Elmer Soria, the police chief who said that 10,000 people likely died during Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in the Philippines, was removed from his duties.
Philippines National Police spokesman Col. Reuben Sindac told the Wall Street Journal that Soria was removed as head of the office that oversees police in the central Philippines.
Sindac suggested that Soria was also removed for other reasons.
“We all know for one thing, Police Chief Supt. Elmer Soria has been through a lot for the past days and may be experiencing what you call ‘acute stress reaction,’” he added. “As such, it was deemed by higher headquarters that he might need to go through a stress debriefing.”
On Saturday, Soria made the comment about 10,000 estimated deaths.
On Thursday, officials said that around 2,357 have died so far. Many believe the number will rise.
President Beningo Aquino III told CNN after Soria’s comment that “ten thousand I think is too much and perhaps that was brought about by, how should I put it, being in the center of the destruction.”
“There was emotional trauma involved in that particular estimate, quoting both a police and a local government official. They were too close to the incident. They have no basis for it,” he said.
“We’re hoping to be able to contact something like 29 municipalities left wherein we still have to establish their numbers, especially for the missing, but so far 2,000, about 2,500, is the number we are working on as far as deaths are concerned.”
Soria also said that the typhoon destroyed 70 to 80 percent of the structures in its path.
The Philippine National Police told ABS-CBN that Soria will be replaced by Henry Losanes.
Another local Tacloban official echoed statements that 10,000 had died. Tacloban was one of the hardest hit areas during the typhoon, with much of the city getting leveled by high winds and storm surge.
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