RELIEF operations in this typhoon-devastated region of the Philippines picked up pace Wednesday, but still only minimal amounts of water, food and medical supplies were making it to the hardest-hit areas.
Aviation authorities said two more airports in the region had reopened, allowing for more aid flights.
International agencies and militaries were also speeding up operations to get staff, supplies and equipment in place for what will be a major humanitarian mission.
The damaged airport on Tacloban, a coastal city of 220,000 almost completely destroyed by Friday’s typhoon and coastal surge, has become the major hub for relief work.
A doctor at a makeshift clinic here said supplies of antibiotics and anesthetics arrived Tuesday for the first time.
“Until then, patients had to endure the pain,” said Dr. Victoriano Sambale.
As the desperation of typhoon survivors increased, eight people were crushed to death when thousands of people stormed a government rice warehouse, the National Food Authority said.
A spokesman for the agency said police and soldiers were helpless as looters carted away more than 100,000 sacks of rice. The eight were killed when a wall collapsed on them.
Meanwhile, thousands of victims jammed the damaged airport Tuesday, seeking to be evacuated.
“We need help. Nothing is happening. We haven’t eaten since yesterday afternoon,” pleaded a weeping Aristone Balute, an 81-year-old woman who failed to get a flight out of Tacloban for Manila, the capital. Her clothes were soaked from a pouring rain and tears streamed down her face.
The official toll from a national disaster agency rose to 1, 883 on Tuesday. President Benigno Aquino III told CNN in a televised interview that the toll could be closer to 2,000 or 2,500, lower than an earlier estimate from two officials on the ground who said they feared as many as 10,000 might be dead.
“The figure right now I have is about 2,000, but this might still get higher,” Aquino told CNN.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said President Obama spoke to Aquino Tuesday morning.
Carney said the president has directed his administration “to mount a swift and coordinated response to save lives and provide assistance to alleviate suffering.”
CBS News reported Tuesday evening that at least two Americans are among the dead. It also reported that about 100 U.S. Marines are already on the ground and as many as 2,000 more are expected. The aircraft carrier George Washington should arrive Thursday.
A team from Medecins Sans Frontieres, complete with medical supplies, arrived in Cebu island on Saturday looking for a flight to Tacloban, but hadn’t left by Tuesday. A spokesman for the group said it was “difficult to tell” when it would be able to leave.
“We are in contact with the authorities, but the (Tacloban) airport is only for the Philippines military use,” Lee Pik Kwan said in a telephone interview.
Reporting from Tacloban, CBS News correspondent Seth Doane said many bodies still lay uncollected on a side of the road, wrapped in cloth. Increasingly desperate survivors scavenged for food and children begged for water from any passing vehicle.
Doane added that Tacloban’s airport was open but badly damaged. No power means the planes can’t land at night, and aid workers are struggling to get supplies in. That didn’t stop hundreds of survivors who rushed to the ruined airport looking for food. Others lined up hoping to be evacuated. By afternoon the line had stretched three miles long. CBS News
