Bodies litter streets after typhoon disaster ‘worse than 2004 tsunami’

Bodies lie uncollected and uncounted in the streets and thousands are feared dead in the wake of one of the most powerful storms to hit land.

Major aid charities have said the devastation is even worse than the devastating Indonesia tsunami on Boxing Day, 2004.

Typhoon Haiyan packed 147mph winds and whipped up 20ft walls of seawater that tossed ships inland and swept many people out to sea.

Authorities said at least 9.7 million people in 41 provinces were affected by the typhoon.

With shattered communications and transportation links, the final death toll is likely to be days away, and presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said he prayed it would not surpass 10,000.

Lynette Lim, from the Save the Children charity, said: “We are working round the clock to offer the basic life essentials to the 4.3 million people we estimate are affected.

“We are witnessing the complete devastation of a city.

“In Tacloban everything is flattened. Bodies litter the street, many, many of which are children. From what I saw, two out of every five bodies were of a 
child.

“We fear for how many children have been washed away in floods, crushed under falling buildings and injured by flying debris.

“Many are separated from their families amid the devastation, and all are in desperate need of food, water and shelter.”

Edith van Wijngaarden, Handicap International’s programme director in the Philippines, added: “The devastation is worse than in Bandah Aceh, Indonesia, following the 2004 tsunami.

“I’m particularly worried about the most vulnerable individuals.

“When nothing is left standing and the local infrastructure has been destroyed, people with disabilities, older people and children are particularly vulnerable.”

According to China National Radio, the storm caused up to £438m in damage to agricultural, forestry, poultry and fishing industries.

Cars and trucks still lay upended among flattened homes and bridges and ports have been washed away.

Typhoon Haiyan hit the eastern seaboard of the Philippines on Friday and quickly barrelled across its central islands, inflicting serious damage to at least six islands in the middle of the eastern seaboard.

Hardest hit was the southern island of Hainan, where the storm wrenched a cargo ship from its moorings.

President Benigno Aquino III declared a “state of national calamity”, allowing the central government to release emergency funds quicker and impose price controls on staple goods.

He said the two worst-hit provinces, Leyte and Samar, witnessed “massive destruction and loss of life” but that elsewhere casualties were low.

According to reports, a Philippine general has said that a number of inmates have escaped from a prison in Tacloban after breaking down a wall.

Army Brigadier General Virgilio Espineli, the deputy regional military commander, said guards fired shots to try to stop the prisoners from fleeing, and some returned.

He did not have a clear number for those who had escaped but it is believed that the jail held about 600 prisoners.

The Philippines is an archipelago nation made up of more than 7,000 islands and 96 million people.

Typhoon Haiyan’s winds were among the strongest ever recorded.

So far, it appears to have killed more people than the previous deadliest Philippine storm, Thelma, in which about 5,100 people died in the central Philippines in 1991.