A signage near the St.Peter Chapel, Tacloban Leyte. RAFFY LERMA/INQUIRER PHOTO
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) put the death toll from Supertyphoon “Yolanda” at 2,357.
The toll released at 6 a.m. Thursday said there were 77 others missing and 3,853 injured.
It was unclear if the NDRRMC count included at least 706 reported from Basey and Marabut towns in Samar by its provincial branch.
The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) in Samar told the Inquirer 585 deaths had been recorded in Basey, of whom 148 were identified.
Christine Caidic of the PDRRMC said another 121 deaths were reported in Marabut and 36 missing.
Viewing the devastation from the air, Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone could not help but think that his province had been obliterated from the map.
Evardone, who arrived in Manila Thursday from visiting his province, appealed for immediate assistance and called on private donors to divert aid to the ravaged areas in Eastern Samar.
Evardone said 229 people were reported dead in Eastern Samar, 45 were missing and 52,041 families were affected. Nearly 6,000 houses were damaged, he said.
“When I saw the devastation in the province from the airplane, I thought there was no more Eastern Samar province,” Evardone, his voice choking with emotion, told reporters.—Dona Z. Pazzibugan, Leila B. Salaverria and Connie Fernandez, Inquirer Visayas
More than half of 2,357 deaths come from Leyte, Samar – NDRRMC
Aquino says ‘Yolanda’ death toll closer to 2,500, not 10,000