Rappler Newscast | November 12, 2013

It’s day 4 after super typhoon Yolanda. The official death toll remains less than 2,000, but the UN and provincial officials say they believe more than 10,000 people are dead. There is a growing sense of desperation.  Food and water have not reached the people who need them, and the full extent of the damage is still unknown.

Story 1: CURFEW, ARMORED VEHICLES IN TACLOBAN
The government imposes a curfew and deploys armored vehicles in Tacloban City, an effort to end looting in one of the worst-hit areas from super typhoon Yolanda — international name Haiyan.
Desperate survivors ransack aid convoys for food, days after the city bore the full force of Friday’s category-five storm.
The most powerful typhoon to ever hit land triggered massive storm surges that flooded the city.
Provincial officials say they fear up to 10,000 people are killed.
With survivors desperate for aid, many resort to looting.
Residents say armed gangs steal items like televisions and washing machines from homes and shops.
On Tuesday, the city declares a curfew, from 10 pm to 6 am.
More soldiers and police are deployed to the city after local officials request help.
Checkpoints are set up to stop people from mobbing relief trucks.
Interior Secretary Mar Roxas says 4 armored personnel carriers are deployed to help restore law and order.
Roxas says the public works department cleared at least one lane of a highway entering the city, to speed up entry of supplies.

Story 2: SAT PHOTOS SHOW MASSIVE TACLOBAN DAMAGE
Satellite photos show the massive devastation the super typhoon wreaked over the Visayas.
In the post-typhoon damage assessment by the Copernicus Emergency Management Service, more than 700 houses were completely destroyed and more than 1200 damaged by the typhoon in Tacloban City alone.
The analysis compares pre- and post-event satellite images.
The images show 65% of the affected area is residential.
18 major roads are blocked, with blockages at 113 different locations.
The United Nations Institute for Training and Research also releases maps showing the destruction in Tabontabon and Dulag towns in Leyte.
The maps show parts of Dulag were “almost completely eradicated” by the typhoon.

Story 3: ‘MY PRAYER IS FOR OUR STORY TO REACH THE PRESIDENT’
In areas still without phone connections, one question often brings residents to tears: “Anong panawagan ninyo?” roughly translated – What are you asking for?
In the Eastern Samar municipality of Hernani, where at least 200 are feared dead, residents say they want their story to reach the president.

Story 4: YOLANDA TURNS GUIUAN TO A WASTELAND
Super Typhoon Yolanda first hit land in the fishing town of Guiuan in Eastern Samar.
It’s now a wasteland.
The typhoon knocked out Guiuan’s communication lines and toppled trees and electrical posts, blocking routes to the town.
Solar TV News reporter David Santos traveled for hours by motorcycle from the isolated town to Tacloban City.
Along the way, he saw scenes of chaos: buildings turned into rubble, and survivors homeless on the streets.
Strong winds caused much of the devastation in Guiuan – different from Tacloban, where much of the damage came from storm surges.
People here say they are used to tropical cyclones, but the force of the super typhoon was unprecedented.
Residents took shelter in schools and gyms, but the buildings meant to protect them came crumbling down.
Santos says it reminded him of the destruction in the town of Cateel, Davao Oriental, heavily damaged by Typhoon Pablo in 2012.
In Guiuan, aid workers uncover the dead and injured from the rubble of crushed buildings.
Santos talks about a married couple rescuers found crushed under the rubble of their own home.
The couple’s teenager was found under their bodies, unconscious but miraculously alive.

DAVID SANTOS, SOLAR TV NEWS REPORTER: You can just imagine na at the height of the typhoon, saka sila nag-scamper to safety kasi the place that was supposed to protect them, bumigay rin. You can just imagine lahat sila nagtatakbuhan parang mga langgam. Hindi nila alam kung saan sila pwede…makikita mo mga two years old, mga matandang matanda, nagpipilit lumakad sa malakas na ulan at malakas na hangin para lang makahanap ng masisilungan. (You can just imagine, at the height of the typhoon, people are scampering to look for better cover for safety. They were all running like ants, not knowing where to go. You can see two-year-old children and the elderly trying hard to walk in the strong wind and rain, just so they can find better shelter.)

Santos describes a state of anarchy – with no one in charge. Its 30 policemen are helpless against desperate crowds.
One resident tells Agence France-Presse armed men threaten to kill fellow survivors — not for money, but for food.
Each day that passes makes scarce food a more valuable commodity.
At a warehouse, people take whatever they can get: clothes, toys, household goods.

