Relief Efforts Stepped Up in the Philippines

Relief efforts to deal with the humanitarian disaster in the Philippines are being stepped to to try to reach the hundreds of thousands of people in desperate need of food, water and shelter. 

With more than 11 million people affected by Typhoon Haiyan, many people are in dire need of help from the outside. However, reports suggest that international aid is struggling to reach the most affected areas, and as a result efforts are being stepped up to try and help those in the most serious situations.

The following pictures, courtesy of AP, Reuters, AFP and the BBC, show the destruction caused by the typhoon and gives a snapshot of the relief effort as hundreds of thousands of people wait for aid: