UN: Disparity in death toll is normal

MANILA, Philippines—Amid confusion over the death toll from Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international codename: Haiyan), the United Nations on Saturday said the disparity in the number of fatalities “is normal.”

UN Public Information Officer Orla Fagan told INQUIRER.net that the death toll discrepancy between the reports of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) and the National Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRMMC) is common during the initial stages of a disaster.

“The disparity is normal,” Fagan said a day after NDRRM spokesman Major Rey Balido dismissed UNOCHA casualty report as “not validated.”

“We do not want to create an issue with the government that’s why we are now closely coordinating with them,“ said Fagan.

NDRRMC chief Eduardo Del Rosario in a press conference Friday said the death toll increased to 3,621 from 2,360, and denied the 4,460 cited by UNOCHA in its report.

Del Rosario also said that the NDRRMC is the only agency that will provide official reports about the impact of supertyphoon that flattened large areas of the Visayas regions.

A Typhoon ‘Yolanda’ survivor carries a child wrapped in a towel as he watches a helicopter landing to bring aid to the destroyed town of Guiuan, Samar Island Friday. AP

Fagan said the UN agency is closely monitoring reports of the government.

It will take a long time for before the Philippine government and the UN can account the total number of fatalities, Fagan said.

The NDRRMC has said that a total of 9,073,804 people in nine regions were affected by “Yolanda”, considered the strongest typhoon on record to make landfall.

The recent Situation Report from UNOCHA showed, meanwhile, that aside from the 4,460 deaths, 11.8 million people have been displaced across Eastern Visayas, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, MIMAROPA, Calabarzon, Bicol, Northern Mindanao, Davao and Caraga.

UNOCHA, as stated in its report, was working in coordination with the DRRMC, Department of Social Welfare and Development .

“Yolanda” barreled through Visayas and Mindanao with maximum winds of over 300 kilometers per hour or 195 miles per hour.

Yolanda leveled homes and buildings, toppled trees and posts and swamped villages with storm surges of up to nine meters.

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