Typhoon Haiyan Survivors Struggle in Storm's Aftermath
MALVEAUX: The president of the Philippines has declared a state of national calamity. This it is just days after his country was slammed by one of the strongest storms ever, ever recorded. Authorities estimate as many as 10,000 people were killed in Friday's super typhoon Haiyan, although the official death toll stands at 942. Today, countless survivors are just going through the splintered wreckage of their homes sifting through it searching for loved ones who might be buried beneath. Others, they are simply scrambling to find food and water in areas that are littered with dead bodies.</s>HOLMES: By any definition, this is catastrophic devastation, people now struggling to grasp the enormity of what they have been through, what they have lost and the challenges they now face. Anna Coren takes us to a remote area particularly hard hit.</s>ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Above the vast blue sea that separates thousands of islands that make up the Philippines, a rescue mission is under way. We're traveling with the military to a remote group of islands devastated by Super Typhoon Haiyan yet to be reached by authorities. From the air we can see the carnage, home after home, village after village, nowhere has been spared. On the ground, lie the injured with broken bones and internal bleeding. They've been waiting for days for a medical evacuation.</s>HILARIO DAVIDE, CEBU GOVERNOR: We haven't seen anything like this before. I thought I'd only see this on television.</s>COREN: There's a real sense of desperation here on the ground. The focus is obviously on the sick and injured and getting them to safety. The people of this hard hit island need food and fresh water. They've been without it for days. Despite an assurances from the government, it is yet to arrive. The problem facing authorities is logistics, getting the supplies to these hard hit and remote areas and to the people who need it. This airfield in Cebu has become the staging ground for the relief operation. C-130 Hercules fly in survivors shell shocked from what they've lived through.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I cannot say anything yet. I'm still in shock. I'm so sorry.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of people are dead. Our friends are dead. Some of our family members are dead. It's really devastating.</s>COREN: As the death toll grows by the day, families here desperately wait for news of loved ones.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am the only survivor of the family and I want to know them, if they are still an.</s>COREN: Having had no contact since the typhoon hit, many say hope is all they can hold on to. Anna Coren, Cebu, the Philippines.</s>HOLMES: Yeah, people who lived through that massive typhoon, watching the levels rise, hoping the water wouldn't get too close to their homes, one iReporter is going to tell us what that harrowing experience was like, coming up next.