"Help Us"

"There are lots of little children begging by the road. It's raining hard and they are drenched."
"The people are expressing their urgent need for food, water and shelter."
"I saw children suffering from fever. Many people have colds, there is diarrhea. Some people look really bad."
Aaron Aspi, World Vision aid worker

This aerial photo shows destroyed houses in the city of Tacloban, Leyte province, in the central Philippines on November 11, 2013, only days after Super Typhoon Haiyan devastated the town on November 8. (Photo credit: Getty Images)

The situation is desperate, without an iota of doubt. People are in dire need. Thousands have perished in the maelstrom that was Typhoon Haiyan, particularly around Tacloban. Filipinos are resourceful, hopeful people, finding strength in their steadfast devotion to Christianity. But the extend and the depth of this natural disaster has devastated them beyond their worst possible nightmares. It was, in fact, an impossible nightmare; the worst such event to ever have hit shore.

"People are just scavenging in the streets. People are asking for food from relatives, friends. The devastation is too much ... The malls the grocery stores have all been looted. They're empty. People are hungry. And [the authorities] cannot control the people."
Joselito Camoy, Tacloban truck driver

Nonetheless, the President of the Philippines has taken grave exception to the figure of dead bruited about by Chief Superintendent Elmer Soria and he has been removed as head of the regional office that oversees police operations in the central Philippines where Typhoon Haiyan unleashed massively destructive gale-force winds, whipping up 15-foot-high storm surges and destroying cities. He cited a death toll of ten thousand, and this was the figure repeated by the United Nations.


“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,’” said Col. Reuben Sindac, spokesman for the Philippines National Police . “As such, it was deemed by higher headquarters that he might need to go through a stress debriefing.” The official figure of the dead is around two thousand.

People are living in fear. They are attempting to protect whatever little of their possessions they had managed to salvage from their homes. They're fearful of being invaded and looted. The widespread looting that resulted soon after the collapse of infrastructure with an absence of law and order became a vicious contest for survival with the desperation of the survivors to circumvent death from deprivation and starvation.

"It really breaks your heart when you see [the corpses]. We're limited with manpower, the expertise, as well as the trucks that have to transport them to different areas for identification. Do we do a mass burial, because we can't identify them anymore? If we do a mass burial, where do you place them?"
Major General Romeo Poquiz, commander, 2nd Air Division

Hundreds of injured people, pregnant women, children and elderly are awaiting medical treatment. Pregnancy complications, fractures, injuries from cuts are presenting along with pneumonia, dehydration, diarrhea and infections. But the area has little in the way of medical equipment, few facilities and inadequate numbers of doctors.

"The priority has got to be, let's get the food in, let's get the water in. We got a lot more come in today. But even that won't be enough. We really need to scale up operation on an ongoing basis", said Valerie Amos, the UN humanitarian chief, after touring Tacloban. Emergency relief funds have been released by her office reflecting funding pledged by the international community.

The World Food Program distributed rice and other foodstuffs to almost 50,000 people in the Tacloban area. But there are 600,000 displaced people, homeless, hungry and thirsty. Authorities are dealing with looters, and are attempting at the same time to focus on clearing up bottlenecks holding up aid material. And bags of rice meant to alleviate the desperation of the hungry, are among those items being looted, both by thugs and by the desperate survivors of the tragedy.

"There's a lot of dead bodies outside. There's no water, no food", said Dr. Victoriano Sambale at the airport clinic attempting along with a handful of other medical staff, to tend to the thousands seeking medical help. "Patients had to endure the pain", he said, reflecting the reality of few supplies, no anaesthetic, and patients in trauma.

Members of the Philippine National Police talk amongst themselves next to body bags containing victims of Typhoon Haiyan on November 12, 2013 near Tacloban, Leyte, Philippines. (Photo credit: Getty Images)