According to the Associated Press, there are 4,460 people confirmed dead in the Philippines in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Haiyan. There are some efforts in the Filipino community in the Pensacola area to help aid the survivors.
Divina Herrera, the president of the Filipino American Association of Pensacola, says there are about 8 thousand Filipino Americans living in the Pensacola area...many who still have family back in the Pacific Islands. Super Typhoon Haiyan, we'd call it a hurricane in our part of the world, was a category 5 storm, wind sustained winds at 195 miles per hour when it hit land, and gusts up to 235. To put that in perspective, Hurricane Katrina had top sustained winds of 175 MPH...and Super-storm Sandy's sustained winds topped out at 115. As much as 90% of the housing in the affected areas has been destroyed...and getting aid to those areas has been difficult. Amy Eden, the Disaster Program Manager for the Red Cross of Northwest Florida says people in the Pensacola area who want to help should donate cash, which is the easiest way to get aid directly to the affected areas.
