Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Breaking News :- Typhoon Haiyan: UN launches $301m Philippines aid appeal


 
The UN has launched an appeal for $301m (£190m) to help relief efforts in typhoon-hit areas of the Philippines.
At least 10,000 people are feared to have been killed by Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the central Philippines on Friday.
The UN says more than 11 million people are believed to have been affected by the storm and some 673,000 displaced.
Several countries have deployed ships to help the relief effort, but bad weather is hampering aid distribution.
Valerie Amos, the UN's Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, told the BBC that people in the affected regions were "absolutely desperate".
"They need food, they need water, they need shelter. People need to be protected," she said.
Haiyan - named "Yolanda" by Philippine authorities - struck the coastal provinces of Leyte and Samar on Friday. It was one of the most powerful storms on record to make landfall.
Authorities had evacuated hundreds of thousands of people before the typhoon arrived, but many evacuation centres - schools, churches and government buildings - proved unable to withstand the winds and storm surges.
Haiyan brought sustained winds of 235km/h (147mph), with gusts of 275 km/h (170 mph) and waves as high as 15m (45ft). In some places, as much as 400mm (15.75 inches) of rain fell.
The typhoon then headed west, sweeping through six central Philippine islands and into Vietnam, where state media said at least 13 people had died.
Several people were also reported killed in southern China, after Haiyan passed across on Monday morning.

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