Caitlin Trude | Contributing Writer
The Philippines was the target of one of the strongest storms ever recorded when Typhoon Haiyan struck the central islands two weeks ago. With wind gusts up to 200 mph, the low-lying island regions were entirely flattened by the storm and more than one million homes were destroyed.
On Friday, Major Reynaldo Balido, a spokesman for the Philippines’ National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council confirmed that the death toll was at approximately 5,209.
“It’s hard to speculate if the death toll will increase significantly,” Balido said, who also confirmed that the islands affected by Haiyan were undergoing their third round of distributing relief.
Haiyan swept through the islands of Yolanda, located south of the Manila capital, injuring well over 20,000 and resulting in 1,611 missing persons.
According to Eduardo del Rosario, the executive director of NDRRMC, over four million people were displaced during the storm. Out of the million people who were displaced, one million of those were said to be children.
BBC News’ live news feed of the disaster reported that the Philippines had seen the worst of Haiyan, but the storm was headed towards Vietnam.
Though the Philippines are not unaccustomed with storm disasters, the country failed to make improvements in its storm preparedness. Philippine President Benigno Aquino attributed the failure in preparation to the local government, stating that spreading the awareness of the storm-surge danger zones along the islands’ coastlines should be implemented before such catastrophes.
Tacloban mayor Alfred Romualdez redirected the preparation problem back to Aquino: “The national government has to build a community of homes that should be able to weather the storm,” he said.
Although the Philippines is receiving aid from governments around the world, including the U.S., as well as from a number of relief organizations, the country is expected spend between three to five years undergoing restoration and reconstruction. NBC News reports that the total cost of damage is estimated over $288 million. An action plan aimed at reconstruction is expected to release in early December.