Typhoon Haiyan Aid Effort Boost From Uk Carrier

A second British Royal Navy warship is being deployed to the Philippines to help with the aid effort following Typhoon Haiyan last Friday.

Speaking during a visit to India, David Cameron said helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious will replace destroyer HMS Daring, which has already been deployed from Singapore.

Its helicopters may be used to assist with the distribution of food and water to survivors stranded in remote locations in the far eastern archipelago state, and its facilities to make water drinkable are likely to be in demand in a country where supplies have been badly disrupted by the typhoon. 

lllustrious has been taking part in war games and is expected to arrive by November 25. It has 900 crew and seven helicopters on board.

HMS Illustrious is a helicopter carrier

The Prime Minister said the Government has also raised the amount it is giving to the country to over £20m, while at least £23m more has been raised by the British public.

There have been reports of widespread hunger and thirst in areas battered by the typhoon. A mayor of one of the affected towns said he would not be able to maintain law and order unless food arrived soon.

United Nations humanitarian chief Valerie Amos has acknowledged survivors had been "let down".

MAss burials of the typhoon's victims have begun

"The situation is dismal," she told reporters in Manila. "Those who have been able to leave have done so. Many more are trying. People are extremely desperate for help.

"We need to get assistance to them now. They are already saying it has taken too long to arrive. Ensuring a faster delivery is our ... immediate priority."

The US Navy aircraft carrier USS George Washington has also arrived in the Philippines and will "provide logistical and emergency support" off the east coast of Samar island.

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), a group of 14 UK aid organisations, said that while life-saving aid is on the move, agencies are battling to overcome blocked roads, closed ports, an ill-equipped airport and increasing security concerns.

Justin Forsyth, chief executive of Save The Children, told Sky News his teams in Cebu were facing "huge logistical problems" which were only just beginning to improve.

"The most important thing is not only flying aid in, but staying with these communities over the next weeks and months because they're going to have to pick up, rebuild their homes and livelihoods," he said.

"There's another risk which is that we all respond in the next few days but we don't stay the course."

At least 2,000 bodies are reported to have been collected in Tacloban

Sky News Correspondent Katie Stallard, watching supplies arrive at an airfield in Cebu City, said: "We are seeing signs that the international relief effort is getting going, but many people will simply not know it is coming."

Thousands of desperate survivors are clamouring to escape Tacloban, where the UN fears up to 10,000 people may have been killed.

Clean drinking water is in short supply and scores of dead bodies lie piled up in bags outside the ruined city hall.

People queue to charge their mobile phones in Tacloban city

"There are still so many cadavers in so many areas. It's scary," the city's mayor Alfred Romualdez said, adding that retrieval teams were struggling to cope.

City officials estimate that they have collected 2,000 bodies but insist many more need to be retrieved.

Mass burials began on Thursday after attempts to lay to rest some of Haiyan's victims were abandoned the previous day when gunshots halted a convoy travelling towards a communal grave.

Officials are struggling to cope with the sheer scale of the disaster

Tacloban city administrator Tecson Lim said 70% of the city's 220,000 people were in need of emergency assistance, and that only 70 of the city's 2,700 employees had been showing up for work.

In Tabontabon, the town's mayor Brendo Gamez told Sky's Asia correspondent Mark Stone that he feared a breakdown of law and order if aid was delayed.

He said: "We have no food ... if the people of Tabontabon suffer hunger, I don't think I can control them any more."

Meanwhile Philippine Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla has warned that it could take six weeks to restore power to some areas.

The weather also remains a challenge, with frequent downpours.

:: To make a donation to the DEC Philippines Crisis Appeal visit www.dec.org.uk, call the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, donate over the counter at any high street bank or post office or send a cheque.

You can also donate £5 by texting the word SUPPORT to 70000.

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