Typhoon Haiyan: Death toll hits 2,344 in Philippine

The official death toll from Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines has risen to 2,344.

Manila: The official death toll from Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines has risen to 2,344.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council released the figures this on Wednesday evening.

It said 3,804 were injured, with a further 79 missing.

The storm, one of the most powerful on record, hit the country`s eastern islands on Friday, destroying tens of thousands of buildings and displacing about 600,000.

A massive relief operation is underway, though many in the disaster zone have yet to see much assistance.

Relief operations picked up pace today, but the minimal amounts of water, food and medical supplies reaching the hardest-hit areas were causing increasingly desperate survivors to take matters into their own hands.

Since the storm, people have broken into homes, malls and garages, where they have stripped the shelves of food, water and other goods.

Authorities have struggled to stop the looting. There have been unconfirmed reports of armed gangs involved in some instances.

In some places, tsunami-like storm surges swept up to one-kilometre (mile) inland, causing more destruction and loss of life. At least 580,000 people have been displaced. Most of the death and destruction appears concentrated on the islands of Samar and Leyte.

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