>> this is al jazeera america, live from new york city. i'm tony harris with the day's top stories. the state department has confirmed that two americans are among the thousands who have been killed by too fan haiyan. relief works continue to work to help those who are i in the hardest hit areas. it's been confirmed that the storm has killed 2,000 people. two new reports suggest the number for the federal government website is just a

small fractionment obama administration's target. and the justice department has given the go ahead for american airlines and american airwaveairways to merge. the two courts have to approve but they're confident they can close the deal by the middle of next month. analysts say it could mean higher fares for passengers. those are the headlines. if you would like the latest for any of our stories, head over to our website it's a www.aljazeera.com. "inside story" is next on al jazeera america. >> the catastrophe of typhoon haiyan. high aiyhaiyanhaiyan's record rg

winds from a half a world away. that's "inside story." >> hello, i'm ray suarez. too fan haiyan is the biggest storm to hit the file beans. 800,000 people have been forced from their homes and the philippine government said 2 million people need food aid. as the world rallies to help, the storm dominated the first day of the u.n. climate talks on this edition of "inside story" we're going to talk about the challenges ahead in the warming planet. but first the latest from haiyan from the philippines.

>> survivors desperately searched for food and shelter. today the philippine government raised its death toll from hayan to 2,074, but still many missing in the smashed villages from the storm. >> we're having difficulties finding the corpses because you can't easily see them in the debris. if there is a bad smell that's the only way we can find the corporations. >> reporter: al jazeera reporting teams have been all over the country. margo is in manila. >> reporter: since the storm hit on friday thousands of volunteers have come here to this warehouse which is just off the domestic airport, asking the government to let them help. but all the people you see

behind me. students, office workers. those who have called in and are giving of their time. they want to feel that they are helping the more than 9 million people who have been affected by this super storm. >> reporter: al jazeera is covering the disaster in cebu. >> this is an area that has not had much attention from rescue workers so far. people are quite desperate for food and water. this is basically an interesting area because driving through cebu island there is no damage whatsoever, and then suddenly you reach this area of complete destruction. along the whole roads children are holding up signs, huge signs saying help, we need help. >> reporter: help is pouring in from around the world but with side spreawidespread destructiog food to those in need is a logistical hurdles.

it's cast upon climate talks in poland this week. leaders have gathered to find an agreement to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. a catalyst for the planet's warming. it's the 19th time that leaders have met like this under the u.n. framework, and again it's limited by money. how can countries afford cleaner energy? >> climate is a global issue, global problem, and a global opportunity at the same time. it is a problem and it becomes the opportunity, one country, or even group cannot make a difference, but coming together, united as we are here, we can do

it. >> reporter: the u.n. intergovernmental panel insisting humans are the reason for the planet's warning. while no individual storm can be attributed to climate change many believe our warming planet could make storms haiyan bigger and more severe. >> climate change is increasing the severity and frequency of events. all that really shows the need for action both to reduce our emissions, and to adopt to climate change. >> the philippines and other low-lying nations threatened by rising waters have been calling for attention for years. it was at this same conference less than a year ago when the philippines climate commissioner made a tearful plea for an agreement to r family the climae

change. >> i appeal to all, please, no more delays, no more excuses. >> reporter: this week, he is once again pleading for a treaty, and instead of just imploring the assembly to come to a deal, the filipino climate commissioner is fasting. >> today we say i care. we can fix this. we can stop this madness right now, right here in the middle of this football field and stop moving the goal posts. mr. president, your excellency, honorable minister, my delegation calls for you, most respectfully to lead us and let hoe land anpoland and warsaw bee where we truly cared to stop this madness. >> reporter: ranks the philippines ninth among the countries most vulnerable to

climate change worldwide. other low-lying countries struggling to develop, bangladesh, sierra leone and haiti topped the risk as sea levels threaten their very existence. there has not been a new global pact since the kyoto agreement, but the carbon reduction standards were never ratified. there is little hope for a breakthrough in warsaw. in 2009 the same global gathering of countries failed to reach a comprehensive or binding deal. some of the world's poorest people are likely future storm victims in placing like bangladesh, india and the philippines. >> joining us from the philippines is lou sees sarin

sarin--lucille saring. thank you for joining us, i know it's late where you are. chance your commission experiencing events like typhoon haiyan. >> we actually had early warning days before, the typhoon was being monitored by our meteorological office. but after we were all in shock, we were all hav--people in tacln and the affected areas, we were not sure what the storm surge looked like. >> ms. saring, has the climate change commission been discussing what your country, one of the most vulnerable in the world to, lessen some of the impact of the storms if the

temperature of the ocean and level of the ocean continues to rise? >> well, the country since 2009 when we created the climate change commission, we have been active in wringing awar bringin, and it's quite high. we're involved and engaged in all the discussions and most especially on issues. as you have heard in our opening statement in the first day of the fcc we made our plea, and we've been telling the rest of the world that what is happening to us to happen to anybody else. so the question is why would we even care? the answer is consider what happened to us in the last few weeks. in fact just today another typhoon just passed by. another reason why you should care, consider this as your early warning signal.

