Relief efforts pick up in Philippines one week after typhoon
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Efforts to help survivors of T yphoon Haiyan in the Philippines picked up Friday, although the government admitted the pace was still slow one week after the storm left thousands dead and hundreds of thousands homeless.
Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said in Tacloban City, the capital of the worst-hit province of Leyte, that trucks carrying supplies had reached 30 out of 40 towns in the province.
Workers with chainsaws cut up toppled trees around the city hall in Tacloban while trucks hauled away bodies and debris.
"Our relief effort is progressing, although it's still at a slow pace." Roxas told reporters. "Every day is better than yesterday. There is nothing fast enough in a situation like this because so many were affected and infrastructure damaged." US soldiers helped distribute relief goods to survivors desperate for food and water. Long queues formed outside Tacloban city hall and in nearby villages to receive supplies including packs of rice, canned goods and water.
The number of dead in the disaster remains unclear, with the government putting the death toll at 3,621, while the United Nations earlier reported that Haiyan had killed 4,460 people. At least 1,124 were reported missing in Leyte and Samar provinces.
