-- Desperation grew among Filipinos
who've been without electricity or shelter for more than a week
since Super Typhoon Haiyan reduced homes to splinters,
prompting the military to alter rescue maneuvers, an official said
Saturday.
"People swarm the helicopters, so we land the helicopters a little
bit farther from the population areas," said Maj. Gen. Romer
Poquiz of the Philippine Air Force. "So before the people come in,
we would take off, go and drop in other places, drop and then go,
drop, go, drop, go, at various places."
Several countries, including the U.S. military, continued to assist
Philippine authorities in a massive relief effort of delivering food
and water to the devastated swaths of the archipelago. The central
government is being criticized for a slow and disorganized
response to what all agree is a catastrophic disaster.
The U.S. military may rotate out the aircraft carrier
group with the USS George Washington once
amphibious ships arrive, a senior U.S. military
official told CNN. Relief efforts were also showing a
lot of field hospital capability, the official said.
Meanwhile, military planes and helicopters
delivered foodstuffs, and some people carried all
that remained of their possessions and were lucky
enough to be ferried to refuge in Cebu.
U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague said the Royal
Navy's HMS Daring was scheduled to arrive Sunday
morning and assist the relief efforts. An disclosed
number of British nationals remain unaccounted
for, Hague said.
The toll remains overwhelming with thousand
dead, about 3 million people displaced, vast
communities flattened and looting and violence
erupting in Tacloban, a major city that's the ground
zero in the super typhoon strike.
Crews continued to collect bodies from streets, with
the death toll increased Sunday to 3,681, according
to the official death count.
The number of injured stood at 12,544, the
National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management
Council reported. At least 1,186 were missing.
The death toll could still climb higher, with an
additional 1,000 cadaver bags sent to provinces, the disaster
council announced as search-and-rescue operations
continued in Tacloban City.
The national disaster council's executive director, Eduardo
Del Rosario, said the bags would be placed on standby, given
that most of the bodies had already been buried in mass
graves or claimed by relatives.
Cadaver bags are cleaned before being reused, he said.
The Philippines News Association reported Friday that five-
person teams that include a forensic expert and
photographer would begin using a "quick system" for the
bodies on Saturday.
"Under the system, the public will not be allowed to view the
identification process, but relatives will be asked to
participate in the final identification of corpses at an
appointed time," it reported, citing the Department of Health.
Each team will be required to handle 40 corpses per day, it
said.
Health Secretary Enrique Ona said that photos will be taken,
identifying marks will be documented and belongings and
tissue samples for possible use in DNA testing will be
collected, when practical.
The arrival in recent days of hundreds of aid workers and
military troops has seen a floodgate of humanitarian aid --
food, water and medical supplies -- open, albeit sporadically,
in the hard hit provinces.
A senior U.S. military official said approximately 9,000 U.S.
troops are supporting the operation in the Philippines. U.S.
military assets have delivered approximately 623,000
pounds of relief supplies.
Under a hot sun, refugees held umbrellas as they waited in
line for provisions. Some wore masks apparently as
protection from the rot and decay of their obliterated
communities.
The nation's disaster agency said between 9 million and 13
million people were affected in 44 provinces, 536
municipalities and 55 cities.
Culled from www.cnn.com
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