US, Britain send warships to help Philippine relief efforts

A US aircraft carrier set sail for the Philippines on Tuesday to accelerate relief efforts after a typhoon killed an estimated 10,000 people in one coastal city alone, with fears the toll could rise sharply as rescuers reach more isolated towns.    

The crew of the USS George Washington, which carries 5,000 sailors and more than 80 aircraft, were recalled early from shore leave in Hong Kong where it left at about 1 p.m. (0500 GMT). Four other US Navy ships also set sail for the disaster zone.    

The nuclear-powered George Washington should arrive in two to three days, the Pentagon said, confirming a Reuters report.    

"The weather is pretty bad out there, so we are limited by seas and wind," said Captain Thomas Disy, commander of the USS Antietam, a missile cruiser that's part of the carrier group. "But we are going to be going as fast as we possibly can."    

Philippine officials have been overwhelmed by the scale of Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest on record, which tore a path through islands in the central Philippines on Friday.

About 660,000 people have been displaced and many have no access to food, water or medicine, the United Nations said.    

Rescue workers were trying to reach towns and villages on Tuesday that have been cut off, which could reveal the full extent of the loss of life and devastation from the disaster.    

The arrival of the US carrier and its aircraft will accelerate the distribution of aid and ensure more injured survivors can be evacuated.         

Britain is also sending a navy warship with equipment to make drinking water from seawater and a military transport aircraft, Prime Minister David Cameron said. The HMS Daring left Singapore and expects to arrive in two or three days, said Steven Lysaght, a senior British embassy official.    

Death toll    

The death toll from the massive typhoon that hit the Philippines is likely closer to 2,000 or 2,500, not the previously reported figure of 10,000, President Benigno Aquino told CNN in an interview on Tuesday.

"The figure right now I have is about 2,000, but this might still get higher," Aquino told CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour in an interview was posted on CNN's website.

"Ten thousand, I think, is too much," he told CNN. "There was emotional drama involved with that particular estimate."
 
On the other hand, officials in Tacloban, which bore the brunt of the storm, have said the death toll could be 10,000 in their city. There is grave concern for regions outside Tacloban yet to be reached.           

President Benigno Aquino declared a state of national calamity and deployed hundreds of soldiers in Tacloban to quell looting. Tacloban's administration appeared to be in disarray as city and hospital workers focused on saving their own families and securing food.    

Tacloban's government was nearly wiped out by the storm, said Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas. Many officials are dead, missing or too overcome with grief to work. Of the city's 293 policemen, only 20 have shown up for duty, he said.