DISASTER IMPACT: People In The Philippines Are Eating Rats And Stray Dogs After Running Out Of Food - Armed Looters And Food Rioters Causing Great Instability Around Tacloban Region!

November 15, 2013 - PHILIPPINES - Typhoon Haiyan, or “Yolanda” as it’s called locally – slammed into Southeast Asia late last week, devastating the Northern Islands of the Philippines.

Talk of aid flooding in to affected areas has been balanced with more talk of food and water shortages. Armed looters and food rioters caused instability around the area of Tacloban. Government officials are insisting that everything is getting to those suffering:

“Tacloban is relying almost entirely for supplies and evacuation on just three military transport planes flying from nearby Cebu. Aquino said 24,000 family food packs had been distributed in Tacloban on Sunday, while 18.7 billion pesos ($430 million) had been set aside from calamity funds, contingency funds, and savings for places hit by Haiyan. He said 22 foreign countries had provided aid.” 

Not so, says one resident: “People have resorted to eating the rats and stray dogs.”


WATCH: Philippine city puts typhoon toll above 4,000.

MacArthur in Leyte Province was one of the many small towns hit hard by Typhoon Haiyan, and although there were no reported deaths, food has became a pressing issue.

Cat Gonzales Mones of Manila said via Twitter that after two days she finally got into contact with family members, and they told her the lack of food is the main problem. 

Patrick Hothersall, a Chicago resident whose wife Naume was in the town when the typhoon hit, told Epoch Times via email that he’s received information that the situation in MacArthur has gotten so intense that they’re eating animals.

“Before the typhoon there was a drought and an infestation of black rats,” he said. “People have resorted to eating the rats and stray dogs.”

Little information is available about the situation in MacArthur and a range of other towns that were hit by Haiyan, even five days after it struck.


WATCH: Survivors on tiny Philippine island left without help.

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Mayor Nones, who posted a picture of the town on his Facebook, said that most of the houses in MacArthur were damaged or destroyed.

Nearby Dulag and other towns and cities in the region, such as Ormoc City, were also hit hard, and suffered dozens of casualties. 

Tacloban City in Leyte, northeast of MacArthur, was perhaps the worst hit city, with hundreds dead. -21st Century Wire.