DHAKA: Typhoon Haiyan has made landfall in Vietnam, days after leaving thousands feared dead and widespread devastation in the Philippines, meteorologists confirm.

The Vietnamese national weather forecast agency said Haiyan made landfall in northern province of Quang Ninh at 5:00am local time on Monday (22:00 GMT on Sunday) as a tropical storm and was moving towards southern China, where it is expected to weaken to a low depression later on Monday. No casualties or major damage have been reported.

Haiyan has weakened significantly since scything through the Philippines on the weekend, and had sustained winds of 120km per hour as it hit Vietnam. That was down from winds of over 300km per hour when the storm hit the Philippines, devastating Leyte and Samar provinces, as well as other areas.

More than 600,000 people were evacuated on the weekend as Haiyan bore down on Vietnam.
 

Residents of Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, were braced for heavy rains and flooding, while tens of thousands of people in coastal areas were ordered to take shelter.

"We have evacuated more than 174,000 households, which is equivalent to more than 600,000 people," said an official report by Vietnam`s flood and storm control department.

The storm changed course on Sunday, prompting further mass evacuations of about 52,000 people in northern provinces by the coast."People must bring enough food and necessities for three days.... Those who do not move voluntarily will be forced," online newspaper VNExpress said, adding all boats have been ordered back to shore.

All schools were ordered shut in the capital Monday and extra police were dispatched to redirect traffic in flood-prone areas

Thousands dead in Philippines

In the Philippines, meanwhile, rescuers attempting to get aid to the estimated over 9.5 million people affected by the storm faced blocked roads and damaged airports as they raced to deliver desperately needed tents, food and medicines.

Earlier on Sunday, Philippine President Benigno Aquino promised that help was on the way for the hundreds of thousands hit by Typhoon Haiyan, as the death toll was expected to reach 10,000 in Leyte province alone.

Thousands of survivors need access to fresh food and water after the storm flattened buildings and cut off communications on Friday.

"We are addressing first the needs of those who are still living, especially those that are injured, the need for food and need for water," the president said as he visited the worst-hit city, Tacloban, in Leyte on Sunday. Aquino added that security would be put in place in the area in order to prevent looting.

In Tacloban, corpses hung from trees and were scattered on sidewalks. Many were buried in flattened buildings. The
entire town appeared to have been obliterated. From the air, the entire city looked like a giant garbage dump punctuated by a few concrete buildings that still stood.

"People are still searching for missing friends and family members, and for any food and water they can get their hands on," Al Jazeera`s Wayne Hay,  reporting  from Tacloban, said.

Meanwhile, a huge international relief effort was being put together for the victims.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said he had directed the US Pacific Command to deploy ships and aircraft to support search-and-rescue operations and airlift emergency supplies.

Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said that the EC was ready to contribute with "urgent relief and assistance in this hour of need".

Several other countries and organisations have also offered their assistance to the Philippines government.

Source: Al Jazeera
BDST: 1115 HRS, NOV 11, 2013
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