Update | Philippines Typhoon Haiyan death toll exceeds 10,000 as rescue effort continues
Rescue workers overwhelmed by sheer scale of devastation after Haiyan wreaks havoc in what could be the Philippines' worst natural disaster
As many as 10,000 people are believed to have died in one Philippine province alone as one of the worst storms on record ravaged several central islands, burying people under tonnes of debris and leaving corpses hanging from trees.
The horrifying estimates - which would make it the country's worst recorded natural disaster - came as rescue workers appeared overwhelmed in their efforts to help countless survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan.
Hundreds of police and soldiers were deployed to contain looters in Tacloban, the devastated provincial capital of Leyte, while the United States announced it had responded to a Philippine government appeal and would send military help.
Video: More than 10,000 feared dead in typhoon-ravaged Philippines
"There's an awful lot of casualties, a lot of people dead all over the place, a lot of destruction," Richard Gordon, head of the Philippine Red Cross, told the BBC.
"It's absolute bedlam right now, but hopefully it will turn out better as more and more supplies get into the area."