Yolanda death toll climbs to 3,637

MANILA, Philippines - The death toll from Super Typhoon Yolanda went up further to 3,637, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said yesterday.

The NDRRMC also reported the monster storm had displaced nearly two million people, and caused P10.33 billion in damage.

Aside from the fatalities, the NDRRMC reported 12,501 people were injured and 1,186 still missing.

Yolanda had affected 2.1 million families or 9,.81 people in 9,303 villages in 44 provinces, the NDRRMC said. Some 86,909 families or 422,290 people are staying in 1,142 evacuation centers.

It also said Yolanda destroyed 248,176 houses and damaged 246,435 others.

The government has also started moving evacuees out of Tacloban and other disaster stricken areas.

As of yesterday, around 3,000 evacuees from Eastern Samar were flown to Manila.

Col. Romeo Brawner, in charge of the flight operations of all local and foreign cargo planes flying to the storm-devastated areas in Eastern Visayas from Manila, said a number of evacuees bound for Cebu but boarded the plane bound for Manila because it was the only flight available for them to get out of their ravaged communities.

In an early flight to Manila from Leyte, several passengers who have waited for long to fly to Cebu, boarded a US-C-130 plane that landed at Villamor Air Base.

“Out of desperation, some are just taking chances by boarding C-130 cargo planes that are Manila-bound even if they intend to go to Cebu just to escape the massive devastation left by Yolanda,” Brawner said.

Because they have no relatives here in Metro Manila, the Cebu-bound evacuees were turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) while their flight to Cebu is still being arranged.

“The DSWD is taking care of them,” said Weng Ibañez of the DSWD-National Capital Region.

The Philippine Red Cross (PRC), meanwhile said there is enough supply of blood for the injured victims.

PRC chairman Richard Gordon said Red Cross blood banks nationwide have a daily average of 3,000 bags of blood of different blood types.

This week, the PRC has set up a 120-bag capacity blood bank refrigerator and sent 40 units of whole blood of assorted blood types to Tacloban.

Gordon added the PRC has already augmented the blood supply in Tacloban, particularly in Divine Word Hospital and areas hit by Yolanda from the PRC headquarters blood bank in Manila and Cebu City.

The PRC has assured the public of regular replenishment of blood supply while it spearheads various mass blood letting activities that promote voluntary blood donation all over the country.

Fair weather

The state weather bureau, on the other hand, said the weather over the Visayas region would be favorable for relief operations for the next few days.

Weather forecaster Jori Loiz of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said there are no signs of any weather disturbance that could affect the Visayas.

He added that until Tuesday, the Visayas region would experience partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers and short-lived thunderstorms in the afternoon.

An official of the NDRRMC said it would take at least three months before things will start to normalize in the storm devastated communities because of the massive damage left by the typhoon in Eastern Visayas.

The official said the government would take several years to reconstruct the villages that were flattened by Yolanda, not only in Tacloban and Eastern Samar but also in towns and villages in Western Visayas.

This means there would be no Christmas celebration for all government workers involved in the relief distribution and rehabilitation, the official said. – With Evelyn Macairan, Sheila Crisostomo