Rescuers struggle to provide aid in devastated Philippines

About 80 U.S. Marines are in the Philippines working with officials and international relief agencies to provide humanitarian assistance to survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan — a daunting task amid massive infrastructure damage and widespread looting. 

The Marines arrived Sunday on two KC-130J Hercules aircraft at Villamor Air Base near Manila, according to the U.S. Defense Department, at a time when officials say they are having a difficult time distributing disaster-relief items. Emergency teams from Doctors Without Borders also arrived in the Southeast Asian nation this weekend, and the international organization plans to send 200 metric tons of relief material in the next few days. 

Philippine Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras told journalists that relief goods are still lacking and that it has been difficult to coordinate efforts with local officials — many who whom have themselves become victims of the typhoon. Local officials' assistance in disbursing relief materials is crucial, Almendras said, because they have more knowledge about conditions on the ground in their respective areas. 

Looting has also hampered recovery efforts, and there have been reports that survivors are stealing from the dead. Some officials said the looting has gone beyond desperate people taking what they need, including the alleged theft of a McDonald's restaurant sign.

President Benigno Aquino III addressed the vandalism on a visit Sunday to the devastated city of Tacloban, which has a population of 220,000 people and is about 360 miles southeast of Manila. 

"We have around 300 policemen and soldiers who can rotate and restore peace here. Later tonight, there will be several armored vehicles from our army arriving to show the strength of the state and stop those who started the looting here," he said.

Aquino said he was considering declaring a state of emergency or martial law in Tacloban. A state of emergency usually includes curfews, price and food supply controls, military or police checkpoints and increased security patrols.

But Aquino also acknowledged the urgent need for resources that has prompted some of the thefts. 

"We are addressing first the needs of those who are still living, especially those that are injured, the need for food and need for water," he said. 

The president reportedly stormed out of a meeting Sunday with Tacloban officials, angered that they had not done enough to prepare for the storm, according to the The Manila Times.

As bodies lay strewn on streets and shores, those who survived are desperately searching for food, water and shelter. A United Nations official reviewing the destruction said it was similar to that left by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more than 200,000 people on coasts across much of Asia.

Early reports suggest as many as 10,000 were killed by Haiyan in worst-hit Tacloban, the capital of Leyte province, in the central part of the country. Officials confirmed another 300 people dead on Samar Island. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Sunday that 9.5 million people have been affected by the typhoon's devastation.

Regional police chief superintendent Elmer Soria said that as much as 80 percent of Leyte was destroyed.

Hobbled by poverty and by geography that places it directly in the path of many of Asia's worst seasonal storms, the Philippines has long tried to minimize the damage caused by the 20 or so typhoons that hit the sprawling archipelago every year. Despite a combination of preparation and mitigation measures, high death tolls and destruction persist.

The Philippines' location in the western Pacific puts the country at the mercy of the world's No. 1 typhoon-generating area, according to meteorologists.

The country of more than 7,000 islands is struck by more storms each year than any other nation, government meteorologist Jori Loiz told The Associated Press.

It is often the first place to face storms that eventually hit Vietnam to the west and Taiwan, China and Japan to the north.

A strong earthquake last month that killed more than 220 people and destroyed thousands of homes in the central Philippines came after a powerful typhoon, Usagi, which nipped the northern Philippines in September.

A weakened Haiyan struck Vietnam Monday morning. The Vietnamese national weather forecast agency said the storm made landfall in the northern province of Quang Ninh at 5 a.m. local time as a tropical storm and was moving toward southern China, where it is expected to weaken further to a tropical depression.

No casualties or major damage have been reported from Vietnam.

Al Jazeera and wire services