US aircraft carrier backs Philippines relief efforts

USS George Washington aircraft carrier is anchored off Manila Bay in the Philippines, Oct 24, 2012, file photo. The United States is sending the aircraft carrier to the Philippines to help relief efforts after a typhoon killed an estimated 10,000 people in one city alone.[Photo/icpress.cn]

TACLOBAN, Philippines - The United States is sending an aircraft carrier to the Philippines to help speed up relief efforts after a typhoon killed an estimated 10,000 people in one city alone, with fears the toll could rise sharply as rescuers reach devastated towns.

The USS George Washington aircraft carrier should arrive in 48 to 72 hours, the Pentagon said, confirming a Reuters report.

A statement said crew from the George Washington, which carries some 5,000 sailors and more than 80 aircraft, were being recalled early from shore leave in Hong Kong and the ship was expected to be under way in the coming hours. Other US Navy ships would also head to the Philippines, it said.

The Philippines has been overwhelmed by the scale of Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest on record, which tore a path through islands in the central Philippines on Friday.

Rescue workers were trying to reach towns and villages on Tuesday that have been cut off, which could reveal the full extent of the loss of life and devastation from the disaster.

Britain is also sending a navy warship with equipment to make drinking water from seawater and a military transport aircraft, Prime Minister David Cameron said.

DEATH TOLL EXPECTED TO RISE

Officials in Tacloban, which bore the brunt of the storm, have said the death toll could be 10,000 in their city. There is grave concern for regions outside Tacloban.

"I think what worries us the most is that there are so many areas where we have no information from, and when we have this silence, it usually means the damage is even worse," said Joseph Curry of the US organisation Catholic Relief Services.

The "sheer size of the emergency" in the wake of the typhoon was testing relief efforts, he told NBC's "Today" program on Monday, speaking from Manila.

John Ging, director of operations at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said "many places are strewn with dead bodies" that need to be buried quickly to prevent the outbreak of a public health disaster.

"We're sadly expecting the worst as we get more and more access," Ging told reporters at the United Nations in New York.

Compounding the misery for survivors, a depression is due to bring rain to the central and southern Philippines on Tuesday, the weather bureau said.

President Benigno Aquino declared a state of national calamity and deployed hundreds of soldiers in Tacloban to quell looting. Tacloban's administration appeared to be in disarray as city and hospital workers focused on saving their own families and securing food.

Nevertheless, relief supplies were getting into the once-vibrant port city of 220,000.

Aid trucks from the airport struggled to enter because of the stream of people and vehicles leaving. On motorbikes, trucks or by foot, people clogged the road to the airport, holding scarves to their faces to blot out the stench of bodies.

Hundreds have left on cargo planes to the capital Manila or the second-biggest city of Cebu, with many more sleeping rough overnight at the wrecked terminal building.

Reuters journalists travelled into the city on a government aid truck which was guarded by soldiers with assault rifles. "It's risky," said Jewel Ray Marcia, an army lieutenant. "People are angry. They are going out of their minds."