At least 10,000 people are thought to have been killed in the Philippine city of Tacloban by Typhoon Haiyan, officials believe.
A further 300 are confirmed dead with 2,000 missing in the neighbouring island of Samar.Up to 4.3 million people are said to have been directly affected by the typhoon's path and the death toll is expected to rise further as rescuers reach cut-off areas.
If the death toll estimate by government officials is confirmed, it would be the deadliest natural catastrophe on record in the Philippines.

Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas said: "From a helicopter, you can see the extent of devastation. From the shore and moving a kilometre inland, there are no structures standing. It was like a tsunami.
"I don't know how to describe what I saw. It's horrific."
Most of the dead are understood to have drowned or were crushed by collapsed buildings. Many corpses hung on tree branches, buildings and in the roads.

"They were covered with just anything - tarpaulin, roofing sheets, cardboards," she said. Asked how many, she said, "Well over 100 where we passed."
But the destruction extended well beyond Tacloban, a city of 200,000. Officials are yet to make contact with Guiuan, a town of 40,000 that was first hit by the typhoon.

The Philippines has limited resources on its own to deal with a disaster of this magnitude, say experts.
US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has directed the military's Pacific Command to deploy ships and aircraft to support search-and-rescue operations and airlift emergency supplies.

The European Commission has released 3m euros ($4m; £2.5m) in emergency funds and is sending a team of humanitarian experts.
The UK is providing £6m in emergency humanitarian aid. A team of four experts has already been sent to the country.

Haiyan was one of the strongest tropical storms ever to have made landfall, lashing the Philippines with wind gusts of 170mph (275kph) and whipping up a storm surge which swallowed coastal towns and villages.
Although the storm weakened to a category one hurricane when it hit northern Vietnam, with 75mph (120kmph) winds, there are fears that many other people could be affected.

The typhoon passed very close to the Chinese island of Hainan, where a further 130,000 people were relocated.
Six people died during Vietnamese evacuations and six are missing off China after authorities lost contact with their cargo boat.

Tacloban, a city of 220,000 people south of Manila, bore the brunt of Haiyan in the Philippines. Bodies have been seen floating in roads covered with debris from fallen trees, tangled power lines and flattened homes.
"The dead are on the streets, they are in their houses, they are under the debris, they are everywhere," said Tecson John Lim, a Tacloban city administrator.
Among those feared dead is an Australian ex-priest Kevin Lee, who moved to the Philippines after blowing the whistle on abuse in the Catholic Church in his home country, it has been reported.
The previous deadliest disaster to hit the Philippines was in 1976, when a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake killed between 5,000 and 8,000 people.
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