UPDATE: Haiyan's death toll rises past 3,500

The count surpasses the Philippine president's more optimistic prediction

Published November 15, 2013 2:01PM (EST)

UPDATE 11/15/2013 9:01 AM EST: The death toll from last Friday's typhoon has risen to 3,621, according to the Philippines national disaster agency's official count, while the United Nations has arrived at an even higher number of 4,460. At least another thousand people are considered missing, and over 12,000 are injured.

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UPDATE 11/13/2013 8:59 AM EST: Disaster management officials in the Philippines have confirmed that the official death toll from Typhoon Haiyan is now up to 2,275, with another 3,665 injured and over 80 listed as missing. "Just viewing the disaster's scope - its magnitude and the areas affected - we believe that the 10,000 figure is more probable," Martin Romualdez, a congressman in Leyte, told the BBC. "As we start cleaning up we are finding more bodies." Others confirmed that the number of dead is likely to rise.

There's speculation that the government had given a lower estimate to avoid causing panic. On Tuesday, the AP reports, eight more people were killed when a mob stormed a rice warehouse outside of Tacloban.

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Typhoon Haiyan may not have been as deadly as initially believed, CNN reports. According to Philippines President Benigno Aquino III, the initial forecast of at least 10,000 deaths was to0 high, and that the final count will likely be somewhere between 2,000 and 2,500 deaths.

The situation, however, remains dire for the storm's survivors, many of whom are still awaiting aid. As with the projected death toll, the exact numbers are subject to change as more information arises, but here are the best estimates (from the Philippine government and OCHA) of the storm's impact:

  • 1,776: Official death toll so far
  • 2 - 2.5 million: People in need of food aid
  • 300,000: Pregnant women or new mothers in need of food aid
  • 20,000: Destroyed homes
  • 670,000 - 800,000: People displaced
  • 19: Death toll in Vietnam (14) and China (5) as Haiyan continued on its path
  • 1,000: Troops from Philippines Armed Forces, including 300 special forces troops and military engineers, stationed in Tacloban to help bring the chaos under control
  • $301 million: Amount called for by Philippine government and humanitarian groups to address immediate life-saving needs for the storm's survivors

By Lindsay Abrams

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Disaster Relief Natural Disaster Philippines Typhoon Haiyan