Manila, Nov 10 (IANS): An estimated 10,000 people in central Philippine province of Leyte might have been killed by super typhoon 'Haiyan', media reported Sunday.
The figure was based on estimates of officials in Tacloban city, the worst hit capital of Leyte province, after a meeting Saturday night with the governor of Leyte, Xinhua cited from a report in local newspaper Inquirer, which quoted regional police chief Elmer Soria as saying.
The national government departments and disaster agency have not confirmed the figure yet.
"I don't know how to describe what I saw. It's horrific," Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas, who flew to Tacloban city Saturday said.
The city became dark everywhere due to interruption of power supply, he added.
Roxas admitted the government found it difficult to give an accurate count of the extent of casualties after communication lines in hard-hit areas were cut off.
A team of 120 police has been sent to Tacloban city, as reports said looting occurred in the city.
Experts were flown to the storm ravaged areas of the Phillippines to assess the situation there, The Independent reported.
"The last time I saw something of this scale was in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami," the daily quoted Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, head of the UN Disaster Assessment Coordination Team sent to Tacloban, as saying.
The category 5 super typhoon hit the Philippines Friday morning with winds up to 275 kph triggering major landslides and forcing 800,000 people to flee their homes. About four million people were affected by the typhoon, the Philippines national disaster agency said.
1.7 mln Philippine children affected by typhoon
The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) said here Saturday that up to 1.7 million Philippine children could be affected by super typhoon Haiyan, which tore through the country over the last 48 hours.
"With some 36 provinces reported by the government to have been hit by the typhoon -- the strongest ever to have made landfall anywhere in the world -- we know that a significant number of children will have been badly affected," Xinhua quoted Unicef's representative in the Philippines Tomoo Hozumi as saying.
"Unicef's first priorities are focused on life-saving interventions -- getting essential medicines, nutrition supplies, safe water and hygiene supplies to children and families," Hozumi said in a statement.
Unicef would join a rapid assessment within the next days, as conditions allow more access to the hardest hit regions.
The UN agency's supply systems were mobilised and Unicef was ready with NGO partners to help spearhead the response for children as access improves, said the statement.
Unicef staff already in the Philippines were being repositioned to deliver emergency response, with more colleagues on the way as backup, it said.
Its supply division in Copenhagen, Denmark, was loading some 60 tons of emergency supplies, including health, medical and shelter equipment, onto trucks bounding for the Copenhagen airport for an emergency airlift.
Other supply divisions in Europe and Asia were also airlifting water purification and storage equipment and sanitation supplies directly from suppliers to Manila, capital of the Philippines.
The supplies were expected to arrive in the Philippines Tuesday, the statement added.