we may be the first to impact the climate change because we'll all be eventual victims of thisfy number nonthisphenomenon. >> are the common people of the philippines as aware as you are and your colleagues are of what's changing in the planet, and what climate change might mean to an island nation like the philippines? >> we are aware. we had a survey in the start of the year. and they all admitted that they had been impacted by changes in climate. maybe they're not aware of the technicalities in terms of what cause this is thing, but nonetheless the national level and the national government, the main culprit of what scientist versus been pointing is the main

culprit of global warning, and so that moving towards we can contribute in a little way that we can, even if the rest of the developed countries are unable to do so. >> it's hard to imagine what this will all end up costing your country. not only the sheer destruction and the rebuilding that will have to take place, but moving 800,000 people out of the path of the storm, bringing in emergency aid, can a country like the philippines, a developing economy, bear these costs by itself? >> not by ourselves, definitely. as we mourn our dead we have to take care of the living. sometimes it's really more expensive. we have seen our expenditure increased 26% since 2008. much faster the increase of our national budget of only 6%. we're seeing most of this ex-p

expenditure. if you look at the quality of the expenditure. 52% to 55% are mostly in flood control rehabilitation. when we consider, and we're very appreciative of the support and relief, this is all temporary. we need to be able to sustain our development, knowing that the philippines is an emerging economy, and we need to do this in a long-term basis. we'll have to see reduction and loss of lives, but reduction across the philippines not only in the government but in the private sector. >> lucille saring is her country's vice-chairman of the climate change commission. when we come back we'll have more talks on the climate change in warsaw, poland, and this is "inside story."

>> welcome back to "inside story an our discussion of typhoon haiyan in the philippines. the size, strength and destruction made headlines half

a world away as talks on climate change got under way in warsaw, poland. joining us from poland, the advice chair of the ipcc, the intergovernmental panel on climate change, from new york, readily horton, a scientist from columbia university's earth institute, and here in our studio, a climate expert from the world resources city. thank you all for being with us. professor, let's begin with you, with the caveat that we always have to say in order to be scientifically correct that no one event can be directly linked to changes in the climate. what's the impact been of typhoon haiyan been on your conference? >> it's made a big impression because the opening ceremony was actually quite emotional because

the philippines delegate talked 15 minutes about the typhoon, and there were three minutes of silence in the room, so it was quite an emotional start for sure. >> does it have the on ability to change the deliberations that go on in warsaw? make more urgency in your consultation? >> well, you know i'm a physicist, i'm not a psychologist, so i don't know, but i think every human being must have been moved by what we heard and what we learned over the last few days. i hope the understanding of the impacts of weather events, whether they are influential not by climate change is a bit difficult to be affirmative, as you said, but it's the severity

of impact of such weather events and the vulnerability of populations to such events. i think it should give negotiators here an additional impetus to reach an agreement. >> professor, it's long been reported that what already has been put in the atmosphere may impact cause changes in the climate for decades to come even if we were to do severe reductions right now in the emissions worldwide. so where does that leave a country like the philippines? what can very vulnerable states do to create resiliency, make themselves harder targets? >> with that's absolutely right. we're locked in to additional climate change in the form of higher sea levels which all things being equal could make for stronger typhoons of this sort. i think on the one hand we're seeing countries like the

philippines as we heard really leading evidents to reduce their vulnerability. mainstreaming adaptation to climate change into all aspects of decision making, putting in a financial foundation. so this is everything along the coast from hard infrastructure barriers that can help hold out seawater to greener solutions. in some cases trying to reverse long-term trends towards removal of some of these green spaces that are able to capture floodwater, heavy rain events. trying to reverse some of these trends toward de forestation in mountain areas, and these emergency management component getting people away from the coast in the advance of a storm. making buildings stronger and such. so a lot of actions in the right direction, but i think important to highlight as well that there are long-term trends, climate

