Residents line up to receive treatment and supplies at the airport in Tacloban, Philippines, on Monday, November 11. Troops and aid organizations have been battling blocked roads and devastating damage to deliver help to Filipinos struggling to survive the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms in recorded history. See how you can help. 
Staff load a Hercules airplane with equipment at the Orebro airport in central Sweden on November 11. The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, together with its humanitarian partners, sent equipment to support the United Nations' relief work in the Philippines. 
Philippine troops load boxes of water at Villamor Air Force Base in Manila, Philippines, on November 11. 
A man seeking aid paints a message on a basketball court November 11 in Anibong, Philippines. 
Villagers in Hernani, Philippines, run toward government officials hoping for food November 11. 
A military helicopter delivering food prepares to land at the airport in Guiuan, Philippines, on November 11. 
Emily Ortega rests on November 11 after giving birth to Bea Joy at an improvised clinic at the Tacloban airport. 
Typhoon survivors line up at the Tacloban airport on November 11 to board a U.S. military plane bound for Manila. 
Philippine Air Force personnel prepare to load relief supplies at the Tacloban airport on November 11. 
Philippine police commandos prepare to board a military plane in Manila on Sunday, November 10. 
A Tacloban resident carries boxes of milk November 10 as he passes by ships washed ashore by the powerful storm. 
Residents carry relief goods along the bay in Tacloban on November 10. 
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- Typhoon Haiyan has left survivors needing food, water and medical supplies
- Relief agencies are worried about disease and infections
- The geography of the country makes it difficult to reach people on remote islands
(CNN) -- The unprecedented natural disaster that came in the form of Typhoon Haiyan is a potential medical disaster for the Philippines, according to emergency crews on the ground.
The Red Cross says it has ordered 10,000 body bags in preparation for the number of bodies it believes it will have to retrieve. The official death toll, currently in the hundreds, is likely to grow quickly as rescue crews are better able to assess the situation.
What is left behind are some 4.2 million people who have been affected by the storm, many of them injured, thirsty or hungry. The Philippines storm -- some three and a half times more forceful than Hurricane Katrina -- has created serious food and water shortages.
Typhoon Haiyan: 3 days in, little relief for survivors
Residents carry bags of rice from a warehouse that they stormed due to a shortage of food in the typhoon-ravaged city of Tacloban in the Philippines on Monday, November 11. Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms in recorded history, laid waste to the Philippines. Officials say that as many as 10,000 people may have died in the storm. 
Survivors board a military plane for the capital of Manila after relief supplies were dropped off at the Tacloban airport on November 11. 
People in Tacloban, Philippines, pass debris on November 11. 
A woman in Tacloban walks amid the debris of destroyed houses on November 11. 
People make their way across a flooded street in Shangsi, China, on November 11. Haiyan moved toward Vietnam and south China after devastating the Philippines. 
Buildings lie in ruins on Eastern Samar's Victory Island. 
Emily Ortega rests on November 11 after giving birth to Bea Joy at an improvised clinic at the Tacloban airport. 
U.S. Marine Corps Osprey aircraft arrive at Manila's Villamor Airbase to deliver humanitarian aid on November 11. 
People ride past destruction in Tacloban on Sunday, November 10. 
A body lies amid the Tacloban devastation on November 10. 
People cover their noses to block the smell of bodies in Tacloban on November 10. 
Bodies of victims lie along a Tacloban road on November 10. 
A large boat sits aground, surrounded by debris in Tacloban on November 10. 
People walk past the Tacloban devastation on November 10. 
People stand under a shelter in Tacloban. 
Clothes dry on a line November 10 outside a Tacloban stadium used as an evacuation center. 
A girl peeks out from a makeshift shelter in Tacloban. 
Typhoon survivors wait to receive relief goods at the Tacloban airport on November 10. 
A woman mourns in front of her husband's dead body November 10 in Tacloban. 
Fallen trees litter the ground at the Tacloban airport on Saturday, November 9. 