DAVID SANTOS, SOLAR TV NEWS REPORTER: There’s no way authorities can stop looting or anything at mga tao, they were frustrated, they were hungry, they were desperate. So they resorted to looting. Kita namin yung mga tao naghahakot ng mga pagkain na beyond kakainin nila pero because one did it, isa nag-umpisa, lahat na gumaya. (There’s no way authorities could stop the looting. The people were frustrated, hungry and desperate. So they resorted to looting. We saw people getting more food than they’d need, but because one of them started the looting, everyone else simply followed suit.)

Story 5: #RELIEFPH: VICTIMS OF TYPHOON YOLANDA NEED YOUR HELP
The United Nations says $301 million is needed to help 11.3 million people affected by the typhoon.
Food and supplies are slowly trickling in to the hardest-hit areas, but more help is needed.
Survivors need items like rice, mineral water, canned goods, noodles, and biscuits.
They also need clothes, blankets, toiletries, and medicines.
Rappler is compiling and updating a list of relief efforts for the typhoon victims.
Take a look at Rappler’s list to see how you can help.
If your community is organizing a relief drive, let us know by emailing move.ph@rappler.com.

Story 6: SEVERAL FACTORS TO DESTRUCTION CAUSED BY YOLANDA
Despite early warnings, typhoon Yolanda ravaged the Visayas.
The Washington Post reports a combination of factors contributed to the massive destruction: geography, population density, poverty, and quality of governance.
One of the hardest-hit areas, Tacloban City, lies on a funnel-shaped bay in the Leyte Gulf.
Its location and the shape of the bay made the city vulnerable to storm surges and put it squarely in the path of the typhoon’s disastrous winds.
The loss of life though could have been prevented if mass evacuations had been done.
But Tacloban City is located in a mountainous island where moving people out was not possible.
Shelters used as evacuation centers also collapsed under the brunt of the storm.
The Associated Press also says poverty, flimsy infrastructure, and a weak central government hampered preparation efforts.

Story 7: SOLONS WAIVE 2013 PDAF FOR YOLANDA (HAIYAN) VICTIMS
Members of the House of Representatives decide to let go of their remaining P12-billion pork barrel for 2013 to help the victims of this massive disaster.
The Supreme Court earlier issued a temporary restraining order on the pork barrel after several groups questioned its constitutionality.
The House’s decision is a departure from the earlier position of Speaker Sonny Belmonte.
In the aftermath of the Bohol earthquake last month, Senate President Franklin Drilon filed a resolution to realign senators’ 2013 pork barrel to the calamity fund because it is now considered as savings.
Back then, Belmonte says the remaining pork barrel cannot be realigned because of the Court’s order.
House members also agree to donate at least P10,000 of their salary to victims of the calamity.

Story 8: ‘ZORAIDA’ WEAKENS INTO LPA
Tropical depression Zoraida weakens into a low pressure area Tuesday afternoon.
As of 2 pm, the center of the system is located in the vicinity of San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, or 40 kilometers west of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur.
All public storm warning signals are lowered.
State weather bureau Pagasa says Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, the Zamboanga Peninsula and Northern Mindanao will experience moderate to heavy rain.
It is expected to persist for the next 6 to 12 hours

Story 9: THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ
At number 8, On the opening day of the UN Climate Change Conference in Poland, Naderev Saño of the Philippines’ Climate Change Commission tells the conference: end the climate crisis “madness.”
Saño’s speech comes after super typhoon Haiyan wreaked havoc across the Central Philippines.

NADEREV SAÑO, PHILIPPINE CLIMATE CHANGE COMMISSION: What my country is going through as a result of this extreme climate event is madness. The climate crisis is madness. We can stop this madness right here in Warsaw.

World nations begin talks in Warsaw, Poland to pave the way for a 2015 deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

At number 9, Iconic American TV investigative news program “60 Minutes” apologizes for its Benghazi story aired two weeks earlier.
Reporter Lara Logan apologizes on air for the report about the attack on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya last year.
Logan says their main source for the story, Dylan Davies, misled the program’s staff.
TV network CBS takes down the report and scrubs its Twitter feed.
Media critics urge CBS to begin an independent investigation of mistakes in the reporting process.

And at number 10, Iran agrees on a “roadmap for cooperation” with a UN nuclear watchdog to inspect the country’s disputed program.
Iran’s agreement allows inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit a water reactor in Arak and the Gachin uranium mine in the south.
At least a year from completion, the Arak reactor is a source of concern for Western powers, who fear the plutonium it will produce as a by-product could provide Iran with a second route to an atomic bomb.
But Iran says it intends to produce isotopes for medical and agricultural purposes.