Philippine government says typhoon death toll surpasses 5,200

November 23, 2013

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MANILA, Philippines – The death toll from Super Typhoon Haiyan surpassed 5,200 Friday (November 22nd), AFP reported.

A member of the Zion Emergency and Disaster Rescue Unit stands next to five bodies recovered by his team in Tanauan on Wednesday (November 20th). The Philippine government on Friday raised the death toll from Super Typhoon Haiyan to over 5,200. [Nicolas Asfouri/AFP]

The official death toll jumped by nearly 1,200 to 5,209, with another 1,611 people still missing, said Reynaldo Balido, the spokesman for the government's disaster management council. Balido said the death toll rose sharply Friday from 4,015 after officials reported body counts from communities outside the worst-hit areas.

"Now, the reports are coming in from the entire typhoon area," he said.

Haiyan now stands as one of the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded in the country, and the worst typhoon. A tsunami triggered by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake in 1976 killed between 5,000 and 8,000 people on the southern island of Mindanao.

The Philippines government, offering beleaguered Tacloban residents a chance to take their minds off the devastation, will screen Kibawe-native Manny Pacquiao's fight in China, Sunday at Tacloban's Domestic Airport, The Philippine Star reported.

At a pre-fight press conference in Macao on Wednesday, Pacquiao said he is inspired by the millions of Filipinos affected by Haiyan.