Aquino 'tempted to despair' at typhoon toll (2)

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Aquino 'tempted to despair' at typhoon toll (2)

(Chinadaily.com.cn) 08:48, November 19, 2013

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Rosario Capidos cries thanking God that she and her family survived typhoon Haiyan as she prays during Sunday Mass at the damaged Santo Nino Church in Tacloban November 17, 2013. (Photo from chinadaily.com.cn)

Huge cost

The World Bank is to extend a $500 million emergency loan to support reconstruction of buildings that can withstand winds of 250 kph (150 mph) to 280 kph and resist severe flooding, it said in a statement.

Haiyan slammed central Philippine islands with 314 kph winds, causing tsunami-like storm surges that swallowed nearly the whole of Tacloban, once home to 220,000 people, in Leyte and Guiuan town in Eastern Samar.

Nearly 95 percent of the deaths from the typhoon came from Leyte and Eastern Samar.

Amateur video has emerged of the storm at its peak as it washed away a structure on the coast of Eastern Samar.

Aid worker Nickson Gensis, along with five others, took refuge in the top floor of a boarding house and while the others were praying, he pulled out his camera and started filming.

His footage shows the storm surge wash away a house and turn the area from barren land to sea in less than 30 seconds.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said the cost of rebuilding would be huge.

"It will be much more than the $500 million (from the World Bank), even the additional $500 million that the ADB (Asian Development Bank) is also promising to provide us," he said.

Aid from China

The first batch of Chinese aid for survivors of Typhoon Haiyan arrived in central Philippine city of Cebu, a relief goods distribution center, on Monday evening.

The relief aid including tents and blanket, shipped by a cargo plane of China Eastern Airlines, was handed over to the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and then will be sent to Tacloban, a worst-hit city in central Philippine province of Leyte.

Mercedita Jabagat, director of Philippine Region Seven Office, said the tents and blankets are badly needed for those who survived the deadly Typhoon Haiyan, adding that the Filipinos appreciate the support from China.

Wu Zhengping, counsellor of the Economic and Commercial Section of the Chinese Embassy, said Typhoon Haiyan has caused enormous losses to the Philippines, raising great concern of international community. China acts with compassion and kindness, and is willing to offer a helping hand to typhoon victims.

China will continue providing assistance of all forms to the victims, he added.

China provides 10 million RMB (73.2 million pesos) worth of relief goods to assist communities devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, apart from $200,000 donated by the Chinese government and China Red Cross.

To date, Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest of its kind for this year around the world, has killed 3,976 people and injured 18,175 in central Philippines. Another 1,598 people are still missing. Economic losses topped 10.38 billion pesos ($238.24 million).