A DISASTER relief worker caught up in one of the world’s most powerful super typhoons has spoken of the devastation caused.

Disaster Aid UK deployment manager Ed Cox, from Colne, was helping victims of a recent 7.2 richter scale earthquake on Bohol Island when the massive Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines.

The 37-year-old former Accrington and Rossendale College student described hearing a ‘jumbo jet engine’ sound and witnessing ‘huge landslides’ that flattened cars and houses when the storm passed north of the city of Tagbilaran where he and his team had taken shelter.

In total 10,000 people are feared dead.

But Ed, who had been in Bohol for just over two weeks to help those who were made homeless by the October 15 earthquake which killed over 200 people, said that he feared the worst was yet to come for the most affected residents. He said: “Myself and a collegue had been trying to help rebuild the lives of those in the quake areas which were most chaotic.

“In some towns 70 per cent of all homes have been damaged with 40 per cent have been completely flattened. “But on Friday we got reports that a massive storm was coming so we hunkered down and waited for it to pass. This is the first time that I have ever been directly caught up in one of this magnitude.

“Luckily the worst of it didn’t affect the island but we could hear heavy winds all night and were forced to stay in our house for 24 hours because of the risk of landslides.

“The horrible thing is that whilst the storm has passed the situation’s getting worse and worse out here and some people are having to cope with the aftermath of not one but two natural disasters.”

Now staying in a new encampment in the village of Pig-ot he plans to go to Leyte to take shelter, mosquito nets and water purifiers.

He said: “In some urban areas of islands like Leyte it’s absolute chaos and communication has been scarce.

“But we do already know that whole communities have been decimated. Sadly another of the few things we know is that the first request from the military was for more body bags.

“With this sort of disaster fatalities will only grow as things like water borne diseases take hold.

“We would urge people to make a donation to DAUK to help us prevent fatalities and help people rebuild their lives.”

To make a donation go to disasteraiduk.org or call 0161 336 9528.