Sri Lanka: Cameron Mobbed By Tamil Protesters

David Cameron has been mobbed by 250 Tamil protesters in north Sri Lanka, who claim their relatives have been murdered by the state.

In chaotic scenes, the Prime Minister's convoy was surrounded by demonstrators all trying to show him their family pictures and tell their stories of suffering in the country's 26-year civil war.

The protesters were the relatives of "the disappeared" - those who have just vanished without explanation but whom, it is alleged, have been either captured or killed by the state.

Sky's Deputy Political Editor Joey Jones, who is travelling with the Prime Minister, said: "He was in a vehicle, in his Jeep, but people spilled through the police line trying to get up towards the Prime Minister ...

"One or two young women really pressed up against the car as it was departing, trying to get photographs and testimony to what they fear may have happened to their loved ones to David Cameron."

The Prime Minister has travelled to the northern city of Jaffna, to meet Tamils scarred by years of ethnic fighting in the country, ahead of his meeting with the country's president in which he will raise the question of Sri Lanka's human rights record.

Protesters broke through the police lines

Mr Cameron, who is the first president or prime minister to travel to the region since Sri Lanka gained independent in 1948, said he had been confronted by "incredibly powerful" images during his visit to the north.

He said: "Going to the headquarters of a Tamil newspaper here in northern Sri Lanka and seeing pictures of journalists, shot and killed, on the walls and hearing stories of journalists who have disappeared long after the war has ended, that will stay with me.

"And also the image, in this camp, of talking to a young woman who came here when she was very young - a child in this camp - and wants nothing more than to go to her own home."

Mr Cameron added: "The fact is about this country that there is a chance of success because the war is over, the terrorism has finished, the fighting is done.

"Now what's needed is generosity and magnanimity from the Sri Lankan government to bring the country together."

The Prime Minister has pledged to use the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) to challenge President Mahinda Rajapaksa over "chilling" claims of human rights abuses. 

Mr Cameron meets with Tamils in a local village

As many as 40,000 civilians are estimated to have died in the final months of the regime's fight with Tamil Tiger separatists, according to the United Nations.

There have been allegations of battlefield executions and rapes by regime forces and claims they indiscriminately shelled Tamils fleeing the fighting as the Tigers were defeated.

Mr Cameron will put pressure on Mr Rajapaksa to agree to an independent inquiry into the alleged war crimes by state forces.

The UN says that abductions and torture continue in the country.

Mr Rajapaska used the international conference to warn the Commonwealth not to be judgemental.

He told those present that it was thanks to him that the "menace of terrorism" was at an end.

Police officers intervene as protesters attempt to get to Mr Cameron

He claimed the war crimes alleged to have been carried out by the military in 2009 amounted to "exerting the greatest right, the right to life" for his country's people.

Paul Harrison, Sky's Royal Correspondent who is in Colombo at the meeting, said: "The image of Sri Lanka which Mr Rajapaksa would rather portray to the world is one of handshakes with foreign heads of Government, colourful cultural shows and visits by royalty, like Prince Charles.

"After months of criticism ahead of the biennial Chogm meeting, this time in the Sri Lankan capital, Mr Rajapaksa hijacked his own international conference to warn the Commonwealth not to be 'judgemental'."

Labour leader Ed Miliband had called on Mr Cameron to boycott the Chogm event in protest at Sri Lanka's human rights record and said he should join other Commonwealth members to block Mr Rajapaska from taking up the two-year chairmanship of the 53-nation group.

But Mr Cameron insisted it was far better to go and raise concerns than stay away.

Earlier on Friday Prince Charles kicked off the Commonwealth summit at a colourful opening ceremony in the capital, Colombo, declaring his "admiration" for the way the country has rebuilt after a devastating tsunami in 2004.

10.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Patient Neglect To Be Made A Criminal Offence

Wilful neglect of patients will be made a criminal offence under NHS reforms being introduced in the wake of the Mid Staffs and other care scandals.

Prime Minister David Cameron said health workers who mistreated and abused patients would face "the full force of the law" in a package of measures to be unveiled next week.

The offence will be modelled on laws against the wilful neglect of adults under the Mental Capacity Act, punishable by fines or up to five years in prison.

The move was one of the central recommendations of a patient safety review commissioned by ministers in the wake of findings that there were up to 1,200 excess deaths at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

It was led by Professor Don Berwick, a former adviser to US President Barack Obama, who said it was needed to target the worst cases of a "couldn't care less" attitude that led to "wilful or reckless neglect or mistreatment".

Mr Cameron said: "The NHS is full on brilliant doctors, nurses and other health workers who dedicate their lives to caring for our loved ones.

"But Mid-Staffordshire hospital showed that sometimes the standard of care is not good enough.

"Never again will we allow substandard care, cruelty or neglect to go unnoticed and unpunished.

