Desperate survivors of one of the most powerful storms ever recorded begged for help and scavenged for food, water and medicine in the central Philippines four days after an estimated 10,000 people were killed by a Typhoon Haiyan.
Thousands of people were believed to be missing in the ruins of towns and villages in the southeast Asian island country hit by the typhoon on Friday. By the early hours of Tuesday morning, some areas had not yet been reached by relief workers, according to humanitarian group CARE.
"People are becoming quite desperate. Some officials just came and told us that there has been looting in the area, people trying to get rice for their families," Sandra Bulling, CARE's international emergency communications officer, said in her blog written on Monday from Jaro, a small town on the way to Tacloban.Tacloban in Leyte province bore the brunt of the storm.
Aid groups and corporations in the United States were working to provide help.
Additional US military forces arrived in the Philippines on Monday to bolster relief efforts, officials said, with US military cargo planes transporting food, medical supplies and water for victims. Other US aircraft were pre-positioning to assist the Philippines, with US forces operating out of Villamor Air Base in the capital Manila and in the coastal city of Tacloban.
FedEX Corp, the Memphis, Tennessee-based global courier delivery company, said in a statement it was "working closely with disaster relief organizations ( American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Direct Relief and Heart to Heart) to donate transportation of equipment and relief supplies to impacted areas."