A resident passes victims' bodies on a Tacloban street November 9. 
People in Tacloban carry a victim of the typhoon November 9. 
A vehicle lies amid Tacloban debris on November 9. 
People walk past a victim left on the side of a road in Tacloban. 
A resident passes an overturned car in Tacloban on November 9. 
Rescue workers carry a woman about to give birth November 9 at a makeshift medical center at the Tacloban airport. 
An airport lies in ruins in Tacloban. 
Astronaut Karen L. Nyberg took a picture of the typhoon from the International Space Station on November 9. 
Women walk past fallen trees and destroyed houses in Tacloban on November 9. Residents scoured supermarkets for water and food as they slowly emerged on streets littered with debris. 
A soldier pulls a cable inside the devastated airport tower in Tacloban. 
Tacloban houses are destroyed by the strong winds caused by the typhoon. 
Dark clouds brought by Haiyan loom over Manila skyscrapers on November 8. 
A woman carries a baby across a river November 8 at a coastal village in Las Pinas, Philippines. 
A resident walks along a fishing village in Bacoor, Philippines, on November 8. 
A house in Legazpi, Philippines, is engulfed by storm surge November 8. 
A child wraps himself in a blanket inside a makeshift house along a Bacoor fishing village. 
A woman and her children head for an evacuation center November 8 amid strong winds in Cebu City, Philippines. 
Huge waves from Haiyan hit the shoreline in Legazpi on November 8. 
A fisherman lifts a post to reinforce his home at a coastal village in Las Pinas on November 8. 
A resident unloads nets off a fishing boat in Bacoor on November 8. 
Residents clear a road November 8 after a tree was toppled by strong winds in the Philippine province of Cebu. 
A fisherman secures his wooden boat November 8 as Haiyan's strong winds hit Legazpi. 
Residents reinforce their homes in Las Pinas on November 8. 
Legazpi residents are relocated to an evacuation center on Thursday, November 7. About 125,000 people took refuge in evacuation centers, and hundreds of flights were canceled. 
The storm approaches the Philippines in this satellite image taken November 7 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 
Workers bring down a billboard in Makati, Philippines, on November 7 before Haiyan makes landfall. 
Philippine Coast Guard personnel stand in formation beside newly acquired rubber boats after a blessing ceremony in Manila on Wednesday, November 6. The boats were to be deployed to the central Philippines in preparation for Haiyan. 
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Photos: Typhoon Haiyan 
Destroyed buildings are seen on the Philippines' Victory Island on Monday, November 11. Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms in recorded history, wrecked the country on a monumental scale. Click through the gallery to see other aerial shots of the disaster. 
Guiuan, Philippines, on November 11 
Victory Island on November 11 
Guiuan on November 11 
Tacloban, Philippines, on November 11 
Guiuan on November 11 
Guiuan on November 11 
Guiuan on November 11 
Capiz, Philippines, on November 11 
Guiuan on November 11 
Tacloban on Sunday, November 10 
Eastern Samar province on November 11 
Iloilo, Philippines, on Saturday, November 9 
Guiuan on November 11 
Guiuan on November 11 
Tacloban on November 9 
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Photos: Haiyan's wrath from above 
Filipino children stand in the rubble of houses in the storm-ravaged town of Hernani on Monday, November 11. Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms in recorded history, left thousands of victims in its wake. 
Newborn Bea Joy rests after her mother gave birth November 11 at an improvised clinic at the Tacloban airport. 
A boy walks near a container painted with a slogan appealing for help on November 11 in Tacloban. 
Soldiers let a woman and her child through a fence to get food on November 11 outside the Tacloban airport. 
A woman carries a child through a flooded street in Yong'an, China, on November 11. The region was hit hard by the storm. 
Anibong residents rest on November 11 near the propeller of a ship that washed ashore during the storm. 
Survivors walk through the streets of Tacloban as a military plane flies overhead on November 11. 
A young survivor rests on a pedicab on November 11 in Tacloban. 
