CBS/AP/ November 14, 2013, 2:14 PM

Philippines typhoon dead buried in mass grave in hard-hit Tacloban as aid begins to pour in

Updated at 2:14 p.m. ET

TACLOBAN, Philippines The air was thick with the stench of decay as sweating workers lowered the plastic coffins one by one into a grave the size of an Olympic swimming pool.

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Typhoon Haiyan survivors desperate for help

Scores of unidentified bodies were interred together Thursday in a hillside cemetery without any ritual - the first mass burial in this city shattered by last week's Typhoon Haiyan.

Six days after the disaster, some progress was being made in providing food, water and medical aid to the nearly a million people displaced in the Philippines. Massive bottlenecks blocking the distribution of international assistance have begun to clear.

Soldiers on trucks gave out rice and water, and chainsaw-wielding teams cut debris from blocked roads to clear the way for relief trucks in Tacloban, the capital of the hardest-hit Leyte province.

Thousands of people continued to swarm Tacloban's damaged airport, desperate to leave or to get treatment at a makeshift medical center.

"We know the gravity of our countrymen's suffering, and we know that, now more than ever, all of us are called on to do whatever we can to help alleviate our countrymen's suffering," President Benigno S. Aquino III said in a statement.

CBS News correspondent Seth Doane reports from Tacloban that its government-run hospital is on life support.

Dr. Lory Reutas told Doane the hospital normally sees 100 patients a day, but since the typhoon that number has soared to a thousand. Because the hospital doesn't have electricity, Reutas said hospital workers have had to sew stitches by candlelight.

Authorities say 2,357 people have been confirmed dead, a figure that is expected to rise, perhaps significantly, when information is collected from other areas of the disaster zone.

With sweat rolling down their faces, John Cajipe, 31, and three teenage boys who work at the Tacloban cemetery placed the first body in the grave's right-hand corner.

The second body followed two minutes later, carefully placed alongside the first. And so on, until scores of coffins filled the 6-foot deep grave. A ritual to sprinkle holy water on the site is expected to be held Friday, one week after the typhoon struck.

A portion of the femur was removed from each corpse by the National Bureau of Investigation. Technicians will extract DNA from each bit of bone to try to identify the dead, said Joseph David, crime photographer for the bureau.

"I hope this is the last time I see something like this," said Mayor Alfred Romualdez. "When I look at this, it just reminds me of what has happened from the day the storm hit until today."

The massive flow of international aid was bolstered by Thursday's arrival of the USS George Washington in the Philippine Sea near the Gulf of Leyte. The aircraft carrier will set up a position off the coast of Samar Island to assess the damage and provide medical and water supplies, the 7th Fleet said in a statement.

The carrier and its strike group together bring 21 helicopters to the area, which can help reach the most inaccessible parts of the disaster zone.

The United Kingdom also is sending an aircraft carrier, the HMS Illustrious, with seven helicopters and facilities to produce fresh water, Britain's Ministry of Defense said. It said the ship is expected to reach the area around Nov. 25.

Aircraft carrier

U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS George Washington and other ships, seen in a file photo.

/ AP

The U.S. already has a half-dozen other ships - including a destroyer and two huge supply vessels - in the area, along with two P-3 aircraft that are being used to survey the damage so that planners can assess where aid is most needed, the 7th Fleet said.

"We are operating 24-7," said Capt. Cassandra Gesecki, a spokeswoman for the Marines, who have set up an operations hub near Manila's international airport. "We are inundated with flights."

Valerie Amos, the U.N. humanitarian chief who toured Tacloban on Wednesday, said about 11.5 million people have been affected by the typhoon, which includes those who lost loved ones, were injured, or suffered damage to their homes or livelihoods.

"The situation is dismal. ... Tens of thousands of people are living in the open ... exposed to rain and wind," she told reporters in Manila.

She said the immediate priority for humanitarian agencies in the next few days is to transport and distribute high-energy biscuits and other food, tarpaulins, tents, drinking water and basic sanitation services.

"I think we are all extremely distressed that this is Day 6 and we have not managed to reach everyone," she said.

Amos said because of a lack of fuel in Tacloban, trucks are unable to move the aid material from the airport to the city. The weather also remains a challenge, with frequent downpours. The good news is that the road to the airport has been cleared of debris, she said.

On Wednesday, the U.N.'s World Food Program distributed rice and other items to nearly 50,000 people in the Tacloban area. Nearly 10 tons of high-energy biscuits were also delivered to the city on Wednesday, with another 25 tons on the way.

