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Philippines rescue workers struggled to bring aid to famished and destitute survivors on Monday after a super typhoon that may have killed more than 10,000 people, in what is feared to be the country’s worst natural disaster.
Relief teams appeared overwhelmed in their efforts to help those whose homes and livelihoods were destroyed by Haiyan, which sent tsunami-like waves and merciless winds rampaging across large swathes of the archipelago on Friday.
In Vietnam, more than 600,000 people were evacuated as Haiyan, which moved out of the Philippines and into the South China Sea on Saturday, made landfall there early on Monday morning.
Hundreds of Filipino police and soldiers were deployed to contain looters in Tacloban, the devastated provincial capital of Leyte, with gangs stealing consumer goods such as televisions.
Video: More than 10,000 feared dead in typhoon-ravaged Philippines


A long snake-like queue formed in Tacloban’s flattened airport as tired and hungry survivors, some who had trudged through mud and debris for several kilometres, sought the basic essentials for survival.
“We want water and medicines for the injured. So if you can organise it, please, for us, don’t let anybody come here who will just watch us and see us suffer, because we don’t want that,” Joan Lumbre Wilson said, adding that authorities were struggling to cope with the sheer numbers seeking help.
“They’re trying to drive us away again, back to our places, where it’s too far, and then do it again tomorrow (walk to reach the compound), and it’s not fair on us,” she said.

	We’re already tired, emotionally drained, physically exhausted

	Joan Lumbre Wilson
“We’re already tired, emotionally drained, physically exhausted.”
Witnesses on Sunday reported seeing looting and violence with President Benigno Aquino admitting it was a major concern. Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala said on Monday 100 soldiers had been sent to help police restore law and order in Tacloban.

New storm brewing
Threatening to further hamper relief efforts was a tropical depression approaching the southern and central Philippines. Government weather forecasters said the depression could bring fresh floods to typhoon-affected areas.
The depression is expected to hit land on the southern island of Mindanao late on Tuesday and then move across the central islands of Bohol, Cebu, Negros and Panay, which all suffered typhoon damage, forecaster Connie Dadivas said.
It could bring “moderate to heavy” rains, or about five to 15 millimetres per hour, he said.
US meteorologists said Haiyan made landfall in Vietnam early on Monday.
The US Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) said in an update at 9pm the storm “is currently making landfall” approximately 156 kilometres east south-east of the capital Hanoi, with sustained winds of 120 kilometres per hour.
The typhoon had lost force at sea, striking Vietnam as the equivalent of a category-one hurricane - the weakest on the one-to-five Saffir-Simpson wind-speed scale.

It hit the Philippines as a category five storm with maximum sustained winds of 315 kilometres an hour - one of the most powerful ever recorded.
Despite the typhoon’s weakened state, more than 600,000 people were evacuated in Vietnam, with flooding and heavy rain expected.
The Vietnamese government website said on Sunday that five people had died while preparing for the storm.
Farther north, six members of a cargo boat were also missing off the Chinese province of Hainan, state media in China reported.
Up to four million children could be affected by the disaster in the Philippines, the United Nations Children’s Fund warned.
“We are rushing to get critical supplies to children who are bearing the brunt of this crisis,” said UNICEF Philippines representative Tomoo Hozumi.
“Reaching the worst-affected areas is very difficult,” he said. “But we are working around the clock.”
World promises aid
Authorities were struggling to calculate the sheer magnitude of the disaster, with the regional police chief for Leyte saying initial estimates showed 10,000 people were believed to have died in that province alone.
Witnesses in Tacloban recalled waves up to five metres high surging inland. Aerial photos showed entire neighbourhoods destroyed, with trees and buildings flattened by storm surge.
Chief Superintendent Elmer Soria told reporters in Tacloban that the typhoon destroyed up to 80 per cent of the structures in its path.
On the neighbouring island of Samar, a local disaster chief said 300 people were killed in the small town of Basey. He added another 2,000 were missing there and elsewhere on Samar, which was one of the first areas hit when Haiyan swept in from the Pacific.
Dozens more people were confirmed killed in other flattened towns and cities across a 600-kilometre stretch of islands through the central Philippines.
As the scale of the disaster began to emerge, an international aid effort ratcheted up with the United States, UN, European Commission and Britain among those pledging help.
Given its location along a typhoon belt and the so-called Ring of Fire, a Pacific zone of tectonic activity, the Philippines endures a seemingly never-ending pattern of deadly typhoons, earthquakes, volcano eruptions and other natural disasters.
But if the death toll of more than 10,000 is correct, Haiyan would be the deadliest natural disaster ever recorded in the country, worse than the 1976 Moro Gulf tsunami that killed between 5,000 and 8,000 people.


