There are an estimated 8000 Filipinos and Australians of Filipino descent in Canberra, a relatively small proportion of the 225,000 nationally, but they have banded together following the destructive storm.

“This is one very good thing about Filipinos here in Australia and elsewhere in the world… even before the embassy or the government could make an appeal, they on their own already started raising funds and collecting goods to [provide] relief and assistance to those victims of the typhoon,” Philippines Ambassador Belen Anota said.

“In Canberra there are many small fundraising events … [on Sunday] there was one, spearheaded by people who come from Iloilo, because it was one of the hardest hit areas – [although] it was only typhoid signal number 3 in that area.”

While the true extent of the damage from the typhoon, which was classed as a category 5 storm, will not be known until later in the week, Ms Anota is expecting numbers to increase significantly from the early initial reports.

“The situation is very bad. The typhoon has been very destructive and devastating for the Philippines.

“Today the report from our disaster risk management [says] over 200 are reported dead, over 100 are missing and the damage to property, infrastructure and agriculture and farms runs into the trillions of pesos [over 24 billion dollars]and we know of course those are initial reports.”

Haiyan is the 24th typhoon to hit the disaster-prone archipelago this season, and just last month an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the richter scale also devastated the island of Bohol.

“Our weather bureau says we are expecting three more typhoons, so hopefully not as destructive,” Ms Anota said.

“We’re praying very hard, our people continue to be resilient, they have been resilient through the years, our government will persevere assisting, working to at the soonest possible time to restore power, restore water, health services.”

She asked that people keep praying the Phillipines are spared from further strong typhoons

“If they want to assist, there are many avenues; either their Filipino community organisation, the Australian Red Cross, or Caritas Australia … there are many options.”