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By: Agence France-Presse | Jaime Sinapit, InterAksyon.com
November 10, 2013 1:04 PM

MANILA - (UPDATE 3:37PM) Giant waves as high as 20 feet of giant waves slammed into coastal barangays in Samar, killing at least 300 and leaving more than 2,000 missing at the height of super-typhoon “Yolanda”, an official of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) said on Sunday.

This was the first confirmation of large-scale fatalities in the island of Samar after Yolanda made landfall on the island before dawn Friday.

“Ang dagat ay tumaas ng halos 20 feet. ‘Yun nalunod ang mga tao, tumaas ang dagat. Oo, storm surge,” Engineer Leo Dacaynos of PDRRMC-Samar said in an interview with radio dzBB).

Aside from Basey, Dacaynos said another town hit by tsunami-like sea water was Marabut.

Dacaynos said in Basey, more than 300 bodies have so far been recovered. He estimated the missing to go up to more than 2,000 people.

The wounded, he said, also constitute huge numbers. “Maraming sugatan, marami,” he said. “Acting Gov. James Tan, also the  incident commander in Basey, is concentrating there.  It’s Basey that’s heavily damaged,” he Dacaynos said.

Marabut faces Tacloban City,  and there were reports many of those killed had taken shelter inside evacuation centers. He said their people had been unable to penetrate Marabut, though “clearing operations are ongoing already.”

Wounded in Villareal

Dacaynos also cited reports of many injured residents in the town of Villareal.

As for Guian, Eastern Samar, where thousands of people have been reported dead because of a storm surge, “We have no news from there. It’s a news blackout, because of the power outage. And there’s no cell phone signal. We are using ICOM radio communication,” said Dacaynos.

He appealed to the national government, non-government organizations, civic groups and foreign donors to prioritize the delivery of food supplies, drinking water, clothes and tents for temporary shelter.

First confirmation of large numbers of casualties

This was the first confirmation of large-scale fatalities in the island of Samar after Yolanda made landfall on the island before dawn Friday.

However vast areas of Samar, an island of over 733,000, still have not been contacted over two days after the typhoon struck.

Authorities estimate that more than 10,000 were killed by the storm in the neighboring island of Leyte and the death toll in other typhoon-hit areas is rising further as well.

Source:
InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

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