Philippines to split up typhoon relief zone country by country.
(Reuters) - The Philippines will divide up the typhoon-ravaged central Visayas between countries to maximise relief efforts, a senior officer said, as President Benigno Aquino won guarded praise for improving aid distribution 11 days after the storm hit.
But the country is still struggling to get aid to devastated areas due to the extent of the destruction, which has left four million people displaced, threatening Aquino's reforms that have helped transform the Philippines into one of Asia's fastest-growing and hottest emerging economies.
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The military commander of the Visayas, Lieutenant-General Roy Deveraturda, said the relief plan was to now cut the region into blocks and decide which military forces operate where.
"We're planning to ask the British Royal Navy to concentrate on the western Visayas region to assess and deliver food, water and supplies to smaller islands... We already have the Americans in Samar and Leyte and Israeli doctors and relief teams in northern tip of Cebu," he said.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/11/19/uk-philippines-typhoon-idUKBRE9AI04G20131119