Video: Typhoon Haiyan: the desperate wait for news from loved ones The disaster has shattered transportation and communication links, as well as local governance structures, making it hard to come up with a definite tally. Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said "we pray" that the death toll is less than 10,000. Speaking from Manila, The Telegraph's Tom Phillips said that at the city's airport relatives are waiting desperately to board planes to the worst affected areas to search for family and friends. All they say is "no communication, no communication," referring to the difficulty of contacting people in the destroyed areas. He says that the US military are at the airport in Manila dispatching water and supplies for the worst-hit areas and that one contingent of Marines has been sent to Tacloban, the eastern city devastated by the typhoon. Typhoon Haiyan hit the eastern seaboard of the Philippines on Friday and quickly barreled across its central islands, packing winds of 147 mph that gusted to 170 mph, and a storm surge of 20 feet. It inflicted serious damage to at least six islands in the middle of the eastern seaboard, with Leyte, Samar and the northern part of Cebu appearing to bear the brunt of the storm.