But for thousands of people who have squatted in Tacloban's sports arena, known as the Astrodome, no aid has arrived since the typhoon struck. A volunteer from the village council handed out only stamps for food that is yet to be seen.

The first nighttime flights - of C-130 transport planes - finally landed since the typhoon struck, suggesting air control systems are now in place for an around-the-clock operation, a prerequisite for the massive relief operation needed.

Tacloban city administrator Tecson Lim said 70 percent of the city's 220,000 people are in need of emergency assistance, and that only 70 of the city's 2,700 employees have been showing up for work.

He also stuck to an earlier estimate that 10,000 people had died in Tacloban even though Aquino has said the final death toll would top 2,500.

Philippine Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla said it may take six weeks before the first typhoon-hit towns get their electricity back. In Tacloban, order needed to be restored "because if there's no peace and order, it's hard to reinstall the power posts," he said.

© 2013 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
29 Comments Add a Comment
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SiaraDelyn says:
There's something appalling about mother nature's complete disrespect for individual members of a species.

It is us fellow humans who must give dignity to these deaths by helping the survivors to move on.
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Neriah30 says:
I think that helping each other is a good thing. We need more working together and less fighting. I see the use of nationalism as beneficial only as it extends to regions and possibly cultural identity. That being said, I wish we could all focus more on the global community at large, and how to truly make it a better world for all humans and organisms. I do not identify myself as a citizen of one country or another, but a citizen of this planet. I clean up after myself as much as possible, and even to help others clean up their litter. Our impact can be quite large even as one consumer. There is so much trash to be cleaned up, and sorted, recycled and refurbished and re rendered. I think if we focused less on arming ourselves to the teeth with weaponry, and focused our energies instead on disaster preparation and infrastructure development, we could eliminate so much suffering and death. This is such a beautiful time to be alive. Let us care for each other and cherish the lives we touch.
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sadforhumans says:
Sad that money and politics plays a defining role in the sanctity of human life. Humankind is doomed to extinction due to the fast track of destruction we keep choosing. In keeping with the scientific trends and ideas maybe there should be a gene that is cloned for empathy and compassion for one another no matter who or what is responsible for tragedies whether they are natural or self-imposed.
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trekgreg says:
Well maybe when the next super storm rolls in, the international community will stage and deploy immediately after one of these monsters hits landfall, ending a major amount of death and suffering. Unless, they knew it would kill thousands...Makes you wonder, no? This thing took days to develop and all the signs were that it was going to be a record breaker. Fingers will be pointed at someone eventually, bet on it.
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proffsl replies:
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TrekGreg: Yes! I've been thinking exactly the same thing.

There should be some kind of Multinational Global Aid that stays prepared to ACT immediately BEFORE and AFTER these things happen.

As you said, it's not as if they didn't know it was coming!

They should have been in the Philippines BEFORE the storm struck helping prepare the people to cope with what was coming, and they should be there immediately AFTER the storm struck helping those who didn't or couldn't prepare for it.

This is a shame upon all humanity.
proffsl replies:
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TrekGreg, elaborating a bit further.

This Multinational Global Aid I speak of should be funded in part globally, and in part locally. And, cold as this might sound, places which have a greater chance of these things happening should be required to contribute more.

That doesn't mean they should be denied Aid if they didn't contribute, but they should shoulder much of the cost if they didn't.

This Multinational Global Aid should function like I remember some Fire Departments functioned, where people who didn't pay Dues to the Fire Department were BILLED for any calls they made.

But, thinking in circles here, I would have a problem denying individuals Aid simply because their Nation, or their Dictator, refused to pay their Dues.
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Zodiac1926 says:
I agree with The_Den. RiseupandFight, i dont see anyone OTHER country stepping up to help..As usual, people like you BASH the only effing people who are helping. I don't see you ******** about the halocaust and 10 million people slaughtered...or like Den said the million that Saddam killed with his bullets and chemical weapons on the kurds.. or do you even take in account the fact that these ass backward countries have been chopping off the heads of their own people since BEFORE THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE?
I hate uneducated mouthy people.


Oh and weasek? Screw your "american culture" comment. Unless you are 100% native american, you and your people are the ones who SPOILED this country by coming here. Your people led to the DECAY of life.
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proffsl replies:
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Zodiac, I understand your anger at WEASEK's comment, and if you'd had have left it at "I hate uneducated mouthy people.", I'd mostly agree.

But, then you had to imply that unless one is "100% Native American", EVERYTHING is their fault... HOG WASH!!!

Let me clue you in: "Native Americans" are no saints. In fact, pretty much no group of people anywhere on earth are saints.

