 Stunned survivors of one of the most powerful typhoons ever to make landfall picked through the remains of their homes Monday, pleading for food and medicine as the Philippines struggled to deal with what may turn out to be its deadliest natural disaster. Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful storms on record, slammed into... (Associated Press) 
 
 A resident looks at houses damaged by typhoon Haiyan, in Tacloban city, Leyte province central Philippines on Sunday, Nov. 10, 2013. Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest... (Associated Press) 
 
 This photo released by the Malacanang Photo Bureau shows an aerial view of Tacloban city, Leyte province in central Philippines Sunday, Nov. 10, 2013, after Typhoon Haiyan ravaged the region in the Philippines.... (Associated Press) 
 
 A resident sits her roofless house, after typhoon Haiyan hit the town, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2013, in Daanbantayan town, north Cebu, central Philippines. Haiyan, one of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Authorities at least 2 million people in 41 provinces had been affected by Friday's disaster and at least 23,000 houses had been damaged or destroyed. A Philippine military spokesman was quoted as saying on Monday that 942 people had died in the typhoon's aftermath, though it is clear the official death toll will rise significantly. I'm worried it may become a mob situation - we need the military to get there as soon as possible Kevin Vacca, US missionary, Maya, northern Cebu US missionary delivers aidSurvivor's story 
 
 "There's an awful lot of casualties, a lot of people dead all over the place, a lot of destruction," Richard Gordon, head of the Philippine Red Cross, told the BBC. Some are suffering from diarrhea and dehydration due to shortage of food and water." The U.S. military dispatched water, generators and a contingent of Marines to the worst-hit city along the country's remote eastern seaboard, the first outside help in what will swell into a major international relief mission in the coming days. said defense chief Voltaire Gazmin, when asked whether the government had been ill-prepared. Huge waves from one of the strongest storms ever recorded swept away coastal villages. "I feel I would die at this moment because I can't — I don't know what I will do," Tayag said, crying. The United Nations children's agency, UNICEF, said it was rushing emergency supplies to the Philippines. The storm's sustained winds weakened to 120 kph (74 mph) as the typhoon made landfall in northern Vietnam early Monday after crossing the South China Sea, according to the Hong Kong meteorological observatory. President Benigno Aquino, facing one of the biggest challenges of his three-year rule, deployed soldiers to the devastated city of Tacloban to quell looting and said he might impose martial law or a state of emergency to ensure security. Six people were killed and dozens wounded during heavy winds and storms in central Vietnam as Haiyan approached the coast, state media reported, even though it had weakened substantially since hitting the Philippines.
– In the wake of Typhoon Haiyan, President Benigno Aquino has today declared a "state of national calamity," which will speed up the release of emergency funds and set price controls on grocery staples. Outside help is beginning to reach parts of the central Philippines, as more horrific stories of the monster storm emerge—along with one of hope: The much-suffering Tacloban, where authorities fear the death toll could be as high as 10,000, experienced the smallest bit of good news today: A 21-year-old survivor gave birth to a baby girl at the city's airport. Cheers broke out when the healthy baby was delivered to Emily Ortega, who had to swim and cling to a post to survive when the storm surge flooded the emergency center she was in. The AFP reports the child has been named Bea Joy, after Ortega's mother, Beatriz, who was swept away by the waters. The US military has sent water, generators, and a contingent of around 90 Marines and sailors to Tacloban, the AP reports. They are at the forefront of a major international relief mission centered on the city, where few buildings are left standing and corpses are scattered in the streets. The Philippine military has sent soldiers to the city amid reports that desperate survivors have attacked trucks (including, reportedly, a Red Cross truck) carrying food and water. A survivor in Tacloban describes a desperate fight to stay alive after the storm flooded her home, drowning her mother and brother. "The hardest thing is ... seeing your mother floating in the flood and you don't know what to do. You just see (her) there and the only thing is you have to save yourself," Maryann Tayag tells USA Today. "I could not save her because she drowned already, and it was not just water from the sea but mixed with dirty water—black, like it came from river and smell like canal." The UN estimates 620,000 people were displaced by the typhoon, which caused a surge of debris-choked seawater that resembled a tsunami, Reuters reports. The BBC shares more numbers: Wind gusts hit 170mph, and waves reached as high as 45 feet; as much as 15.75 inches of rain fell in places. One disaster management expert has this to say: Haiyan was "probably the most intense and strongest storm of this type to make landfall." The confirmed death toll was at 942 as of this morning, reports the AP, though that number is expecting to grow much larger. With 41 of the country's 80 provinces hurting in the wake of the storm, rescue workers are struggling to reach devastated areas. Officials have been unable to contact Guiuan, a town of 40,000 people that was one of the first in the typhoon's path. Haiyan, which has now weakened to a tropical storm, still packed a punch as it made landfall in northern Vietnam today, with winds approaching 100mph, the BBC reports. Some 600,000 people have been evacuated and there are fears of widespread flooding in Hanoi. Vietnamese authorities say 11 people have been killed, including people killed during preparations for the storm.