Update: Super Typhoon Haiyan or Yolanda dead now at 10,000 and more expected

To those checking on me: my family and close friends are all right, except for one. Father Desuyo's church was badly damaged; this is the church of Our Lady of Remedies in Odlot, Northern Cebu.  Almost all of his 6,000 parishioners lost their homes.

Some friends in the island of Cebu drove north to Odlot with food, water, medicines, and shared these pictures.  They saw destruction all along the coastal places.

The Philippines has many islands, and there are many small villages along the coast. I'm afraid the death toll will go higher than the current estimate of 10,000.

The power of super typhoon Haiyan was far greater than Filipinos expected. It was not enough for people in coastal villages to stay inside homes, gymnasiums, churches, because even the big structures were heavily damaged and some collapsed, killing the very people who sought refuge inside.

Filipinos are grieving.

~~~
From Reuters:
10,000 feared killed in Philippines by super typhoon Haiyan (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

An estimated 10,000 people might have been killed in the central Philippine province of Leyte alone, which was almost completely destroyed by the powerful typhoon Haiyan, local authorities said.
The typhoon has devastated up to 80 percent of the Leyte province area as it ripped through the Philippines, Chief Superintendent Elmer Soria told Reuters.
“We had a meeting last night with the governor and other officials. The governor said based on their estimate, 10,000 died,” Soria said.
Read more

Read also : USA Today

Before and After Typhoon Haiyan: The devastation in Tacloban

~~~
Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
...
Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth.
He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

photos courtesy of Rudy Alix, Jesus S. Matubis Jr., #RescuePH, and Louie Nacorda

Read also:
 Jews in the Philippines - 1940 and 2013
Childhood in the Path of Typhoons
Update - Destruction caused by Super Typhoon Haiyan or Yolanda 
 The Yolanda Aftermath in Photos
Typhoon Haiyan Hammers Philippines
Living with Typhoons in Manila and Cebu, Philippines
Bayanihan: Cebuanos helping Philippine victims 

tags: Philippines, Visayas, typhoon, storm, super typhoon, Haiyan, Yolanda, pictures, Northern Cebu, Odlot, Bantayan, Daan-Bantayan

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