PHILIPPINES - Monster Storm Leads to Despair and Uncertainty

"Dwindling supplies add to despair and uncertainty in the Philippines" (Part-1) PBS Newshour 11/13/2013

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JOHN IRVINE, Independent Television News:  It's the last place outsiders have reached, the town of Guiuan, the eastern edge of this country, where the Philippines meet the Pacific.

We headed into what's left.  The soldier with us was a guide, not a guard.  The people here could not have been more welcoming as they showed us the horrendous destruction.

Guiuan's location, normally a blessing, was on Friday a terrible curse.  There's nothing to the east of this town other than thousands of miles of Pacific Ocean, and it was from there that the typhoon came.  The most powerful storm ever recorded by man first encountered mankind right here and dealt a terrible blow.

Several people were killed here in a sports center designated as a shelter, a refuge that became a death trap as the typhoon blew the roof in.  The monster storm killed at least 85 people.  And the survivors still can't quite believe that they lived through it.

"Storm debris continues to be obstacle to typhoon relief efforts" (Part-2) PBS Newshour 11/13/2013

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SUMMARY:  Relief supplies have been slow to reach typhoon victims due to physical obstacles slowing down delivery.  The lack of aid and growing desperation have led to a "breakdown of peace and order" in the hardest hit regions.  Gwen Ifill talks to Richard Gordon of the Philippine Red Cross about the challenges.

PHILIPPINES - In the Wake of World's Biggest Typhoon

"Relief workers struggle to provide life-saving services to typhoon survivors" (Part-1) PBS Newshour 11/11/2013

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour):  The devastation in the Philippines has overwhelmed that government's ability to provide relief to typhoon victims.  One supplier, the country's air force, struggled today with limited supplies and access to remote areas.

We have a report from Alex Thomson of Independent Television News.

ALEX THOMSON, Independent Television News:  It can be agonizingly slow. Brigadier General Quiapo is not happy.  He wants more aid to distribute.  There are remote areas, hungry people.  Time is slipping by.

So they push out what they have got into the waiting helicopters, the 206th Tactical Helicopter Squadron of the Philippines air force now a lifesaving rice delivery service.  Out over this shattered, saturated landscape, there are people who have still not been reached.

South from Roxas, the provincial capital, to a remote fishing village apparently cut off by flooding, desperate, hungry, they are alerted by the noise and come from nowhere.  Smiles that say it all, but the payload is puny.  This is over in seconds, even as others arrive in hope.  At that point, we were ordered back on board.

Back at the civilian airport commandeered by the military, you soon realize, this air bridge is itself completely dependent on the incoming C-130s and the aid they can bring in from the capital.

BRIG. GEN. ARNOLD QUIAPO, Philippine Army:  We cannot fail our countrymen.  And we have to do our job.  It's a very taxing job, but we have to help our countrymen.

ALEX THOMSON:  We waited and we waited, but another expected delivery of rice simple didn't arrive.  So the mission into the interior late this afternoon and the mountains was purely about water.

Our pilot made three passes, and still the ridge was too precarious to actually hit land.  So a few seconds of hovering and vital water delivered, any way you can, so long as it's fast.  So it is that the lifeline of drinking water comes not from the village wells anymore, but from the 206th Tactical Helicopter Squadron.

Today, President Aquino declared a state of calamity, essentially a way of stopping profiteering and looting and freeing up state funds to get aid where it is needed.  Night has fallen and they have come down from their shattered villages in the mountains to live here now, in a primary school, four families in this one small classroom, no power, no running water.  One mother has already come down with chicken pox.

Outside, Analissa Delgado cooks tuna donated by a charity.

WOMAN:  They have no food to eat anymore.  They have no water.

ALEX THOMSON:  A few feet away, tiny Inista Bowlas.  He was born the day before the typhoon, rendered homeless on the second day of his life.

Such is the scale of what is happening here, that these people will be considered fortunate by the standards of some in this region.  Yes, they are homeless and destitute, but they are at least alive and unhurt.

"Philippines has faced 'one blow after another' in disaster relief efforts" (Part-2) PBS Newshour 11/11/2013

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SUMMARY:  Typhoon Haiyan is the Philippines' fifth natural disaster in a single year, only adding to the relief challenges facing that nation.  For insight on why relief efforts appear to be delayed and how Americans can help, Judy Woodruff speaks to Andrew Natsios, former director at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

"Typhoon survivors 'growingly desperate' as incapacitated areas await relief" (Part-3) PBS Newshour 11/11/2013

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SUMMARY:  In some of the Philippines' most devastated regions, survivors of Typhoon Haiyan are returning to flattened communities with no food, water or sanitation, as officials struggle to provide relief.  Angus Walker of Independent Television News reports from the city of Tacloban.  Lynnette Lim of Save The Children joins Gwen Ifill.

"How to help Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts"

PHILIPPINES - Super Typhoon Haiyan

Note to the nay-sayers on climate change.  Catastrophic cyclone hits India in October and now the super typhoon hits the Philippines, these are evidence of the predicted consequence of a warmer world climate.

Note that typhoon Haiyan is expected to hit China.

"Super Typhoon Haiyan pummels the Philippines leaving severe damage in its wake" PBS Newshour 11/8/2013

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JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour):  In the Philippines, speed may have saved lives.  The massive typhoon that ripped across that country moved at about 25 miles per hour, so fast, it decreased the impact of rain and landslides, which can be a major cause of deaths.

We begin with a report narrated by Angus Walker of Independent Television News.

ANGUS WALKER:  With gusts of more than 230 miles an hour, Super Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines with massive force, houses torn apart.  Huge waves crashed into the coast, almost a million people forced to flee from one of the strongest storms ever recorded.

There are reports of flash floods and landslides from many of the islands worst affected, but with power and communications severely disrupted, no one has an entirely confident assessment of the damage so far.  At least seven ships have sunk in rough seas.  Crew members from a barge forced to abandon their vessel were luckily spotted and rescued.

This is the main operations center of the Philippines Red Cross here in Manila, and they're working through the night trying to assess the extent of the damage, and one of the worst affected provinces is completely cut off.