5500 dead and counting in the Philippines

In the Philippines more than 3.5 million people were displaced by the typhoon, which slammed into the eastern Philippines with record winds of more than 300km/h on November 8.

It is noted that the travel & tourism industry in most of the country is operating normal and desperate for business, and the tourism board wants the world to visit.

The death toll from Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines has increased to 5500, with 1757 people still missing, the national disaster relief agency says.

Authorities fear the number of fatalities will increase since emergency workers were retrieving more bodies as they cleared debris.

The disaster relief agency said more than 26,000 people were injured, while more than a million homes were destroyed.

Damage to infrastructure and agriculture was estimated at more than 24.53 billion pesos ($A626.36 million), it added.

Amid reports that government could only provide emergency aid to survivors until December, the United Nations warned that the need for assistance was still huge.

“Life-saving needs persist in food, shelter, recovery of livelihoods and the restoration of essential community services in the affected areas,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in its latest bulletin.

It also stressed the need for greater planning “to ensure smooth transition as some international partners – including foreign militaries and international health teams – prepare to leave”.

The government has started to build bunkhouses as temporary shelters for survivors living in evacuation centres or in tents and makeshift shacks.

The bunkhouses are made from coco lumber frames with iron sheet roofs and plywood walls and floors. They will be divided into 9-square-metre rooms for one family.

Each unit can accommodate a total of 24 families and will have a common kitchen and bathroom, according to the Department of Public Works, which is overseeing the construction.