Hundreds dead, devastation everywhere as Philippines assesses typhoon damage

Residents with their water plastic containers queue up to fetch water along a road in Tagbilaran City, Bohol province on Monday (Dec 20), days after super Typhoon Rai hit the province. - AFP

MANILA, Dec 20 (The Straits Times/ANN): With the weather clearing and rescue and relief efforts finally underway, the scale of the devastation wrought by a powerful typhoon in the Philippines has come into sharper focus.

"We are still assessing the damage, but it is huge as per initial report: entire communities levelled to the ground; no electricity, water and food," Defence Minister Delfin Lazaro, who heads the national disaster-relief agency, told reporters on Monday (Dec 20).