Relief teams rush to typhoon-devastated Philippines

Sunshine de Leon and Barbara Demick in the Los Angeles Times: With the vast scale of death and destruction slowly coming into focus, international relief teams rushed toward the central Philippines, where one of the strongest storms on record left bereft survivors looting food and water or scrambling for a way out.

Aid agencies said they were hurrying supplies to the area hit early Friday by the typhoon. U.S. Marines were en route from bases in Okinawa, Japan, and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel directed the Pacific Command to deploy helicopters, logistics officers and cargo planes to assist the effort.

Initial reports suggested that the Philippines had escaped widespread loss of life from fast-moving Typhoon Haiyan, called Yolanda by Filipinos. But as reports trickled in Sunday from areas that had been cut off from the rest of the country, it became clear that the nation had suffered a major natural disaster.

The storm weakened over the South China Sea after leaving the Philippines, and made landfall in Vietnam on Monday. Thousands of people there had been evacuated as a precaution....

Haiyan via NASA on November 7, 2013