"This offence will make clear that neglect is unacceptable and those who do so will feel the full force of the law."

10.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Typhoon Haiyan Survivors Call Astrodome 'Home'

Thousands of Typhoon Haiyan survivors who sought shelter in an astrodome are still waiting for food and water.

The large venue in Tacloban has been a temporary home for them for six days but they are yet to receive any aid.

"What can we do? There's nothing we can do," says Corazon Cecleno, a volunteer with the village council who had handed out food stamps to the occupants - stamps for food that has yet to arrive.

"We really want to know why the distribution of help is so slow."

The astrodome survived the storm that flattened most of Tacloban

People are seeking water where they can, from broken standpipes or in tarpaulins in other buildings, often it is dirty and salty. They are also attempting to dry out ocean-soaked rice grains in the sun.

"We have no choice," said Moses Rosilio, a neighbour who is squatting in the restaurant and whose baby is due by the end of the month.

"I'm feeling nervous," she said. "There are no clothes for my baby ... I don't know, I don't know. Maybe I'll give birth here."

Sky's Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay, in Tacloban, said aid has been extremely slow to get through.

"It has been a strange reaction to a huge disaster and it is taking much too long. By now, you'd think there would be critical aid here already," he said.

Tacloban city was worst hit by the typhoon

"I think there are a lot of questions to be asked. I've covered a lot of disasters and never seen it like this.

"By now you'd normally expect to see trucks on the roads, United Nations tents being handed out, people living in them - none of that is happening at all.

"It's difficult to understand why that preliminary assistance that can be given hasn't happened, and it's making people extremely unhappy.

"They are now dependent upon their families, many of whom are coming over to the various affected areas to try and bring what they can."

Mass burials have begun in Tacloban

UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos earlier said people had been "let down" by the slow dispersal of aid.

"The situation is dismal," she told reporters in Manila. "Those who have been able to leave have done so. Many more are trying. People are extremely desperate for help.

"We need to get assistance to them now. They are already saying it has taken too long to arrive. Ensuring a faster delivery is our ... immediate priority."

As survivors jostle for aid, the first mass burials have taken place in Tacloban, which was worst-affected by the storm.

HMS Illustrious will arrive on November 25

Officials said efforts had been made to identify the bodies so families have a chance of finding out what happened to their loved ones in the days and weeks to come. It was not immediately clear whether this included DNA testing.

The United Nations has confirmed that the typhoon killed 4,460 people, citing a government agency as the source of the figure.

That figure could rise, perhaps significantly, when information is collected from other areas of the disaster zone.

The USS George Washington aircraft carrier has arrived near the Gulf of Leyte and will set up a position off the coast of Samar Island to assess the damage and provide medical and water supplies.

Britain is deploying two warships, HMS Illustrious and HMS Daring, to the country to help with the relief effort.

At least £23m has been raised by the British public to help affected people and the British Government is also providing £20m.

:: To make a donation to the DEC Philippines Crisis Appeal visit www.dec.org.uk, call the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, donate over the counter at any high street bank or post office or send a cheque.

You can also donate £5 by texting the word SUPPORT to 70000.

10.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

GP Contract Deal Could Relieve Pressure On A&E

A new contract for GPs has been agreed which will allow doctors to focus on keeping more patients out of hospital A&E units and into out-of-hours care.

The changes will mean every person aged 75 and over will be assigned a named, accountable GP to ensure patients received co-ordinated care.

GPs will also take on more responsibility for out-of-hours care, with a commitment to monitor the quality of those services being used by their patients.

Concerns have been raised over the quality of out-of-hours care since a 2004 GP contract enabled family doctors to opt out of night and weekend work by sacrificing £6,000 a year in salary.

Under the new agreement, there will be an "enhanced service" for patients with complex health needs to avoid them being unnecessarily admitted to hospital or A&E.

Jeremy Hunt has said the personal link between patients and GPs was broken

Emergency care departments will have easier telephone access to GPs to decide whether or not a patient needs to be admitted.

And new IT systems will improve the ability of patients to book appointments online and to access their summary medical record.

The quality and outcomes framework (QOF) - which financially rewards GPs for hitting targets in areas such as diabetes care - will also be cut.

The British Medical Association (BMA), which negotiated for doctors, said the changes would cut unnecessary targets, reduce bureaucratic box-ticking and give doctors more time to focus on the needs of their patients.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the BMA's GP committee, said: "We recognise that GPs are facing unprecedented pressures on workload with rising demand and limited resources.

"From the outset of this year's contract talks, the BMA has sought to positively engage with the Government to address the difficult financial and workload pressures facing general practice, in order to find new ways of improving patient care, while at the same time freeing up GPs and practice nurses from pointless bureaucracy.

"Our agreement will deliver real benefit to patients and build on the work already carried out by GPs."

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, said: "The 2004 GP contract broke the personal link between GP and patient.

