Asia | Typhoon Haiyan

Worse than hell

One of the strongest storms ever recorded has devastated parts of the Philippines, and relief is slow to arrive

A plea from the ground
|CEBU, HANOI AND MANILA

LONG accustomed to fearsome storms, floods and earthquakes, Filipinos are usually stoical in the face of natural disasters. Yet the sheer magnitude of the super-typhoon that ripped through the middle of the archipelago on November 8th was unprecedented, with sustained winds of 250 kilometres per hour (160mph). The scale of the damage left in its wake was shocking. President Benigno Aquino declared the devastation a “national calamity”.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline "Worse than hell"

Every step you take

From the November 16th 2013 edition

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