Parliament Speaker Condoles with Filipino Lawmakers on Typhoon Disaster
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani condoled with Philippine parliament and senate speakers over the deadly typhoon that has killed thousands of people in that country.
In separate messages to Philippine House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. and Senate Speaker Franklin Drilon, Larijani sympathized with the Philippine government and nation, as well as the survivors and bereaved families of the typhoon.
The number of people in the Philippines confirmed dead from Typhoon Haiyan now stands at 3,631, officials say. UN and local agencies have issued conflicting tolls, and the final figure is likely to rise still higher.The UN put the number of dead at 4,460.
More than one week after the storm made landfall, food and supplies are now beginning to reach survivors, but aid agencies say the logistics of distribution are enormous.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council has also put the number of injured at 12,487, while 1,187 people are officially listed as missing.
In all, the council said more than nine million people had been affected, including close to 1.9 million people who had been displaced.
President Benigno Aquino, caught off guard by the scale of the disaster, is scheduled to visit typhoon-affected areas on Sunday. He has been criticized for the slow pace of aid distribution and unclear estimates of casualties, especially in Tacloban, capital of hardest-hit Leyte province.
But the government has defended its response to the disaster, one of the strongest storms ever on land.
