U.S. Marine Corps aircraft arrive at Villamor Airbase in Manila, Philippines, to deliver humanitarian aid to victims of Typhoon Haiyan on Monday, November 11. 
The USS George Washington sails out of Hong Kong on Tuesday, November 12, to join the rescue and relief operations in the Philippines. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered the aircraft carrier and several other U.S. Navy ships to head to the area as soon as possible. 
Typhoon survivors in Tacloban, Philippines, board a U.S. plane bound for the capital of Manila on November 11. 
U.S. sailors of the USS Antietam stand on deck at Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor before sailing to the Philippines on November 12. 
The USS Lassen, seen here in July, began heading to the region on November 11. 
U.S. Navy personnel hook up supplies to a MH-60S Seahawk helicopter in this file photo from September 2005. Seahawk helicopters, which were used to provide relief to Hurricane Katrina victims, will now be brought to the Philippines to help. 
The USNS Charles Drew, a Navy supply ship, is among those heading to the Philippines. 
Also being sent to the typhoon-ravaged region is the USS Cowpens, a cruiser seen here in 2004. 
The USS Mustin is bound for the Philippines as well. Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Paul Kennedy said the amphibious ships are the "Swiss army knife of the U.S. military." 
An MH-60R Seahawk flies near in the Pacific Ocean in February. - The U.S. commander in the Philippines is asking for amphibious warships
- The vessels can carry helicopters, vehicles that can surmount debris piles
- The U.S. military will bring supplies, but they will be handed out by local leaders
Washington (CNN) -- The hundreds of thousands of typhoon victims in the Philippines need help and they need it now, the U.S. Marine Corps general in charge of the U.S. military relief effort says.
Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Paul Kennedy told CNN he needs immediate dispatch of U.S. Navy amphibious ships that carry equipment that can make potable water and the variety of helicopters, small boats, trucks and other supplies needed in the relief effort.
"They are the Swiss army knife of the U.S. military," Kennedy said of the amphibious ships, speaking to CNN in a telephone interview from the Philippines. Kennedy says he believes his request will be approved by the Pentagon in the coming hours.
Three warships that are home-ported in the Pacific are now under orders to to prepare to deploy in the next 48 hours, a senior Pentagon official told CNN.
Damaged roads, airports slow storm relief 
U.S. Marines arrive in Philippines 
People walk Tuesday, November 12, through damage caused by Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban, Philippines. Haiyan, one of the strongest storms in recorded history, laid waste to the Philippines. President Benigno Aquino III said as many as 2,500 people may have been killed by the storm. 
Bodies are unloaded at a makeshift morgue in Tacloban on November 12. 
A young man waits at the airport November 12 in hopes of being evacuated from Tacloban. 
Survivors wait to board a military plane November 12 in Tacloban. 
A woman comforts a crying relative as a plane leaves the Tacloban airport November 12. 
A Philippines air force officer hands out orange slices to typhoon survivors as they line up to board a military plane November 12 in Tacloban. 
A man sits crying on a packed aircraft in Tacloban on November 12. 
Debris lays scattered around a damaged home near the Tacloban airport on November 12. 
A young man washes his dog November 12 in Tacloban. 
A girl sits inside a bus as she waits for a ferry in Matnog, Philippines, on November 12. 
Residents carry bags of rice from a Tacloban warehouse that they stormed November 11 because of a food shortage. 
Survivors in Tacloban board a military plane bound for the Philippine capital of Manila on November 11. 
People in Tacloban 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 Kennedy said the most crucial need right now is to provide shelter for the tens of thousands of displaced people, as well as food, water and sanitation. The situation is so dire there may not even be enough time or capability to fly in portable toilets, and human waste may have to be burned in place, he said.
While U.S. Marines are on the ground providing aid and more U.S. military help has been dispatched, Kennedy said more help is urgently needed.
"The rest of the world needs to get mobilized, the rest of the donor community," he told NBC News. "A week from now will be too late. "
"We can't wait," said Martin Romualdez, a Philippines congressman. "People have gone three days without any clean water, food and medication," he told CNN's "Piers Morgan Live." "People are getting desperate."
Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in the Philippines on Friday as one of the most powerful storms ever recorded on Earth.
By Tuesday, officials had counted 1,774 deaths from the storm. Authorities had said Haiyan may have taken as many as 10,000 lives, but Philippine President Benigno Aquino III told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday that the death toll would more likely be about 2,000 or 2,500 people.
With wind gusts well above 200 mph and a massive storm surge, the storm displaced at least 800,000 people, the United Nations said Tuesday.
More than 2 million people need food aid, the Philippine government said.
Compounding relief efforts Tuesday was a new tropical low, Zoraida, which has dumped four inches of rain in some of the hard-hit areas. That makes the amphibious ships Kennedy has asked for even more vital.
The amphibious ships have tracked "assault amphibious vehicles" that can carry supplies and move over and through piles of debris to distribution points where aid is needed most.
The Pentagon has dispatched the aircraft carrier USS George Washington and the other ships that were visiting Hong Kong to the disaster area. But they will be used mainly for refueling helicopters and assisting in aerial search and rescue and wide area surveillance.
The U.S. military relief effort will take supplies to distribution points, but those supplies will be then handed out by Philippines forces, Kennedy said. Local forces are in the best position to know community leaders and make sure those in the most need are getting the help, he added.
As of Tuesday night in the Philippines, lights and radars are being assembled at the airport in Tacloban, at the heart of the disaster zone, and the facility is expected to be running full day and nighttime operations within 24 hours, he said.
