Philippines Typhoon Death Count Above 1,700

Updated Nov. 11, 2013 12:56 p.m. ET

A survivor wrote a message Monday calling for help at typhoon-ravaged Tacloban city, Philippines. Associated Press

TACLOBAN, Philippines—As food and water became scarce in areas hit by supertyphoon Haiyan, the Philippines government dramatically raised the death toll to 1,744, greatly exceeding earlier counts from one of the most powerful storms ever to strike the country.
Even that was seen as a low number, with the toll expected to rise significantly. Thousands remained missing and reports from stricken areas outline mass graves holding hundreds, with bodies also strewn in the streets.

Scenes of destruction continue to emerge from the Philippine city of Tacloban after super typhoon Haiyan devastated the region. U.S. Marines began using Osprey aircraft to assist in relief efforts. Via the Foreign Bureau, WSJ’s global news update.

Aerial Views of the Devastation

Flattened houses in the city of Tacloban. Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images

Typhoon Hits Philippines

Survivors walked under a fallen electric post Sunday. Reuters

In the city of Tacloban, four days after Haiyan devastated it, the road to the airport was jammed with people trying to get out. The road into town was also snarled with motorbikes and cars trying to fight their way in, even as humanitarian workers warned food and water was rapidly running out.
“Tacloban is a chaotic, dangerous place right now,” Nelia Baltazar, 52 years old, shouted over her shoulder from her perch on a motorbike behind her husband. “We just want to leave.”
Meanwhile, outsiders in search of petrol, family or relief continued to stream in.
The city’s streets were flooded in areas and crowded with people threading their way through debris in search of food, loved ones, or both. Many wore towels or scarves tied around their faces to ward off the stench of stiffened animal carcasses and human bodies strewn beside roads, partially covered by tarp or sheet metal.
Outside a gutted storefront, Diorico Montejo, 43, said he still hadn’t located his wife since the storm hit their home early Friday morning, despite searching hospitals and city streets.
“I told her, ‘I will stay to guard our things,’” he said. “But she said, ‘If you are in the house, I want to be in the house with you.’”
Mr. Montejo said the pair had swum out of an opening in their roof when the waves came—an experience that left his arms, face and side crisscrossed with a series of deep gashes from the roof’s nails.
“The water was as high as that coconut tree,” he said, gesturing across the street. “In just two to five seconds, she was gone.”
Tacloban is in Leyte, one of two central Philippine provinces hardest hit by one of the world’s worst typhoons. The other—Samar—is also roughly 350 miles south of Manila, and its locals are fighting their own near-surreal horrors. In Basey, a town that faces Tacloban, 500 people were buried in mass graves, said Samar Gov. Sharee Ann Tan, while others were said to be simply buried alongside streets, and another 2,000 were missing. The Samar towns of Basey and Marabut were all but destroyed. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, 200 of the dead in Tacloban were to be buried together.
The devastated sections of the two provinces were the focus of President Benigno Aquino III, who declared sweeping measures on Monday to bring relief to survivors and bolster rescue efforts.

The National Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council said nearly 10 million people in 42 provinces of the Southeast Asian country’s 81 provinces were affected by the typhoon. More than 28,000 houses were damaged.
The sudden surge in the death toll indicated that rescuers were reaching isolated communities and that restoration of telecoms services in some areas were enabling reports to get out.
As logistics gradually improved, President Aquino said 55,000 family food packs would be available daily. And 800 soldiers and police were sent to Tacloban to stop looters, clear toppled trees from roads and help search for survivors and the dead in the rubble that once was homes and shops.
The damaged Tacloban airport opened for limited commercial service, while roads and bridges were being cleared of debris.

A ship lies amid house ruins in Tacloban, in the Philippines province of Leyte, one of the areas hardest hit by supertyphoon Haiyan. Associated Press

Foreign governments were also sending additional equipment to ferry supplies as well as relief workers.
In Tacloban, an 8 p.m. curfew was instituted and was being enforced with the help of Manila police, some 200 of whom were already on the ground, said police inspector Randy Tulali. In addition to curfew enforcement, they were maintaining checkpoints and helping provide security for the airport.
Michael Gnilo, Unicef water sanitation and hygiene specialist who is jointly working with the government to do a needs assessment for the city, said he was told that residents have enough food at present to survive for two to three days. Tacloban’s needs are amplified by the fact that people from other areas seeking relief from the typhoon have swelled its population of 220,000—by several times, according to estimates Mr. Gnilo was told.

More Video

Three days after Supertyphoon Haiyan hit the Philippines, aid workers are still unable to reach Samar province in the Eastern Visayas due to heaving flooding. Orla Fagan of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs discusses areas where the extent of devastation remains unknown.

Standing inside an amphitheater that seats in excess of 5,000 that is serving as temporary housing, Nonoy Fajardo, Unicef programs specialist, echoed his colleague’s fear.
“You basically don’t need to do a needs assessment,” he said. “They need everything,” he said, citing the absence of latrines, among other sanitation hazards. He said he expects more relief, including from Unicef, to begin arriving in the coming days via land, air and sea.
At the airport, flanked by fellow officers, U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Mike O’Neil said some 200 marines were preparing to help provide humanitarian aid, including assisting in flying some 90,000 tons of relief supplies waiting in Manila. Other planes laden with aid were likewise landing throughout the day.
Though the road into Tacloban was largely cleared of toppled trees and other debris early Monday, no signs of relief convoys were yet apparent by Monday night.
In the nearby city of Palo, where the wind bulldozed through hundreds of homes, making them resemble piles of crumpled matchbooks, residents queued for up to six hours for handouts of sardines and noodles outside a truck brought in by a local company.
“We have enough food for only one day left,” said Mark Joe Mejico, 18, whose house was destroyed and who was sheltering in a local high school.
Still, as he waited in line, he was primarily worrying about his sister in Manila, whom he hadn’t yet been able to reach to tell her that he had survived the typhoon.
Write to Cris Larano at cris.larano@wsj.com

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