"It piled target after target on doctors, took away their responsibility for out-of-hours care and put huge pressure on our A&E departments.

"This Government has a plan to sort this out and today's announcement of a new GP contract is a vital step."

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham, said: "No amount of spin can hide the fact that David Cameron has made it harder to get a GP appointment.

"This announcement will not put an end to patients phoning the surgery at 9am and finding it impossible to get an appointment - many of whom, not happy with a phone consultation, will still turn to A&E."

:: Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt will appear live on Sky News at 6.30am.

10.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Most Wanted British Fugitives Hunted In Spain

By Rhiannon Mills, Sky News Reporter

An "unlucky 13" of Britain's most wanted criminals who are thought to be hiding in Spain will be unveiled today, including the suspected leader of a £90m cocaine-smuggling ring.

Ian Stanton, 42, from Liverpool, is accused of being the ringleader of a gang who smuggled more than 400kg of cocaine to the UK hidden in a shipment of Argentinian beef.

The drugs were found at Tilbury docks in Essex in May, and the shipment was due to be delivered to a cold-storage company in Wigan.

He has links to Merseyside - specifically Crosby, Kirkby and Maghull - but also London, the Netherlands and Spain.

The full list of 13 is due to be unveiled in Madrid by Crimestoppers, the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) and Spanish police, in the eighth appeal of its kind run under Operation Captura.

Hank Cole from the NCA told Sky News: "They are a mixture of serious criminals ranging from alleged sex offenders, those who've committed or attempted to commit murder, and significant drug traffickers.

"So these are the worst or most serious criminals that the National Crime Agency is looking to capture.

"Historically Spain had no extradition treaty to the UK so it was seen as a safe haven for UK criminals, since then the law has changed and we've successfully extradited large numbers of UK criminals back to the UK."

The initiative, targeting criminals thought to have fled to Spain, was launched in 2006 and so far has seen 53 out of 63 suspects caught.

Crimestoppers founder Lord Ashcroft said: "Despite our success so far, there are still a number of dangerous criminals who see Spain as a safe haven to hide from their past. But with the support of the Spanish and UK public, we can hunt them out and bring them to justice."

10.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Typhoon Haiyan: Flow Of Foreign Aid Quickens

More aid is reaching the desperate victims of Typhoon Haiyan, as the international relief effort continues to build momentum.

But as vital help arrives for more survivors, some in the worst-hit areas say they still have not seen any aid since the typhoon struck on Friday. 

The Philippines Government said it had received more than £56m in foreign aid so far and praised the "generous and swift response".

Britain's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal reached £13m within 24 hours of its launch.

The city of Tacloban was destroyed in the disaster

DEC chief executive Saleh Saeed said: "People have given so generously in such a short space of time."

The United Nation's World Food Programme said nearly 50,000 people around the stricken city of Tacloban received rice in family food packages on Wednesday.

The packs include three kilogrammes of canned food and rice - enough to feed a family for a few days, the WFP said.

More packages will be handed out in the coming days as relief operations continue to reach more of the 11 million people affected by the disaster.

Residents take shelter in a Tacloban church

The Salvation Army UK and Ireland has launched its own appeal and a team in the Philippines is making arrangements with the Air Force to transport food parcels, water and medical supplies to Tacloban in in Leyte province.

Britain's first flight delivering humanitarian aid arrived earlier on Wednesday, the Government has said.

A chartered Boeing 777 carrying 8,836 shelter kits from UK Government stores in Dubai landed in Cebu City and will be delivered to those in worst-affected areas.

A team of US Marines already on the ground has given out relief supplies for the effort, called Operation Damayan, or Help in Time of Need.

A US Marine coordinates the loading of water at an air base near Manila

UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos applauded the international community's reaction, but said much more needed to be done in a disaster of such magnitude.

Hundreds of thousands of people have had their homes damaged or destroyed and are in desperate need of food, water and shelter after the typhoon smashed into the island nation, leaving thousands dead.

Logistical bottlenecks have been holding up relief goods from reaching parts of the disaster zone.

Sky's Asia Correspondent Mark Stone, in the ruined village of Tabontabon in Leyte, said "at the moment no-one is here to help".

"Those who survived desperately need help. There is nothing like enough supplies or aid here and there is a depressing lack of co-ordination."

Homeless Tacloban residents inside a school

Tabontabon community leader Miguel Gamez said: "What we really need is food, safe drinking water and materials for us to build our houses."

In nearby Tacloban, the situation is also dire, with essential supplies low and increasingly desperate survivors jostling for aid.

Gunshots also reportedly forced the delay of a mass burial of victims in the ruined city.

Mayor Alfred Romualdez said: "We had finished digging the mass burial site. We had the truck loaded with bodies but there was some shooting. They could not proceed."

