Rice Stampede Kills Typhoon Survivors

Relief operations have been stepped up in the Philippines but the situation remains desperate for large numbers of people in areas ravaged by Typhoon Haiyan. In the worst-hit region, eight people were killed in a stampede as thousands of survivors stormed a government rice warehouse, the AP reports. Security forces could only watch as the survivors made off with 100,000 sacks of rice from the government-owned warehouse. Elsewhere:

• The official death toll is up to 2,344, with 3,804 wounded and 79 missing, according to the AP. For a more detailed look at the current numbers, click here.

• At least two Americans, possibly more, are among the dead, CBS reports. The State Department says it is providing assistance to their families and is sending a team to the typhoon-battered region.
• "There are hundreds of other towns and villages stretched over thousands of kilometers that were in the path of the typhoon and with which all communication has been cut," an emergency coordinator at Medecins Sans Frontieres tells Reuters. "No one knows what the situation is like in these more rural and remote places, and it's going to be some time before we have a full picture."
• Those geographical difficulties are also bedeviling the World Food Programme, which has sent 270,000 tons of rice to the country, but is having trouble distributing it, CNN reports. The Philippine government estimates that more than 2 million people need food aid.
• So far, 22 countries have sent help in some form. Filipino soldiers have been joined by American, British, and Japanese troops in affected regions, and US Navy ships are expected to arrive in two days, the Guardian reports. US military planes are arriving in Tacloban as well, bearing food supplies, the BBC adds, while France and Belgium have jointly set up a field hospital.

(More Philippines stories.)