Philippines typhoon victims' desperation grows as aid slow to reach hardest-hit
TACLOBAN, Philippines - Relief operations in the Philippines were expected to ramp up dramatically Wednesday, five days after Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest typhoons on record, hit the nation.Two more Philippine airports reopened to allow more flights in carrying aid. The official death toll stood at 2,275, with at least two Americans listed among the dead.
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President Benigno Aquino III said he expected the final death toll to be around 2,500 -- far lower the 10,000 initially feared.But some 580,000 people have been displaced, and CBS News correspondent Seth Doane told “CBS This Morning” that with relief supplies slow to arrive, desperation in the hard-hit city of Tacloban was growing by the day. People were risking their lives just to get the bare necessities.
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Powerful typhoon slams Philippines
One of the most powerful storms on record triggered flash floods and landslides
On Tuesday, children stood on the side of the road begging for the basic necessities. With no clean drinking water in sight, people tapped into an underground pipe just so they could fill up containers."We don't know if it's safe," said one man. "We need to boil it. But at least we have something."
Under the awning of a maternity clinic, another family created a makeshift home out of tarps, umbrellas, and bits of wood. They told us their real home was swept away.Norberto Amican was butchering a pig a friend gave him -- the first real meal he had to look forward to since Tyhpoon Hayain hit.
Asked if he had seen any of the food aid coming into the city, Amican said all he had seen was soldiers; “I haven't seen any food relief here.”Filipino soldiers have descended into the downtown area after reports of looting.
At Tacloban airport, thousands of residents have made it onto evacuation flights, but the line for those still waiting to get out stretched for three miles at one point."That's the main goal of our family; to leave this city so that we can start a new life,” said one person in the line. “Here in Tacloban, there is no food, water, so you cannot live here."The city administrator said about 90 percent of Tacloban was destroyed in the storm. He estimated that only 20 percent of its residents had received any aid.U.S. Marines, who arrived on Tuesday, planned to install equipment at the airport which will allow the relief efforts to continue through the night.