Eight people were also crushed to death in Alangalang town, 10 miles from Tacloban, after a huge crowd of typhoon survivors rushed a government rice warehouse, causing a wall to collapse.

The incident underlined the increasing sense of fear and desperation setting in among those battling to survive the aftermath of the typhoon.

Locals in Tacloban also reported seeing members of the army firing guns, as well as armed civilians in the street.

Meanwhile, it was reported that a 13-year-old boy who was walking alone through the city at night was slashed across the neck and stabbed in the stomach.

The country is struggling to cope with the number of bodies

The latest official government death toll stands at 2,344, with 3,804 injured and a further 79 missing.

But authorities have said they have not come close to accurately assessing the number of bodies lying amid the rubble or swept out to sea.

President Benigno Aquino has declared a "state of national calamity", allowing the government to impose price controls and quickly release emergency funds.

The US and the UK are sending warships to the Philippines, which will reach the region in the next few days.

10.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Typhoon Haiyan: Families Search For Relatives

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent, in Leyte

Many thousands of relatives of those who were hit by the typhoon still have no idea of the fate of their loved ones.

At the ferry terminal in Cebu City, hundreds are queuing to make the hardest of journeys.

Communications on the neighbouring island where their families live are down, the pictures emerging are grim and so the only way they will find out if their families survived is to go.

Ramon Gerado Jnr, 46, has made an extraordinary journey to find his family.

Like so many Filipinos, Ramon works abroad. So for three days he travelled from Saudi Arabia, where he is a construction worker.

The rubble of Ramon's home town of Tacloban

"I am praying that my family is OK. But still, I am ...." he stops. It all seems too much.

We board the ferry for the two-hour crossing to Leyte Island.

It is packed, and with another storm coming, the sea is rough.

Everyone on board must be thinking the same thing: a mixture of hope and dread.

Sitting next to me are two young women. They are in their late teens I would guess, and judging by their appearance they are sisters.

They are not talking. They are deep in thought. They seem far away, staring out of the window at the coastline of their battered homeland.

I decide not to break their thoughts by engaging in conversation, so I can only guess why they are making the journey.

It is pretty obvious, though. If they are like the other 99% then they, too, are making the journey to find out the fate of their families.

Both are clutching their mobile phones, presumably hoping the brightly-coloured handsets might suddenly defy the lack of signal and ring with good news.

As we arrive at the small city of Ormoc, on Leyte Island, we start to get a sense of the scale of devastation.

Worried relatives from afar travel on the ferry to look for loved ones

The buildings are roofless, the trees that are still standing have been stripped of all their branches. And this is only the beginning of the journey.

We decide to take to take the journey with Ramon, at his request, to discover the fate of his wife and five children.

It is an extremely difficult drive. As each mile passes the destruction worses. It's hard to imagine Ramon's emotions.

Finally, after four hours, we reach the eye of the storm, Tacloban city, Ramon's home. It is devastated.

Some 10,000 people are thought to have died here.

Five days on, the stench from the bodies that still lie wrapped on the side of the streets is overwhelming.

Then, as we fight through this hell, Ramon spots a friend.

After some confusion, there is joy as he learns his family has survived.

But he wants to see them with his own eyes to be certain.

As night falls, he spots what was once was his home.

"No more roof," he says as he approaches.

Ramon sees his home as night falls

Finally a moment we honestly feared wouldn't come. One by one Ramon's three sons come out to greet him, followed by his two daughters, and finally in an emotional scene he is reunited with his wife.

A family is reunited and unscathed - against every odd.

:: To make a donation to the DEC Philippines Crisis Appeal visit www.dec.org.uk, call the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, donate over the counter at any high street bank or post office or send a cheque.

You can also donate £5 by texting the word SUPPORT to 70000.

10.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Typhoon Haiyan: Race To Get Aid To Survivors

As the international community races to get aid into the Typhoon Haiyan disaster zone, survivors are struggling to cope without shelter, clean water or food.

The Philippines is grappling with the aftermath of Friday's typhoon, with shattered communications and transport links hampering relief efforts.

It is feared that thousands of people have died, making it one of the deadliest storms in recorded history.

With communications down many Filipinos living in neighbouring provinces simply do not know if their loved ones are still alive.

And families and friends of the missing based overseas have taken to social media in an effort to locate their loved ones.

The United Nations has launched a global appeal for aid, estimating that $301m (£190m) will be needed.

A man places a cross beside a body covered in a blanket in Leyte

The UK's first flight, delivering more than 8,800 shelter kits, has now landed in the country.

The delivery came as the Queen has also made a personal donation to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal which was launched on Tuesday.

In a message to Filipino President Benigno Aquino, the monarch said: "Prince Philip joins me in offering our heartfelt condolences to the victims and their families at this difficult time."

The Queen's message came after the Government announced it would match public donations to leading UK charities.

