Formed on the second of November, the massive storm didn’t officially hit Philippines until the seventh. The storm started out as a tropical storm and eventually evolved into a typhoon, earning the name Haiyan, surely a name that will be remembered in south Pacific for some time.
Now, four days after Haiyan made its first impact on Filipino soil, the country’s government has declared a national state of calamity.
“We declare a state of national calamity to hasten the action of the government to rescue, provide help, and rehabilitate the provinces affected by Yolanda,” said Filipino president Benigno Aquino, according to Rappler.
Yolanda is the common name for the storm throughout the Philippines.
BBC reports that, so far, it is believed that nearly 10,000 people have been killed by the typhoon, with another 650,000 displaced, according to the UN.
The head of a UN disaster assessment coordination team, Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, said that “the last time I saw something of this scale was in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami,” comparing the destruction in the Philippines to that of the giant tsunami in 2004.
“This is destruction on a massive scale,” said Stampa.
The UN will provide tents, food, and other relief supplies to victims throughout the country. Emergency funds have also been given by the European Commission and the UK Rapid Response Facility. The United States is in process of delivering aircraft dedicated to search and rescue.
Photo courtesy of: Wikimedia Commons
