颱風蹂躪的菲律賓城鎮在亂葬崗掩埋遇難者屍體

A central Philippines town has begun burying dozens of its dead in mass graves, as increasingly desperate survivors of Typhoon Haiyan waited for emergency relief supplies to arrive.

The death toll from last Friday's storm now stands at 2,357, though the body count was certain to rise. In the worst-hit city of Tacloban, many rotting corpses still lay in the street or buried beneath debris.

Some of the cadavers were lowered Thursday into a large pit outside just outside the city. There was no official ceremony and it is not clear whether all of the bodies had been identified.

Meanwhile, food, water and other basic necessities were in short supply for many of the hundreds of thousands displaced. Some have turned to looting to survive. One survivor said he has not received any help, six days after the storm.

U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos, who visited Tacloban Wednesday, said she is "extremely distressed" that the aid has not reached everyone in need, acknowledging "we have let people down."

Although the amount of aid material shipped to affected areas has steadily increased, much of it has sat unused at airports or other areas because of a lack of fuel and because roads are still blocked by debris.

The situation figures to improve later Thursday with the arrival of the USS George Washington aircraft carrier and several other U.S. ships, which are carrying airplanes and helicopters that can be used to reach the most remote areas.菲律賓中部城市塔克洛班開始在亂葬崗掩埋死於颱風“海燕”的數十名死難者屍體，與此同時，災民們越來越感到絕望，他們等待着救援物資運抵災區。

截至星期五晚間，已經證實的菲律賓風災死亡人數爲2357人，而這一數字肯定還會上升。在災情最重的塔克洛班，很多腐爛的屍體仍在街頭，或被掩埋在瓦礫堆下。

星期四，一些屍體被放入城外的一個大坑，沒有舉行正式儀式，也不清楚是否已對所有屍體進行辨認。

與此同時，在數十萬無家可歸者當中，很多人得不到足夠的食物、水和其他基本生活用品。一些人依靠搶劫度日。一名災民說，在風災過後的六天中，他沒有得到任何幫助。

聯合國人道救援事務主管阿莫斯星期三視察了塔克洛班。阿莫斯表示，她對救援物資不能送到每個災民手中感到“極度沮喪”，並承認“我們讓人們失望了”。

儘管送抵災區的救援物資正在穩定增多，由於缺少燃料以及道路被瓦礫堵塞，很多物資滯留在機場或其他地區。

美國航空母艦“喬治•華盛頓號”和其他幾艘美國海軍艦隻駛抵災區附近海域後，情況在星期四晚些時候有所改善。美國的艦載飛機和直升機可以向最偏遠地區運送救災物資。