Under a new agreement with the DEC - made up of 14 charities - the first £5m donated will be matched pound for pound.

The Government had already committed £10m in aid, so the additional £5m commitment will increase the UK's support to £15m in total.

Britain is also deploying a Royal Navy warship with equipment to make drinking water from seawater and a military transport aircraft.

The US is sending an aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington.

The scale of the disaster and challenges of delivering the assistance mean few in areas strewn with debris and corpses have received much help yet.

Sky's Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay, who is in Cebu City, has said the "grim situation" there has not improved.

He said there has been a huge amount of destruction and that almost every building in the storm zone has been damaged.

"People in Cebu are concerned they have been forgotten in favour of other areas hit by the typhoon," Ramsay said. "We're not seeing the massive aid that you would expect and hope to see by this stage.

"The relief situation isn't really under way. There is a general feeling that the authorities have not taken control of this and it has all been chaotic."

He said people have been begging along the roadside in the early hours of the morning.

"People are sleeping rough or anywhere they can," he said.

There are also fears that another storm is due to hit, bring much rain.

The devastation near the airport in Tacloban on Leyte island

To the east of Cebu is the island of Leyte, where Sky's Asia Correspondent Mark Stone said up to 20 people had been killed by falling bags of rice in the scramble to get to aid supplies from a warehouse.

Stone travelled to the island with people who did not know if their family members were alive or dead.

"There's no mobile phone network here, no way of communicating," he said.

The official number of dead in the disaster rose to 1,774 on Tuesday, though authorities have said they expect that to rise markedly.

The UN warned that 10,000 people were feared dead in just one city, Tacloban, in Leyte.

But the President said the toll could actually be closer to 2,000 or 2,500.

"Ten thousand, I think, is too much. There was emotional drama involved with that particular estimate," Mr Aquino told CNN.

Two Americans are among the dead, the US State Department has confirmed.

:: To make a donation to the DEC Philippines Crisis Appeal visit www.dec.org.uk, call the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, donate over the counter at any high street bank or post office or send a cheque.

You can also donate £5 by texting the word SUPPORT to 70000.

10.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Typhoon Aid Appeal Amid Urgent Relief Effort

Aid agencies have issued a plea for donations to help the millions of people affected by the catastrophic Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

Britain will contribute a total of £10m to the relief effort and send Royal Navy warship HMS Daring to provide humanitarian assistance.

Prime Minister David Cameron also said a RAF C-17 aircraft would be deployed, with equipment including forklift trucks, temporary shelters, water purification tablets and blankets on board.

International Development Secretary Justine Greening said the scenes of devastation wrought by the typhoon were "shocking in their scale".

"We know that the survivors, especially vulnerable children and women, now face a grim and uncertain future," she said.

Many of those affected by the disaster need injuries treated

"Britain is determined to stand by the Philippines and we have now pledged a total of £10m to get 800,000 people the food."

The United States is giving £12m and sending marines and equipment to help, while Australia will contribute £6m.

Japan is sending a 25-member relief team of mostly medical staff, while even Vietnam - itself expected to be hit by the storm - has donated £63,000 and said it "stands by the Philippine people in this difficult situation".

The United Nations said relief teams were on the ground in some of the affected areas, helping some 660,000 displaced survivors.

Residents clear a road of a fallen electrics post in Daanbantayan

John Ging, from the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said: "On this occasion we don't need very much assessment; we know precisely what the needs are when you look at the scale of the devastation."

He said the two main priorities are to feed survivors and to bury the thousands of dead - which he said was urgent in order to avoid outbreaks of "public health disasters."

Aid organisations warned they were being hampered by widespread devastation and Save the Children said it was helping survivors who were having to cope with the "worst possible conditions".

Lynette Lim of the charity said: "We are working round the clock to offer the basic life essentials to the 4.3 million people we estimate are affected.

"We are witnessing the complete devastation of a city. In Tacloban everything is flattened. Bodies litter the street, many, many of which are children. From what I saw, two out of every five bodies was that of a child.

"Children are particularly vulnerable in disasters. We fear for how many children have been washed away in floods, crushed under falling buildings and injured by flying debris. Many are separated from their families amid the devastation, and all are in desperate need of food, water and shelter."

10.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Typhoon Haiyan: New Storm On Way

Rescuers are struggling to get desperately needed aid to areas of the Philippines devastated by Typhoon Haiyan - as a new storm approaches.

Aid workers are being held back by blocked roads and damaged airports as they try to deliver tents, food and medicines to the worst-affected areas.

Troops have been sent to the city of Tacloban to restore law and order after reports of looting, with Filipino President Benigno Aquino declaring a state of calamity and considering whether martial law is necessary.

Vehicles were left strewn amid the destruction in Tacloban (pic: Unicef)

Looters have reportedly broken into supermarkets, while a Red Cross aid convoy was raided. Consumer goods such as televisions and washing machines have also been stolen.

