A week after Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines, an international aid effort is struggling against clogged airports, blocked roads and a lack of manpower. The U.S military has taken a lead in aid efforts, sending thousands of troops, scores of aircraft and tons of equipment and supplies.
Bodies still lie in the streets as rescuers try to evacuate devastated communities across the country. A report by the Philippines National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council confirmed 3,633 deaths Saturday. Official numbers also included 1,179 missing and 12,487 injured.
Some officials have projected the eventual death toll could top 10,000, after the missing are declared dead and remote regions are reached. Officials said some people may have been swept out to sea and their bodies lost after a tsunami-like wall of seawater slammed into coastal areas.
Widespread, severe damage, communication failure, and transportation problems have paralyzed Tacloban, the Leyte island's main city. Hundreds of international aid workers have created makeshift hospitals and trucked in supplies, while helicopters from a U.S. aircraft carrier brought medicine and water to remote areas.
"We are very, very worried about millions of children,'' U.N. Children's Fund spokesman Marixie Mercado told reporters in Geneva, Reuters reported Friday.
A U.N. official said in a guarded compliment many countries had come forward to help. ``The response from the international community has not been overwhelming compared to the magnitude of the disaster, but it has been very generous so far,'' Jens Laerke of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told reporters in Geneva.
The Philippine government defended its efforts Friday to deliver assistance to typhoon victims, many of whom have received little or no assistance since the monster storm struck last Friday.
"In a situation like this, nothing is fast enough," Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said in Tacloban, most of which was destroyed by the storm. "The need is massive, the need is immediate, and you can't reach everyone."
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin told The Associated Press that armed forces have set up communication lines and C-130 transport planes are conducting regular flights to Tacloban, the capital of Leyte.
"The biggest challenge is to be able to reach out to all the areas and overwhelm them with food and water. There are just a few more areas in Leyte and Samar that have not been reached and our hope is that we will reach all these areas today, 100 percent," he said.
The pace of the aid effort has picked up over the last 24 hours, according to reporters who have been in the region for several days.
The U.S. military is sending roughly 1,000 more troops, along with additional ships and aircraft, to join a massive effort to assist typhoon victims in the Philippines -- a mission one Philippine military official on Friday called a "game changer."
"We are increasing our presence based on the request of the government of the Philippines," said Col. John Peck, chief of staff for the 3rd Marines Expeditionary Battalion, which is coordinating the U.S. operation from a Philippine air force base next to Manila's international airport.
Troops are removing bodies near the sea with the help of the Departments of Health, Public Works and Highways. Water filtration systems are also operating in Tacloban and two other towns in Leyte province, the hardest-hit area, Gazmin told reporters.
Gazmin said that looting has been brought under control and no incidents have been reported over the past two days. "Our augmentation of the police and Philippine army was able to stop the problem of lawlessness," he said.
The U.S. military -- looking to both help an ally and show its commitment to remaining the leading power in the Pacific amid the rise of China -- has been extremely fast in responding to the disaster.
About a half dozen countries -- including Japan, Indonesia, and Singapore -- have offered military assistance to Manila, and many more have sent supplies. Chinese troops, however, have been prominently absent, in large part because of a territorial spat between the two nations.
According to Lt. Col. Rodney Legowski, the first U.S. Marines arrived in the Philippines in response to the disaster within six hours, and began flying supplies to affected areas less than 18 hours after that. By Friday, there were 400 Marines in the country.
The USS George Washington aircraft carrier and its battle group are also in place off the hard-hit islands of Leyte and Samar— carrying 5,000 crew and more than 80 aircraft. So far, the U.S. military has moved 190 tons of supplies and flown nearly 200 sorties.
"Having the U.S. military here is a game changer," said Col. Miguel Okol, a spokesman for the Philippine air force. "For countries that we don't have these kinds of relationships with, it can take a while to get help. But with the U.S., it's immediate."
With roughly 600,000 people displaced by the typhoon and millions still in need of aid, the Marines said in a statement Thursday that about 900 more Marines based on Okinawa, Japan, were to arrive early next week aboard two U.S. Navy amphibious ships.
Critics have blamed President Benigno Aquino for the slow pace of aid distribution and unclear estimates of casualties, especially in Tacloban.
Red Cross estimates put the preliminary number of missing at 25,000 Friday. That could include people who have since been located, it said.
A Norwegian merchant navy training vessel arrived at Tacloban Friday with goods from the U.N. World Food Program, including 40 tons of rice, medical equipment and 6,200 body bags.
As boxes of aid were unloaded at Tacloban's badly damaged airport, more than a thousand people lined up for hours, hoping to evacuate. Nearly a million people displaced by the storm lined up for food and water at an evacuee processing center at Mactan Air Base in Cebu, the country's second-biggest city.
But amid the desperation, a spirit of resilience was clearly evident as the residents of Guiuan and other battered towns started rebuilding their lives and those of their neighbors -- with or without help from their government or a foreign aid groups.
Dionesio de la Cruz has already built a temporary shelter out of the remains of his house. "We're on our own, so we have to do this on our own," the 40-year-old said as his wife and mother slept on a nearby table. "We're not expecting anybody to come and help us."
Authorities estimate some 600,000 people have been displaced by Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the islands of Samar and Leyte hardest. Most of those are likely to be homeless. Along with food, water and medicine, aid groups will prioritize the distribution of tools, nails and other equipment to allow people like de la Cruz to make better shelters while more permanent solutions are considered.
Residents hauled debris into piles in the streets and set them on fire. Others were at work making frames for temporary homes.
In one neighborhood, dozens of people crowded around a mobile generator, where countless cords snaked across the dirt and into power strips. Residents plugged in mobile phones, tablets and flashlights, hoping for a precious gulp of electricity, even though cell coverage remained spotty.
Back in the town of Guiuan, about 100 miles east of Tacloban, other signs of life emerged from the debris. One man was selling skewers of meat, a couple of kiosks are open selling soda and soaps.
In Tacloban, there were also some signs a battered population was beginning to get back on its feet --even as trucks carrying corpses drove through its streets on the way to a mass grave. The ornate tiled floor of a still-standing church was covered in mud as sunlight poured in through holes in the wind-peeled ceilings. Inside, people prayed while others swept dirt from the pews.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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