Philippines typhoon: Death toll rises to 1,833

MANILA – Death toll in the Philippines from typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda) jumped to 1,833 with initial cost of damage increasing to 761.4 million pesos (17.4 million U.S. dollars), a senior government official said on Wednesday morning.

The additional fatalities coming from Western Visayas reached 103, while the number of those who perished in Eastern Visayas remained at 1,660, said Eduardo del Rosario, executive director of the Philippines’ National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

Some 2,623 people were injured and 84 people were missing, he added.

A total of 1.387 million families or 6.937 million people were affected by Haiyan and of them, 127,733 families or 582,303 persons were displaced and being served inside and outside the evacuation centers, the NDRRMC official said.

Nearly 150,000 houses were either partially or totally damaged. Of the total cost of damage, 199.58 million pesos (4.57 million dollars) came from infrastructure and 561.8 million dollars (12.9 million dollars) from agriculture, Del Rosario said.