I've dealt with "Native American" arrogance for most of my life. Especially when I mention that I am a White Cherokee. They try to tell me I can't be a White Cherokee, and that I have to be one or the other. I ask them which half of myself they'd have me ignore?

I'm sure some of my innocent "Native American" ancestors were murdered savagely at the hands of "Whites". I'm also just as sure that some of my innocent "White" ancestors were murdered just as savagely at the hands of "Native Americans".

Which half of me would you have the other half of me hate the most? Which half of me would you have go on the "war path" with the other half of me?

Native Americans are no saints. They scalped and murdered entire families, men, women and children, who were simply trying to make a living by farming the land. Cherokee Indians even practiced a perverted sense of Justice where if one White Man committed a crime against them, they felt they could extract Justice from just any White Man that happened to be passing through.

So, please keep your "Native American" arrogance to yourself.
Zodiac1926 replies:
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PROFF..

How about you learn the difference between being of 100% native American bloodline and a culture and /or a tribe or individuals and their actions? It's about outsiders coming, then taking over, then ultimately dictating what this country has become. Dont even try to compare the violence of "Before" vs "after" outsiders arrived... If I have to tell you it was far better AFTER, you may want to do some research.

Also.. learn to distinguish these things... or youre tagging actions to a race and ethnicity, which makes you in part a seemingly racist individual.
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skiimaan says:
My choice in an Act of God.
(a) Home's destroyed, I survived.
(b) Home's destroyed, I died.
I pick (b).
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proffsl replies:
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Acts of God are Supernatural.

Acts of Nature are Natural.

Nothing is Supernatural.

Everything is Natural.

It is Natural that "stuff" happens, and it is also Natural that worse "stuff" happens when man wrongly screws with Nature.

The tragedy in the Philippines is part Nature's fault, and part Man's fault.

Man has risen above nature, but instead of doing the Right things, they are doing the Wrong things. Instead of viewing Nature as a family member to be cared for, many view Nature as a victim to be ravaged.

Even with this tragedy in the Philippines, there are people who still deny Global Warming caused by man. They are in denial of their obligation to our Mother Earth.
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Meatrex2 says:
This is expected in impoverished countries such as the Philippines. 3rd world countries always take them on the chin. I live by the boy scout motto. "Always be prepared". Don't live on the beach if you can't handle mother nature. She can be a *****.
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proffsl replies:
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Meatrex2, I can't help but detect a condescending odor emanating from your post.

1) Be Prepared in Mind by having disciplined yourself to be obedient to every order, and also by having thought out beforehand any accident or situation that might occur, so that you know the right thing to do at the right moment, and are willing to do it.

2) Be Prepared in Body by making yourself strong and active and able to do the right thing at the right moment, and do it.

The Scout Motto is about Being Prepared to DO THE RIGHT THING. Not about Surviving for Survival's sake. In fact, a good Scout is willing to sacrifice their own life if need be to DO THE RIGHT THING.

Other than your condescending abbreviated advice, what RIGHT THING are you Prepared to do?
proffsl replies:
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Also, Meatrex, I suppose, by your remark, that instead of helping the elderly woman across the street, you'd say to the elderly woman: "Don't try to cross the street if you can't handle the traffic." ???
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weasek says:
Called the realities of life. Unlike the spoiled American culture.
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proffsl replies:
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WEASEK, I see your pastime is American bashing, and you are not above using this tragedy in the Philippines as yet another opportunity to bash Americans.
SuKeCe replies:
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Another inappropriate zinger.

Who is influencing you? Maybe try a new circle of friends.
You are seriously off base.
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riseupandfight says:
When I see these types of photos and headlines, I cannot help but think about all the 100,000 innocent Iraqi people killed by the US for the oil companies. The Iraqis were buried in mass graves also, others were mutilated for life.
Just can't help it.
Glad we are helping the Filipinos.
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The_Den replies:
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You know what I think about? The million or more (Saddam did bother to record numbers)Iraqis that were killed by Saddam. The millions that had to suffer under the threat and use of chemical weapons, assassinations, secret police, torture, and rape. Not to mention the million or so people killed over his unprovoked invasion of Iran. And that is only putting it mildly.
SuKeCe replies:
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Apples and oranges.

How did the Philippine nation have a choice in this?
Didn't the Iraqi government and people have a choice?

I'm glad the US is helping along with other industrialized nations - global warming, after all, could be the reason for so many deaths.

Is it humanitarian aid or simply mitigating damages (from helping to cause the catastrophe in the first place) by helping those who survived?

Be assured, if the US has done wrong, there is legal action that others can take.
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eiddam says:
Still think HAARP helped Mother Nature.
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proffsl replies:
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What are you Harping about?
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