers into difficult to reach areas, while the Royal Navy helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious is on its way to the Philippines to relieve HMS Daring.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said the UK will commit an extra £30m in aid, taking the government’s total contribution to £50m.

Typhoon Haiyan killed at least 3,974 people and a further 1,186 are missing, according to the latest official figures.

The typhoon – which had some of the strongest winds ever recorded on land – also left about 500,000 people homeless.

UK to send ship to help Philippines, David Cameron announces

(Sources:BBC NEWS)

The UK will send a Royal Navy warship to help deal with the storm disaster in the Philippines, Prime Minister David Cameron has announced.

He said HMS Daring would travel “at full speed” from Singapore and an RAF C-17 transporter plane will be sent.

Mr Cameron, addressing business leaders in the City of London, added that UK aid following Typhoon Haiyan would be increased from £6m to £10m.

Up to 10,000 people are feared to have been killed.

Meanwhile, millions of survivors of the typhoon, which struck the Philippines on Friday, are waiting for aid with food shortages increasing.

A huge international relief effort is under way but rescue workers have struggled to reach areas cut off since the storm.

‘Powerful help’

During his speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet, in which he outlined the coalition’s foreign policy commitments, Mr Cameron said: “We continue to help around the world – as we are today in the Philippines, where Typhoon Haiyan has wrought such appalling devastation.

“Britain is contributing £10m and HMS Daring, currently deployed near Singapore, will shortly be heading at full speed towards the disaster zone with further support from an RAF C-17 which will be a powerful help to the relief operation.”

The additional support announced by the prime minister will provide aid flights to Cebu in the eastern Philippines, the delivery of temporary shelters, blankets and water purification tablets to 300,000 people, and household goods for water treatment and storage.

The Department for International Development has pledged urgent humanitarian support for as many as 500,000 people affected by Typhoon Haiyan.

International Development Secretary Justine Greening said: “The scenes of utter devastation in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan are shocking in their scale and we know that the survivors, especially vulnerable children and women, now face a grim and uncertain future.”

Several charities, including Save the Children, Oxfam, Care InternationalUK and the British Red Cross, have also launched appeals.

Launched in 2006, HMS Daring was the first of the Navy’s six £1bn Type 45 destroyers.

It has a Lynx helicopter on board and has equipment to make drinking water from seawater.

Typhoon Haiyan: Survivors’ stories in the Philippines

(Sources:BBC NEWS)

Typhoon Haiyan – one of the most powerful storms to make landfall ever recorded – swept through the central Philippines on Friday.

Emily Ortega, San Jose

Twenty-one-year-old Emily gave birth to her daughter Bea Joy Sagales in a makeshift centre at Tacloban’s airport on Monday.

Emily had to swim and cling to a post to survive the storm surge.

She named her daughter after her own mother, Beatriz, who was swept away by the giant waves.

The doctor who attended the birth, Captain Victoriano Sambale, said he was worried about the risk of infection – but there were no antibiotics available.

Evelina, Palo, Leyte

Evelina told the BBC World Service how she and four companions – including a five-year-old boy – managed to survive by clinging to a post for three or four hours as the water levels rose around them.

Her cousin was pulled away, but managed to swim to a coconut tree, with her five-year-old son clinging to her.

All five survived.

Jenny Dela Cruz, Tacloban

Jenny lost 11 members of her family, including her two-year-old daughter.

Jenny is eight months pregnant.

“Right now, all we can do is survive the day,” she said.

“But I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, or the day after that, or if we can continue surviving.”

Faith Pelies, Tacloban

Faith, who cannot swim, says she told her husband to save their baby and forget about her.

Both she and the child survived.

She says she and other survivors need basics, such as water – without water, they are unable to cook rice.

Another survivor, Jeanette Bacsal, also said she could not swim and was saved by her father.

She said she was “blessed” to still be alive.

Erika Mae Karakot, Leyte city

Erika said people were suffering from diarrhoea and dehydration, and medicines were needed.

“Please tell my family I’m alive,” she said.

Awelina Hadloc, Tacloban

Grocery store owner Awelina said the situations was very difficult as there was no food in the warehouse or the malls.

“We are helpless – like a newborn,” she said.

Luke Spence, Cebu province

Luke Spence, visiting the Philippines from Ripon in North Yorkshire, told the BBC how he hid in a diving shop as the typhoon struck on Friday morning.

He saw sheet metal, wood and glass debris in the air.

He described the destruction as “absolute” in the local area, and said it was a “miracle” that more people on the island had not been killed.