and societal that are simultaneously increasing vulnerability. more people moving into coastal areas, increase ground water extraction that is actually causing the land to sink at the same time that sea levels are rising. these are increasing that vulnerability even while we're seeing efforts to adapt as well. >> let's talk about the specific case of the philippines. you're a filipina, you know it's a country of 100 million people. and likely to be more in the coming years. is it able to move people away from very vo vulnerable areas gn the geography given the islands and they're exposed to daily way of life in the ocean. >> in the philippines where i'm

from, it's an arc spell go islands. we're not a rich country, we do have a lot of resources. but i think as a credit from the national government the actually prepared a lot for typhoon haiyan. people were asked to evacuate the coastal regions, medical teams were dispatched. my brother is involved in disaster response wan and was ct in the eye of the storm. they had a lot of preparation before haiyan hit the country, but the severity and the intensity of the storm is way too much to be able to absorb the impact on the ground. that's why if you've heard the philippine president speak to the media, he said the local government systems, and the regional government procedures

also collapsed. they also lost their homes, and that's why the government has to take over. >> professor, just being ready, and just taking good emergency measures doesn't sound like it's going to be enough if storms are going to get more powerful. >> well, you know, that's why a combination of adaptation measures and mitigation is absolutely needed. because as the ipcc as clearly said in previous reports, there's no way one can adapt to any climate change. and the more climate is warming, the more difficult it is to adaptor it. so it's a combination of adaptation measures to the extent that it can be taken, and mitigation which is a global that is needed because a single country like the philippines of course can only participate to a global effort, but it's really

the all countries in in the world, in particular with those more greenhouse gasses have the responsibility to reduce those emissions so the climate doesn't change too much. if it changes too much, then it's almost impossible to adapt. >> we're going to take a short break and continue our discussion in a moment. you're watching "inside story" 331 >> every day, events sweep across our country. and with them, a storm of views. how can you fully understand the impact unless you've heard angles you hadn't considered? consider this... antonio mora brings you smart conversation that challenges the status quo with unexpected opinions and a fresh outlook. including yours. >> what do you think? >> stories that matter to you consider this unconventional wisdom. weeknights 10 eastern on al jazeera america

>> welcome back to "inside story." i'm ray suarez. we're talking about super storms and what to do about the threat of global climate change.

professor, we talked about the equity responsibility, and the net emitters, is it possible to craft a global mechanism for the people who are making the ocean warmer, carrying a little more of the cost of what that warmer ocean does to the world? >> i think with the vulnerabilities of what we have today and how they grow in the future. it will take grahammic change in all aspects of society from private sector involvement, green infrastructure, and investments, it's going to need to be a broad brush strategy, and it needs to accelerate rapidly today because we're approaching a point whereas greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise it get more and

more difficult to stop that trajectory we're on in terms of higher emissions but as we've contributed more to the atmosphere we're locked into more and more warming, more sea level rise. this is an urgent issue, and it's an urgent need to simultaneously reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and talking about those climate changes that we're essentially locked in to. >> professor, can the warsaw conference do some of the things you were just talking about? >> you know the ambition of this conference is to prepare a new international agreement that is due to be ready by 2015 in paris, and it's an important step in that way. it's sometimes very difficult as you know to negotiate between two or three or four countries.

imagine here we have 195 countries trying to agree on the protection of climate, and it's not easy to negotiate when you have so many partners around the table. so it takes time. but the hope is that there will be a new international agreement in paris in 2015 to protect climate both in the adaptation area and for future generations. >> looking at the philippines now and we're early in the monsoon season, is it reasonable to anticipate there will be a couple more storms before you're out of the woods? >> yeah, i think the sad story as we're still trying to recover and absorb the impact of too phenomenon haiyan there was a new one that hit in the same region and the same number of provinces that haiyan hit. it's a sign of worsening things to come. let me echo two things that the

philippine delegation said in warsaw. now this is a very important. this is a collective responsibility of all countries. the burden is on those who are historically responsible for emitting more, but every country in warsaw has the responsibility to act, whether its increasing the resilience of their economy and transforming them into low carbon economies, i should also echo the call for greater finances particularly for adaptation, and increasing the resilience of the countries of vulnerable countries. one of the biggest outcomes that warsaw could come up with is a strong commitment from government to increase international assistance to help developing countries cope with impacts of climate change. >> we're out of time. thanks to all our guests. from washington, that's inside story. i'm ray suarez. good night.