AFP’s first aerial survey of Guiuan reveals a town in ruins
Photo by Colonel Philip Lapinid of CENTCOM
MANILA, Philippines— The entire town of Guiuan in Eastern Samar, where monster typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan) made its first landfall at its peak strength early Friday, lay in ruins, an aerial survey showed.
“A Nomad aircraft of the Air Force flew over Guiuan on Sunday morning. That was the first aerial survey after the typhoon,” Armed Forces Central Command spokesman Lt. Jim Alagao told INQUIRER.net.
Based on an eyewitness account of civil military operations officer of Centcom Colonel Philip Lapinid who joined the aerial survey, 100 percent of structures in Guiuan “either had their roofs blown away or sustained major damage.”
“Nearly all coconut trees fell. We saw people in the streets, seemingly dazed. Trucks and cars were left in the streets where they were stopped in their tracks as Yolanda struck…It was almost lunchtime but there was no smoke from cooking fires,” he said in his Facebook post.
Unlike in Tacloban City in nearby Leyte province, Lapinid said in a separate interview with INQUIRER.net that there were no signs of dead bodies on the streets.
“There were a few people walking. No vehicles were moving but there were few bikes and motorcycles moving around,” he said.
Lapinid said the roads were not damaged but a lot of debris blocked the town proper.
Photo by Colonel Philip Lapinid of CENTCOM
The aerial survey flew around at 170 feet above sea level but did not land, adding that they did not fly over the rest of Eastern Samar because of thick clouds.
Yolanda’s first landfall in Guiuan was the strongest ever in world history, according to US weather experts. It made landfall with maximum sustained winds of 215 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 275 kph, based on the state weather bureau’s 10-minute average readings.
Communication system is down in the whole Eastern Visayas and Alagao said that they could not contact some of their units there even through military radios.
Lapinid said that relief supplies have yet to arrive in Guiuan. There were also no reports of casualties because of the bogged down communication lines.
He noted that the runway of the town’s airport seemed operational.
“The 2.4-km runway is clear of debris and could still be used by C130 aircraft,” Lapinid noted.
Photo by Colonel Philip Lapinid of CENTCOM
“But ground troops will need to clear the area before it lands. A chopper will fly there again tomorrow,” he added.
In the municipality of Basey in Samar, 300 were confirmed dead and 2,000 were estimated to be missing because of Yolanda, according to a local disaster official.
They were killed because of the storm surges that went up to 20 feet, engineer Leo Dacaynos said in a radio interview.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said that as of Sunday morning, 151 died from the typhoon, recorded as one of the world’s strongest ever recorded in modern times.
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