The Philippine Typhoon Death Toll Jumps to Over 5,000
On Thursday, the official death toll of Super Typhoon Haiyan sat at 4,015. In 24 hours, it jumped by about 30 percent to 5,209 — a rise, officials say, attributed to the reports of new body counts from the hardest-hit areas. "If you notice, there was not much movement in the death toll for the past few days. This was because the reporting rules required a casualty report signed by the city mayor and his health officer," Reynaldo Balido, a spokesman for the country's disaster management council, told the AFP. "Now, the reports are coming in from the entire typhoon area."
The official death toll, as it stands today, already makes Haiyan/Yolanda one the most deadly natural disasters to ever hit the area. The inevitable question is if we will see that number jump again. There's reason to think so. Civil defense chief Eduardo del Rosario told the AP that they still haven't had the numbers from Tacloban — one of the hardest-hit cities. "I believe this number in Tacloban city is not yet final," del Rosario said, adding that there were 1,611 people still missing across the country.
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The good news is that the recovery effort is starting to take effect and stop the bleeding. "In the first week we can say we were in the emergency room ... this second week we are now in the ICU, still critical but stabilized," del Rosario said.
This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/global/2013/11/philippine-typhoon-death-toll-jumped-1200-one-day/355416/
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