5 days in: Scenes of devastation and survival in the Philippines

Haiyan's aftermath, in photos

Published November 12, 2013 2:48PM (EST)

Five days after it was hit by a powerful typhoon, the Philippine city of Tacloban and surrounding areas remain in crisis mode, with the extreme degree of devastation and infrastructural challenges stranding survivors and preventing aid from reaching many of the hungry and injured.

The storm is feared to have killed as many as 10,000, although the official body count currently stands at 1,774. Meanwhile, 2,487 more have been injured since it first made landfall Friday, and at least 800,000 people have been displaced.

Reporters on the scene describe the desperation that's taken a hold of affected areas: the "unbearable stench of rotten flesh," the pleas for food and water, the mounting violence and the mobs of people swarming the Tacloban airport. Below, photos captured by Associated Press photographers put human faces to the near unimaginable chaos as those who lived through Haiyan struggle to survive:

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By Lindsay Abrams

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