With at least 10,000 people thought to have been killed by the typhoon and two million affected, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced the UK would contribute £10m to aid efforts.

Britain will also deploy Royal Navy warship HMS Daring to provide humanitarian assistance and RAF military transport aircraft to take equipment and supplies.

Children plead for help in typhoon-hit town Tabogon

In Tacloban, corpses hung from trees and were scattered in the streets. As others remained buried in flattened buildings, survivors were left pleading for food, water and medicine.

One UN official said he was told there had been a three-metre (10ft) water surge through the city.

A further 300 are confirmed dead and 2,000 missing on the neighbouring island of Samar.

A woman mourns next to the body of her husband and others

Water has been cut off in many areas, making the relief effort more difficult.

Threatening to further hamper relief efforts is a new storm approaching the southern and central Philippines.

Government weather forecasters said the tropical depression could bring fresh floods to typhoon-affected areas.

The depression is expected to hit land on the southern island of Mindanao late Tuesday and then move across the central islands of Bohol, Cebu, Negros and Panay, which all suffered typhoon damage, forecaster Connie Dadivas said.

Survivors make their way through the rubble of destroyed buildings

It could bring "moderate to heavy" rains, or about five to 15 millimetres (0.2 to 0.6 inches) per hour, he said.

Sky's Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay, in Manila, said: "The relief operation is only just getting going, it's fairly piecemeal at the moment.

A displaced child and her mother in an evacuation centre (pic: Unicef)

"They really don't have the volume of aircraft they need to either get aircraft in or people out in sufficient quantities to try and control what has become, day-by-day, a more difficult situation."

At least six people have also been killed in Vietnam after the typhoon made landfall near the Chinese border.

Some 600,000 people were evacuated from at-risk areas in the north of the country before Haiyan - downgraded to a weaker Category One storm - battered the coast with 98mph (157kmph) winds.

Philippine Army members board a US plane on the way to help survivors

All schools in capital Hanoi were closed on Monday and extra police were dispatched to redirect traffic in flood-prone areas.

At least two million people are said to have been directly affected by the typhoon's path and the death toll is expected to rise further as rescuers reach cut-off areas.

"This area has been totally ravaged", said Sebastien Sujobert, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Tacloban.

The winds felled trees and homes across swathes of the country

"Many lives were lost, a huge number of people are missing, and basic services such as drinking water and electricity have been cut off."

Haiyan hit the east coast of the Philippines on Friday and smashed through its central islands, with winds of 147mph (235 kmph) and a storm surge of 20ft (six metres).

Video from Eastern Samar province's Guiuan township - the first area where the typhoon made landfall - also showed a trail of devastation. Many houses were flattened and roads were strewn with debris and uprooted trees. 

Survivors now face the prospect of rebuilding their lives

Witnesses reported seeing looting and violence, with President Aquino admitting it was a major concern.

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala told AFP news agency that 100 soldiers had been sent to help police restore law and order in Tacloban.

The United Nations said it was sending supplies but access to the worst-hit areas was a challenge.

Looters carry away supplies from a shop

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has directed the military's Pacific Command to deploy ships and aircraft to support search-and-rescue operations and airlift emergency supplies.

The European Commission has released €3m (£2.5m) in emergency funds, while the UK is providing £6m in aid and Prime Minister David Cameron has telephoned President Aquino to offer his support.

10.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Typhoon Survivors Hunt For Food 'Like Zombies'

Survivors of the super typhoon that has devastated several islands in the Philippines have begun scavenging for food and looting shops in order to stay alive, witnesses say.

Shopping centres and grocery stores in hard-hit Tacloban have reportedly been stripped of goods as rescuers' efforts to deliver food and water are hampered by severed roads and communications.

"Tacloban is totally destroyed. Some people are losing their minds from hunger or from losing their families," high school teacher Andrew Pomeda, 36, said as he warned of the increasing desperation of survivors.

"People are becoming violent. They are looting business establishments, the malls, just to find food, rice and milk. I am afraid that in one week, people will be killing from hunger."

Witnesses described how survivors are forming long queues at aid stations, waiting desperately for handouts of rice and water.

"Zombie-like" survivors trudge along roads thick with mud

Some sit and stare, covering their faces with rags to keep out the smell of the dead.

One woman, eight months pregnant, described through tears how her 11 family members vanished in the storm, including two daughters.

"I can't think right now. I am overwhelmed," she said.

During a visit to Tacloban, President Benigno Aquino acknowledged that looting had emerged as a major concern after only 20 out of 390 of the city's police officers turned up for work following the typhoon.

"So we will send about 300 police and soldiers to take their place and bring back peace and order," he said.

Looters take supplies from a shop which has had the gate broken open

"Tonight, an armoured vehicle will arrive and our armed forces will display the strength of the state to put a stop to this looting."

