U.S. military helicopters, brought by the USS George Washington aircraft carrier, dropped aid in the worst-hit central Philippines, targeting isolated communities. As soon as the helicopters were sighted, hungry villagers mobbed them to get food, water and other essential supplies, something which they have been denied by the impact of the disaster that struck the region eight days ago.

Elders and children ran after the helicopters crying “Thank you! Thank you!” even as U.S. crew members began distributing the aid marked “From the American People” after landing the helicopters on grass fields.

The U.S. aircraft carrier and accompanying ships, with 5,000 crew members and more than 80 aircraft, arrived off eastern Samar province on Thursday, to ensure quick disbursal of emergency supplies to the affected areas. USS George Washington is also engaging in search and rescue works to look for the remaining dead and missing people.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military has announced that about 1,000 more troops, along with more ships, will join the aid efforts now underway in different parts of the disaster-hit Philippines. As of now, the U.S. military said, it has brought in about 190 tons of supplies and flown close to 200 sorties.

Still Work to Be Done

Eduardo del Rosario, who heads the Disaster Management Agency in the country, said although the coast guard and the navy, supported by civilian volunteers, were involved in tracing the dead and missing, the need of the hour was to ensure that no survivor starved for want of food or water.

“At the moment we are ramping up a major relief effort and the supplies are coming in,” Patrick Fuller of the International Federation of the Red Cross said, adding “we are setting up an emergency response hospital in Tacloban.”

However, government officials said that extensive infrastructure damage was delaying efforts to reach aid and relief to several affected areas. For instance, survivors in the coastal city of Ormoc, which is located about 65 miles west of Tacloban, were finding it hard to leave the place as they remain cut off by road from the rest of the country, they said.

Relief Pours in From Around the World

Britain has announced that it will extend an additional 30 million pounds ($50 million) as emergency aid to the storm-hit Philippines, thereby taking the total assistance offered by it to 50 million pounds. According to the UK Disasters Emergency Committee, public donations to help the typhoon-ravaged nation accounted for 33 million pounds.

Philippines Social Welfare and Development Secretary, Corazon Soliman said complaints had been received about the delay in reaching relief to the affected. “We will double our efforts to distribute relief goods because we’ve been hearing complaints that a lot of people have yet to receive relief goods”, she said.

According to U.N. estimates, about 11 million people have been affected by Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful storms ever to be registered on land.