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Typhoon Haiyan

Philippines struggles to help Typhoon Haiyan victims

Philippines' President Benigno Aquino III distributes water to families displaced by Super Typhoon Haiyan. Photo: AFP

A boy carries relief goods, walking past the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan, in Tacloban city, Leyte province. Photo: AP

Philppine police commandoes prepare to board a military plane in Manila heading to Tacloban. Photo: AFP

Filipinos walk among debris in Tacloban. Photo: EPA

Typhoon Haiyan makes landfall in Vietnam

People reinforce a river bank ahead of super-typhoon Haiyan's hit in Phu Yen province, central Vietnam. Photo: Xinhua

Local residents take refuge at a shelter in Da Nang city, central Vietnam. Photo: Xinhua

In pictures: Typhoon Haiyan leaves trail of devastation

This image taken by astronaut Karen L. Nyberg and released by NASA shows Super Typhoon Haiyan from the International Space Station on November 9, 2013.   Photo: Reuters

A resident (right) walks past high waves pounding the sea wall amidst strong winds as Typhoon Haiyan hit the city of Legaspi, Albay province, south of Manila on November 8, 2013. Photo: AFP

This handout photograph taken on November 10, 2013 and released by the Malacanang Photo Bureau (MPB) shows an aerial view of the damage in Leyte following Super Typhoon Haiyan in the area. Photo: AFP

Ships are washed up on the coastline in Leyte following Super Typhoon Haiyan. Photo: AFP

People walk among debris and destroyed houses in Palo, eastern island of Leyte on November 10, 2013, three days after devastating Super Typhoon Haiyan hit the area. Photo: AP

Survivors walk on a road amidst heavy downpour after Typhoon Haiyan battered Tacloban city in central Philippines November 10, 2013. Photo: Reuters

A fisherman carries his net after making it safely back to shore in the fishing village after a strong winds from Typhoon Haiyan battered Bayog town in Los Banos, Laguna city, south of Manila November 8, 2013. Photo: Reuters

A Philippine flag stands amongst the damage caused after powerful Typhoon Haiyan slammed into Tacloban city, Leyte province, central Philippines on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013. Photo: AP

A three wheeled motorcycle manoeuvers in floodwaters in Taguig city, south of Manila, Philippines, 08 November 2013. Photo: EPA

Residents cross a collapsed highway caused by the storm surge in Palo, eastern island of Leyte on November 10, 2013, three days after devastating Super Typhoon Haiyan hit the area on November 8. Photo: AFP

A child carries a chair taken from a hotel in Palo, eastern island of Leyte on November 10, 2013, three days after devastating Super Typhoon Haiyan hit the area on November 8. Photo: AFP

Residents carry furniture taken from a hotel in Palo, eastern island of Leyte on November 10, 2013, three days after devastating Super Typhoon Haiyan hit the area on November 8. Photo: AFP

A Filipino family with their month old baby in what is left of their home after Super Typhoon Haiyan swept through in Madridejos, Bantayan Island, Cebu province, Philippines, 10 November 2013. Photo: EPA

A resident looks at houses damaged by typhoon Haiyan, in Tacloban city, Leyte province central Philippines on Sunday, Nov. 10, 2013. Photo: AP

The hand of a victim in the super typhoon devastated city of Tacloban, Leyte province, Philippines, 09 November 2013. Philippine troops begin to retrieve bodies strewn in areas devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, which was feared to have killed more than 100 people. Photo: EPA

Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III (front) inspects an area damaged by Typhoon Haiyan during his visit to Tacloban City in Leyte Province, the Philippines, Nov. 10, 2013. Philippine government disaster relief agency said Sunday about 4.4 million people have become homeless in areas hit by super typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda). Photo: Xinhua

Philippines' President Benigno Aquino III (L) distributing water to families displaced by Super Typhoon Haiyan that hit Leyte on November 10, 2013. Photo: Reuters

A resident carries boxes of milk as he passes by ships washed ashore by strong waves in Tacloban city, Leyte province central Philippines on Sunday, Nov. 10, 2013. The city remains littered with debris from damaged homes as many complain of shortage of food, water and no electricity since the Typhoon Haiyan slammed into their province. Photo: AP

A wave surges under the influence of Typhoon Haiyan, in Haikou, south China's Hainan province, November 10, 2013. Photo: Reuters

Workers remove a tree that on a car in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan after it made landfall in Sanya in south China's Hainan province Sunday Nov. 10, 2013.  Photo: AP

People ride against rain and wind under the influence of Typhoon Haiyan, in Qionghai, south China's Hainan province on November 10, 2013, as it approaches Vietnam. Photo: Reuters

US dispatches aid to Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan kills at least 10,000

US Marine Corps soldiers check emergency and rescue supplies in Okinawa, Japan, before departing for a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief mission to the Philippines. Photo: EPA

An aerial view of the damage in Leyte following Super Typhoon Haiyan. Photo: AFP

Residents walk past the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan in Daanbantayan town, north Cebu, central Philippines. Photo: AP

Residents queue up for relief foods next to a fallen power line in Tacloban City, Leyte province. Photo: AFP

Desperation in Tacloban, city at eye of storm, as food and water run short

Chaotic scenes in the devastated city of Tacloban in Leyte province, where the death toll may reach 10,000. Law and order has broken down in parts of the Philippines hit by typhoon Haiyan. Photo: EPA

Super Typhoon Haiyan seen from the International Space Station. Photo: AP

Medical staff prepare to board a plane from Manila to Tacloban.

Locals are confronted with devastation in the ruined city of Tacloban.

Chaotic scene in Tacloban. Photo: AFP

China on high alert as Typhoon Haiyan leaves six missing 

Tree branches are brought down by strong wind as Typhoon Haiyan approaches Qionghai City, south China's Hainan Province. Photo: Xinhua

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