Desperation gripped Philippine islands devastated by Typhoon Haiyan as looting turned deadly on Wednesday and survivors panicked over delays in supplies of food, water and medicine, some digging up underground water pipes and smashing them open.
Five days after one of the strongest storms ever recorded crashed into cities and towns in the central Philippines, survivors in remote regions complained they had yet to receive any aid.
Controversy also emerged over the death toll.
President Benigno Aquino said local officials had overstated the loss of life, saying it was closer to 2,000 or 2,500 than the 10,000 previously estimated. His comments, however, drew scepticism from some aid workers.
Eight people were killed when looters raided rice stockpiles in a government warehouse in the town of Alangalang, causing part of the building to collapse, local authorities said.
Other looters still managed to cart away 33,000 bags of rice weighing 50 kg (110 lb) each, said Orlan Calayag, administrator of the state-run grain agency National Food Authority.
Television footage also showed soldiers sent in by Aquino to restore order in the city of Tacloban firing shots into the air to scatter looters there.
Tacloban city administrator Tecson John Lim said 90 percent of the coastal city of 220,000 people had been destroyed, with only 20 percent of its residents getting aid. Houses were now being looted because warehouses were empty, he said.
"The looting is not criminality. It is self-preservation," Lim told Reuters.
Some survivors in Tacloban, which bore the brunt of the storm, dug up water pipes in a desperate bid for water.
"We sourced our water from an underground pipe that we have smashed. We don't know if it's safe. We need to boil it. But at least we have something," said Christopher Dorano, 38.
REUTERS
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