138 killed in super typhoon in Philippines

Super typhoon Haiyan, codenamed Yolanda in the Philippines, left at least 138 people dead, while over four million people were affected in the southeast Asian nation, a senior government official said Saturday evening.

The country's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) executive director Eduardo del Rosario said 14 people were injured, while four others were still missing, Xinhua reported.

According to the latest data released by the NDRRMC, 118 of the 138 victims were from the central Philippine province of Leyte.

Sixteen other fatalities came from Eastern Samar. The other four deaths were reported from Mabate, Iloilo, Zamboanga City, and Surigao del Sur.

Of the 944,597 families or 4.28 million individuals affected in 1,363 villages in 36 provinces, almost 74,000 families or over 342,000 people were displaced and being served both inside and outside evacuation centres, the agency said.

Power outage added to the problems in certain provinces in seven regions struck by the typhoon, it added.

Government agencies had a hard time collating reports on the impacts of the typhoon in some areas, particularly in central province of Leyte, where huge devastation could have taken plac, as communication lines were down, said del Rosario.

Haiyan exited the Philippines Saturday afternoon.

Haiyan the is the strongest typhoon to hit the country this year, authorities said.