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

At least 10,000 people in the central Philippine province of Leyte could have been killed by Typhoon Haiyan, according to a police chief.

The national government and disaster agency have yet to confirm the fatalities, a sharp increase from initial estimates on Saturday of at least 1,000 deaths.

If the typhoon death toll is confirmed, it would be the deadliest natural catastrophe on record in the Philippines.

Coastal villages in Leyte were flattened, or swallowed by the storm surge

As the super storm tore through the province it destroyed 70-80% of the town of Tacloban, said chief superintendent Elmer Soria.

"The devastation is so big. We had a meeting last night with the governor and the other officials. Based on their estimate, 10,000 died," Mr Soria said.

A child is returned home after leaving an evacuation site in Tacloban

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.

"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.

Shivering children wait ito be evacuated from a rescue centre in the city

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

The Philippines has no resources on its own to deal with a disaster of this magnitude, and the US and other governments and agencies are mounting a major relief effort, according to Philippine Red Cross chairman Richard Gordon.

A woman about to give birth is carried into a medical centre at Tacloban

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

Haiyan, a category five typhoon that churned through the Philippine archipelago in a straight line from east to west, has weakened significantly before it is expected to hit Vietnam later today.

Residents beside a road littered with debris

Tacloban, a city of 220,000 people south of Manila, bore the brunt of Haiyan, which flooded villages up to one kilometre from the shore. Bodies have been seen floating in roads covered with debris from fallen trees, tangled power lines and flattened homes.

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."

A pregnant woman cooks a meal inside a building overlooking Tacloban

Mr Roxas said patrols had been sent out to stop widespread looting by residents desperate for food and water as city officials warned they were struggling to retrieve bodies and send relief to survivors.

"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.

In Vietnam villagers are evacuated in preparation for the arrival of Haiyan

The typhoon has weakened as it approaches central and northern Vietnam, where authorities have evacuated more than 500,000 people.

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