Aid agencies have warned that many of the 480,000 people whose homes have been destroyed by the bludgeoning force of the cyclone face a desperate battle to survive.

"Everything is gone. Our house is like a skeleton and we are running out of food and water. We are looking for food everywhere," said Jenny Chu, a medical student in Leyte.

"Even the delivery vans were looted. People are walking like zombies looking for food. It's like a movie."

Nancy Chang, who was in Tacloblan City on a business trip from China and walked three hours through mud and debris for a military-led evacuation, said: "It's like the end of the world."

Two men drag a corpse towards rescuers

Relief efforts are being hampered by the complete destruction of the airport, where seawaters shattered the glass of the airport tower, levelled the terminal and overturned vehicles.

Military aircraft and helicopters, which are in limited supply in the Philippines, are the only way in and out of the city.

Amid the destruction, extraordinary stories of survival are starting to emerge.

Lieutenant Colonel Fermin Carangan of the Philippine Air Force said he and 41 officers were sheltering in their airport office when "suddenly the sea water and the waves destroyed the walls and I saw my men being swept by waters one by one".

He was swept away from the building and clung to a coconut tree with a seven-year-old boy.

Hundreds of people queue for food at a Tacloban airport aid centre

"In the next five hours we were in the sea buffeted by wind and strong rain. I kept on talking to the boy and giving him a pep talk because the boy was telling me he was tired and he wanted to sleep."

He finally saw land and swam with the boy to a beach strewn with dead bodies.

He said: "I think the boy saved my life because I found strength so that he can survive."

The World Food Programme said it was airlifting 40 tonnes of high-energy biscuits, enough to feed 120,000 people for a day, as well as emergency supplies and telecommunications equipment.

Aid agencies said relief efforts in the Philippines are stretched thin after a 7.2 magnitude quake in central Bohol province last month and another refugee crisis due to conflict in southern Zamboanga province.

The US embassy in Manila has pledged $100,000 towards relief supplies and the Australian government gave A$390,500 but some expressed anger at the slow pace of rescue efforts. 

10.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Super Typhoon Haiyan: '10,000 Could Be Dead'

At least 10,000 people are thought to have been killed in the Philippine city of Tacloban by Typhoon Haiyan, officials believe.

A further 300 are confirmed dead with 2,000 missing in the neighbouring island of Samar.

Up to 4.3 million people are said to have been directly affected by the typhoon's path and the death toll is expected to rise further as rescuers reach cut-off areas.

If the death toll estimate by government officials is confirmed, it would be the deadliest natural catastrophe on record in the Philippines.

Coffins are left on a street

Up to 70-80% of homes have been destroyed in Tacloban and other areas in the typhoon's path, according to Justin Morgan of Oxfam.

Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas said: "From a helicopter, you can see the extent of devastation. From the shore and moving a kilometre inland, there are no structures standing. It was like a tsunami.

"I don't know how to describe what I saw. It's horrific."

Most of the dead are understood to have drowned or were crushed by collapsed buildings. Many corpses hung on tree branches, buildings and in the roads.

A fishing boat was picked up and deposited atop a sea of housing debris

"On the way to the airport we saw many bodies along the street," said Philippine-born Australian Mila Ward, 53, who was waiting at the Tacloban airport to catch a military flight back to Manila.

"They were covered with just anything - tarpaulin, roofing sheets, cardboards," she said. Asked how many, she said, "Well over 100 where we passed."

But the destruction extended well beyond Tacloban, a city of 200,000. Officials are yet to make contact with Guiuan, a town of 40,000 that was first hit by the typhoon.

A woman mourns next to the dead body of her husband and other corpses

Baco, a city of 35,000 people in Oriental Mindoro province, was 80% under water, the UN said.

The Philippines has limited resources on its own to deal with a disaster of this magnitude, say experts.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has directed the military's Pacific Command to deploy ships and aircraft to support search-and-rescue operations and airlift emergency supplies.

A boy carries away supplies he has collected from rescue workers

But the command is headquartered in Hawaii, with one carrier group currently in port in Hong Kong, so it is thought it will be some days before it reaches the affected area.

The European Commission has released 3m euros ($4m; £2.5m) in emergency funds and is sending a team of humanitarian experts.

The UK is providing £6m in emergency humanitarian aid. A team of four experts has already been sent to the country.

Residents beside a road littered with debris

Prime Minister David Cameron telephoned Philippine president Benigno Aquino III to offer the UK's full support and thoughts.

Haiyan was one of the strongest tropical storms ever to have made landfall, lashing the Philippines with wind gusts of 170mph (275kph) and whipping up a storm surge which swallowed coastal towns and villages.

Although the storm weakened to a category one hurricane when it hit northern Vietnam, with 75mph (120kmph) winds, there are fears that many other people could be affected.

