Typhoon Haiyan leaves Philippines in ruins

One of the most powerful storms ever recorded, typhoon Haiyan levelled Basey, a seaside town in Samar province about 10 km across a bay from Tacloban in Leyte province, where at least 10,000 people were killed. About 2,000 people were missing in Basey alone, said the governor of Samar province. More than 600,000 people were displaced by the storm across the country and some have no access to food, water, or medicine.  Three days after the typhoon made landfall, residents' terrifying accounts of being swept away by a wall of water revealed a city that had been hopelessly unprepared for a storm of Haiyan's almost unprecendented power. Most of the damage and deaths were caused by huge waves that inundated towns, washed ships ashore and swept away coastal villages in scenes reminiscent of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Read on