DHAKA: The United States, Australia and the United Nations are mobilising emergency aid to the Philippines as the scale of the devastation unleashed by super typhoon Haiyan emerges.

The Pentagon is sending military personnel and equipment to assist with the relief effort following the typhoon, which may have killed more than 10,000 people in what is feared to be the Philippines’ worst natural disaster.

‘The United States is already providing significant humanitarian assistance, and we stand ready to further assist the government’s relief and recovery efforts,’ US president Barack Obama said in a statement.

Some 90 Marines and sailors, and two KC-130J Hercules aircraft, left Japan for the Philippines on Saturday, with equipment that include a tilt-rotor aircraft that can operate without runways, Marines Colonel John Peck said.

BDST: 1616 HRS, NOV 11, 2013
RoR/JCK