Children peek out from their makeshift shelter in Tacloban on Sunday, November 10. 
A young Tacloban resident walks inside a damaged home on November 10. 
Children carry relief goods past damaged homes in Tacloban on November 10. 
Two young boys look at the devastation in Tacloban on November 10. 
A Vietnamese soldier assists a girl as villagers are evacuated from the path of Tphoon Haiyan in the central province of Quang Nam on Saturday, November 9. 
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Photos: Children among typhoon victims A second round of deaths may be imminent, given limited food and water, along with pools of standing, possibly polluted water amid a breakdown in ordinary sanitation. Relief agencies are worried about outbreaks of disease and infections in the storm's wake.
"We don't have the full picture yet, but there is a lot of destruction, which means that next to a high number of deaths the possibility of wounds will be high," said Meinie Nicolai, the president of Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders in Belgium. "We worry about more deaths because of infection."
Medecins Sans Frontieres says in the first stage of its recovery efforts, it will work to keep infection rates down and then work to vaccinate people for tetanus. The bacteria that causes tetanus when it enters a deep flesh wound can be deadly.
The agency will also provide ongoing psychological help to the victims of the disaster many of whom will be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Nicolai said.
"People in the Philippines are used to typhoons, but the scale of this is completely unprecedented. People will suffer a lot of trauma from the death and destruction they are seeing and will be scared for future typhoons. We will make room for people to speak with a professional and will set up group sessions where people can talk through their trauma."
People are so desperate for food and water there are reports of crowds breaking into warehouses and stores.
Medical supplies are also scarce. The few hospitals left standing have had to turn people away because they are overwhelmed with the injured. Many people desperate for medical attention have made their way to the airport, where the military is trying to administer medical care.
The World Health Organization is supporting the Philippines Department of Health in strengthening its early warning alert and response network to watch for disease outbreaks and other public health threats related to food scarcity, water contamination and other environmental hazards.
It is also helping the government coordinate the international assistance to make sure the field hospitals and medical teams and supplies go where there is the most critical need, and is re-establishing bases for the supplies that are coming in from all over the world.
USAID, one of the first agencies to reach victims after the typhoon, came with food, water, hygiene kits and sanitation equipment. U.S. Marines have been helping distribute the aid.
Americares has an emergency shipment on the way to the Philippines with enough medical aid for 20,000 survivors, including antibiotics, wound care supplies and pain relievers.
International Medical Corps has pre-positioned medical supplies and a team on the ground offering support. Direct Relief is also sending 1.5 tons of emergency medicine, which also includes antifungal medications and chronic disease medicines.
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Filipino expats desperate for news C-10's are bringing in supplies from the World Food Programme, which has sent high-energy protein biscuits to feed half a million people.
The World Food Programme has 10 people on the ground already, and they will be setting up bases and getting information to the rest of the World Food Programme hubs to determine how much food and supplies are needed, said Bill Campbell with the World Food Programme.
How Haiyan could teach world how to adapt to extreme weather
The government has declared a State of National Calamity, which among other powers gives the government price controls for goods including food.
The problem at the moment is being able to assess exactly how many people are hurt. Geography complicates matters. The Philippines population is spread over 800 of the 7,100 islands that make up the country.
"We are having to rent boats and helicopters and are trying to do whatever we can to get to the remote areas," Nicolai said.
Medecins Sans Frontieres is one of the hundreds of agencies that has crews on the ground trying to assess survivors' needs; Nicolai spoke as trucks were being loaded outside her office with medical material, tents to create makeshift hospitals, water and sanitation equipment, generators and medical equipment.
The good news, if there can be good news in such a disaster, is that the Philippines does have a medical infrastructure already -- at least compared to the other regions in which Medecins Sans Frontieres works, according to Nicolai.
"That means you do have an educated medical staff with experience there, but we are learning many are missing or dead, so we, like a lot of other groups that are responding, will try and reinforce and help what is there."
How to help Typhoon Haiyan survivors
