 |
| Mass grave in Basper, outside Tacloban CIty. Photo Rem Zamora |
Earlier this week, President Aquino said the loss of life would probably be around 2,000 to 2,500, and dismissed a local estimate of 10,000 as overstated and caused by "emotional trauma". The regional police chief who gave that figure to the media was removed from his post on Thursday night. A police spokesman said Elma Soria was transferred to headquarters in Manila due to an "acute stress reaction".
The Red Cross put the number of missing at 25,000, from 22,000 on Thursday, but noted that it could include people who have since been located. - theguardian
The death toll from one of the world's most powerful typhoons surged to about 4,000 on Friday (Nov. 15), but the aid effort was still so patchy bodies lay uncollected as rescuers tried to evacuate stricken communities across the central Philippines. - ABS-CBN
Earlier report:
"We had a meeting last night (Saturday, November 9) with the governor and based on the government's estimates, initially there are 10,000 casualties (dead)," Chief Supt Elmer Soria told reporters in Tacloban City, the devastated provincial capital. "About 70 to 80 percent of the houses and structures along the typhoon's path were destroyed."
Reports quoting Tacloban administrator Tecson Lim said the death toll in the city alone “could go up to 10,000.” - Rappler
