DHAKA: Philippines President Benigno Aquino says the death toll from Friday`s typhoon may be lower than first thought.
In an interview with CNN, he said the number of 10,000 killed was "too high" and the figure was more likely up to 2,500.
The UN says more than 11 million people are believed to have been affected and some 673,000 displaced.
The relief operation is being stepped up, but many are still without aid.
So where is the aid? That was the question on everyone`s lips in the district of Pawing, outside Tacloban.
Nearly every house has either been flattened or left without roofs or windows. People are living amid the sodden debris that was once their homes.
They are wet, hungry, and increasingly angry. I watched them making the long trek into Tacloban in search of food, and returning empty-handed. One long queue outside a food warehouse quickly broke down into a free-for-all, people grabbing whatever they could.
The local government was pretty much wiped out by the typhoon. That`s why the central government has taken over the running of Tacloban. But it is almost invisible. Without power or phone communications, people have no idea whether anything is being done for them.
The airport, while badly battered, is functioning. Planes come and go, several every hour. But they are not bringing much in, only taking people out. The Philippine army and police are very visible there, much less so in the rest of the city.
By day five of a disaster like this, you would expect to see some preparations for a scaled-up aid programme at the airport. There are still very few signs of that here.
Instead, there are still corpses, lying uncollected, at the end of the runway.
The earlier figure of 10,000 feared killed came from a police officer and local official and may have arisen from the "emotional trauma" of being at the centre of the disaster, Mr Aquino said.
He said 29 municipalities had yet to be contacted to establish the number of victims there.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) has put the official death toll at 1,833, as of 06:00 local time (22:00 GMT) on Wednesday. The number of injured stands at 2,623 with 84 listed as missing.
Angry residents
Despite the increased aid effort, many survivors still badly need food, water and shelter, aid officials say.
Several countries have deployed ships and aircraft to help, but the damage to transport links and bad weather are hindering distribution of relief supplies.
"The mobilisation of air assets, clearing away the debris, opening up the routes - this is a top priority," John Ging, director of operations at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told the BBC.
"It`s happening. It`s happening too slowly, but it`s happening and everybody is working flat out to make it better."
Philippine armed forces spokesman Ramon Zagala told the BBC teams were struggling to reach isolated places.
"The area is very vast and the number of helicopters, although we have a lot of helicopters at the moment, it`s really a challenge for us to bring [aid] to all the places and [bring] the number of goods that are needed."
Tacloban - a city of 220,000 on Leyte island - is particularly badly affected.
The BBC`s Jonathan Head says the main road from the airport to the city is clogged with refugees and debris, with residents becoming angry at the lack of progress and increasing breakdown in security.
Bodies remain uncollected, local government has been wiped out and central government, which is meant to have taken over, is almost invisible, our correspondent adds.
On Tuesday the UN launched an appeal for $301m (£190m) to help survivors. It has already released $25m to meet immediate needs.
The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs says 11.3 million people are in need of vital goods and services, because of factors such as lack of food, healthcare and access to education and livelihoods.
Source: BBC
BDST: 0937 HRS, NOV 13, 2013
RS/BSK
