A Canadian military reconnaissance team has landed in the Philippines to help the country deal with the devastating aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, but Canada鈥檚 official emergency response team has yet to arrive.
Canada鈥檚 Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), a specialized military team that provides short-term support to disaster-affected regions, deployed for the Philippines on Monday but is currently stationed in Hawaii awaiting instructions from local authorities on where and how it can help.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced Monday that a Canadian Forces C-17 was sent to the Philippines carrying between 35 and 50 members of the team with aid equipment.
The Southeast Asian country was slammed with a massive typhoon on Friday, affecting more than 10 million people and leaving more than 600,000 residents displaced from their homes.
The official death toll from the disaster rose to 1,774 on Tuesday, though authorities fear the death toll could be closer to 10,000 in the city of Tacloban.
Retired General Rick Hillier, former chief of the defence staff, told CTV鈥檚 Power Play that members of DART are trained to provide out-patient medical treatments and safe drinking water to victims of large-scale disasters.
鈥淚t was created exactly for this kind of disaster, when you need to quickly get assistance and support and engineers into a place where much of the infrastructure has been destroyed,鈥� he said.
Hillier said it can take two to three days for supplies and crew members to reach devastated regions as far as the Philippines.
鈥淲e are 16,000 kilometers away from the Philippines. It鈥檚 a major logistic effort to get from here to there and particularly to get people and equipment and supplies,鈥� Hillier said.
鈥淏ut once you fly the DART in and they articulate the needs of the people on the ground more clearly, you can flow a lot more in quickly behind them,鈥� he added.
The devastation caused by Haiyan has posed logistical challenges for both the Philippine government and international aid agencies as they try to deliver relief to the small island nation despite damaged roads and bridges.
Medical supplies, food and clean water are currently being delivered under the supervision of the Philippine military but doctors and relief agencies say they are in desperate need of more aid as the threat of disease and death increases as time goes on.
Nic Moyer, executive director of the Humanitarian Coalition, told 麻豆传媒 Channel that the scope of damage in the Philippines is substantial.
鈥淭he scale of the devastation really took everyone by surprise. Frankly, every estimate that we had in the early hours have been doubled and doubled again,鈥� Moyer said.
鈥淧eople don鈥檛 have homes, they don鈥檛 have shelter, they don鈥檛 have access to food, water, medical care -- these are really the priority in the short-term,鈥� he said.
Moyer explained that the large number of islands in the Philippines have made it difficult for aid workers to reach those in need.
鈥淥bviously the logistics are an issue because roads need to be cleared before you can get to different places and all of this needs to be driven by the Philippines government - it is their country, it is their direction that we need to follow,鈥� Moyer said.
鈥淚t is still early and considering the amount of material that needs to be moved, people that need to be organized, I think there鈥檚 a lot of great work that鈥檚 been done and much more still to come,鈥� Moyer added.
The United Nations has released $25 million in emergency funds to help victims of Haiyan and is launching an appeal for more aid.
Canada has already donated $5 million in aid and promises to match all donations made by Canadians to registered charities.
