E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Ted Aljibe / AFP - Getty Images
Residents rest under an uprooted tree used as shelter Thursday, Dec. 13, in New Bataan in Compostela province, 10 days after Typhoon Bopha roared through the Philippines.
Typhoon Bopha killed more than 900 people and left almost 80,000 others homeless in the Philippines, the government said Thursday, a week and a half after the storm devastated large parts of the southeast Asian island nation.
The death toll, which the government set Thursday at 902, is likely to rise significantly, as 934 other people remained unaccounted for. More than 2,600 people were injured.
"I am saddened and bothered by the devastation brought about by Typhoon Pablo," President Benigno Aquino III said, using the name the storm was given locally. "But it is in situations like this that our strength as a nation is measured. We will rise as one nation again."
Bopha tore through the main southern island of Mindanao on Dec. 3 before crossing the central Philippines and stalling over the South China Sea. Most of the deaths were in the Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental province on Mindanao.
Ten days later, almost 80,000 people remained in evacuation centers scattered across the islands, because Bopha destroyed 61,000 homes and seriously damaged 88,000 others, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported.
Watch World News videos on NBCNews.com
The United Nations issued a worldwide appeal for $65 million in aid for the Philippines, where the storm caused damage of more than 14.3 billion pesos — about $350 million.
Aquino said his government was drawing up plans for forced relocation of entire communities that are within "geohazard" areas mapped out by the national mining bureau.
"The communities will be moved to safer areas," he said, according to the Philippines Daily Inquirer. "In certain instances, we really can't wait for all the consultations to be over before we transfer them."
More world stories from NBC News:
- ElBaradei to Egyptian leader: 'Fear God... postpone the referendum'
- Egyptian Copts gather in cave cathedral ahead of vote on a constitution
- EXCLUSIVE: Susan Rice drops out of running for secretary of state
- Europe court: German was victim of CIA extraordinary rendition program
- Video: Flotsam from Pyongyang: Rocket debris floating near South Korea
- North Korean progress on nuclear arms, long-range missiles rattle U.S. and allies
- 'Who is my Mandela?' South Africans consider icon's place in a changing world
- Royal prank call: Duped nurse was found hanging, also had wrist injuries
Leave a Comment:
My goodness, I pray for those people. I have a dear friend there who is a missionary, he has been there helping those people for over 25 years. Hope all is well with him, I have heard nothing so far.
Country can't be too devasted, all their call centers full of non-english speaking monkeys were operating just fine.
Are you really that clueless.. The call centers are in Cebu and Manila. Davao is a 1000 miles away..
Devastated*.....get back in your cage, monkey boy!....
So sad... They need a 121212 Concert more the NY does...
Took the words out of my mouth! lol
I'm waiting for the collection of Old English Rockers to put this together.
I guess the greatest and "richest" nation in the world is the only one who needs fund raisers..
And did anyone else find it offensive that the charity that was collecting the money was called ROBIN HOOD?? WTF.. Steal from the poor and feed the rich eh? America is far from the richest or strongest nation. Sadly we are no better than the Philippines when it comes to the amount of poor and homeless here. Guess thats what happens when you have a military and police state where locking people up for smoking a natural plant that is said to be more dangerous than heroin, yet has never killed anyone from an overdose.
Americans better wake up. WE ARE A 3rd WORLD NATION NOW!! It will take several trillion dollars just to make America solvent again. And by that I mean just our infrastructure. Our rail system is antiquated. Our electrical grids haven't been touched in over a hundred years. Our communication systems wilt when even the slightest natural disaster pops up. We need to fix America first before we help any more nations.
Rebuild America first. Screw the world.