A pregnant woman cooks a meal inside a building overlooking Tacloban

Nearly a million people were evacuated from central provinces before the path of Haiyan turned further north.

The typhoon passed very close to the Chinese island of Hainan, where a further 130,000 people were relocated.

Six people died during Vietnamese evacuations and six are missing off China after authorities lost contact with their cargo boat.

A map showing the direction of Typhoon Haiyan

About 100,000 Britons visit Vietnam every year and the Foreign Office is advising travellers to follow advice from local authorities as well as having teams on standby.

Tacloban, a city of 220,000 people south of Manila, bore the brunt of Haiyan in the Philippines. Bodies have been seen floating in roads covered with debris from fallen trees, tangled power lines and flattened homes.

"The dead are on the streets, they are in their houses, they are under the debris, they are everywhere," said Tecson John Lim, a Tacloban city administrator.

Among those feared dead is an Australian ex-priest Kevin Lee, who moved to the Philippines after blowing the whistle on abuse in the Catholic Church in his home country, it has been reported.

The previous deadliest disaster to hit the Philippines was in 1976, when a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake killed between 5,000 and 8,000 people.

10.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Super Typhoon Haiyan: Thousands Feared Dead

Thousands of people are feared to have been killed in the areas of the Philippines hit by Super Typhoon Haiyan.

The country's Red Cross says it has been told there are 1,000 dead in Tacloban and 200 in Samar alone.

A Red Cross spokesman said: "We now fear that thousands will have lost their lives."

Flooded fields and wrecked villages in Iloilo Province

The scale of devastation led one UN disaster official to compare the destruction to that caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

The official death toll had reached 138 by 1pm on Saturday (UK time) but there are fears the eventual death toll will be "massive" after the tropical cyclone smashed through the country with winds gusting up to 170mph.

And there are growing fears for Vietnam which is now in the path of what has been called one of the most powerful recorded cyclones in history.

A truck was picked up by the high winds and slammed against a tree

Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, head of a United Nations disaster assessment coordination team, said: "This is destruction on a massive scale.

"The last time I saw something of this scale was in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami."

Around 220,000 people died as a result of that disaster.

Typhoon Haiyan pictured from International Space Station

Gwendolyn Pang, Philippine Red Cross secretary general said: "An estimated more than 1,000 bodies were seen floating in Tacloban. In Samar, about 200 deaths. Validation is ongoing."

When asked how many had died in just the coastal town of Palo and its surrounding area, Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla said: "I think hundreds. Palo, Ormoc, Burauen... Carigara, they all looked the same."

Scores of towns and villages are thought to have been inundated with water after storm surges flooded low-lying areas, drowning many in their path.

A mother weeps beside the dead body of her son

TV pictures showed cars, trees and rubble from houses strewn across streets after they were picked up by giant waves and carried inland.

"Almost all houses were destroyed, many are totally damaged. Only a few are left standing," said Major Rey Balido, a spokesman for the national disaster agency.

About a million people evacuated because they were living in the typhoon's path have been returning to find out what is left of their houses.

Children play among downed power lines

Many of those who died are thought to have left shelters in an urgent bid to rescue valuables from their homes, unaware of the giant waves flooding through coastal towns.

Hundreds of thousands are thought to have been left homeless.

British team of humanitarian experts is due to fly out to the Philippines to help the UK Government decide what aid to send.

Residents carry the body of a loved one

An appeal launched by the British Red Cross has already raised more than £100,000. US Secretary of State John Kerry said that America stood "ready to help".

Many of the most heavily damaged areas are still to be contacted because power and telephone lines are down, making the work of providing relief all the more difficult.

Captain John Andrews, a Philippines aviation chief, said he had spoken to colleagues by radio who had told him there were "100-plus dead lying on the streets" in Tacloban.

Soldiers walk outside of Tacloban's shattered airport terminal

Tacloban is the capital of Leyte, a large island of about two million people that suffered a direct hit from Haiyan on Friday morning when the storm was at its strongest.

Leyte Island, about 350 miles south of the capital Manila, is one of six islands that was in the path of the super typhoon's centre.

An increasing problem for the authorities now is looting, with many of the survivors desperate to get hold of supplies from the shattered shops.

Many children became separated from their parents and were left in tears

Thousands of police and army personnel are being flown into the affected areas to start relief operations and to uphold law and order.

At one point the super typhoon had been stronger than it was when it hit land, with winds gusting up to 235mph making it among the most powerful ever.

Meteorologists said that it had slowed to 100mph after passing over the Philippines but is still expected to be of typhoon force as it sweeps across the South China Sea toward Vietnam.

A map showing the path of the typhoon and affected islands

Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese have been moved away from coastal areas as authorities prepared for Haiyan to make landfall around 10am Sunday. Millions are thought to be living in its path.

10.29 | 0 komentar | Read More