AM 820 News Anchor Rodger P. Shulman, has the latest update from Tom Rivers:
Philippine soldiers are distributing food and water in the devastated city of Tacloban, where only a few buildings remain standing after a typhoon that may have killed 10,000 people.
Bloated bodies lie uncollected and uncounted in the streets.
The U.S. military has sent food, water, generators and a contingent of Marines to the city. It’s the first outside help in what will grow into a major international relief mission.
A U.S. Marine brigadier general who took a helicopter flight over the city says “every single building” was destroyed or severely damaged. Paul Kennedy spoke as supplies were unloaded from two Marine C-130 cargo planes.
Those who were caught in the storm are worried that the aid won’t arrive soon enough. Bobbie Womack, an American missionary from Tennessee who is a longtime Tacloban resident, says she’s afraid “it’s going to get dangerous in town” because of the slow pace of relief efforts. She says, “They need to bring in shiploads of food.”
The country’s president has declared a “state of national calamity,” allowing the central government to release emergency funds faster and impose price controls on staple goods.
Source: Associated Press
