President Benigno Aquino vows to stay in typhoon-hit Tacloban
President says he will live among typhoon victims in hard-hit city until aid effort improves, amid a lack of clean water, food, shelter and power
The United Nations expressed fear on Monday that some Philippine islands hit by a giant typhoon have not been reached 10 days after disaster struck and President Benigno Aquino said the scale of suffering “tempted him to despair”.
Authorities estimate more than 3,900 people were killed when Typhoon Haiyan, one of the largest ever recorded, made landfall in the central Philippines and the sea surged ashore.
Philippine authorities, the US military and international agencies face a mounting humanitarian crisis, with the number of people displaced by the catastrophe estimated at four million, up from 900,000 late last week.
“As of now, personally, I am not so sure that we’ve reached every single portion of the territory where people are in need of aid,” he said.
“And, in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised that unfortunately that there might still be, as I’m speaking to you, day 11 of this disaster, there might be still very isolated islands.”