Death toll in Tacloban rises to 4,000 – city hall 

TACLOBAN - The death toll from super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) here was placed at 4,000, a notice board at city hall said on Friday, nearly double the nationwide toll provided by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in Manila.

 

The city hall toll was the first public acknowledgement that the number of fatalities had far exceeded an estimate provided this week by President Benigno Aquino III, who predicted the loss of life from the entire disaster would be closer to 2,000 or 2,500.

 

As of early Friday morning, the NDRRMC, which is based at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, placed the death toll at 2,360, with 3,853 others reported injured and 77 missing.  

On Thursday, a regional police officer – Chief Superintendent Elmer Soria – was relieved of his post as Eastern Visayas regional police chief, days after he was quoted in reports as estimating the death toll to be 10,000.