nikolaos mihaloliakos def in a j j. appear. . a week after the typhoon in the philippines criticism mounts after delays in getting aid to survivors. al jazeera discovers one tiny island full of people waiting for help. >> hello, this is al jazeera live from doha. also ahead - commonwealth leaders meet in colombo for talks - overshadowed by allegations of human rights abuses in sri lanka. >> we hear from child soldiers caught up with the central

african republic conflict. >> is this how to stop illegal elephant poaching - u.s. wildlife officials crush 6 tonnes of confiscated ivory. >> thousands of people in the philippines are still waiting for aid a week after the islands were struck by typhoon haiyan. president benigno aquino has visited volunteers parking relief supplies. they are based in manila. trucks have been gridlocked. the interior minister said the problem of supplying aid is on the same scale as a war-time invasion. >> in a situation like this nothing is fast enough. the need is massive. it's immediate. you cannot shove anybody aside, because everybody all at the same time is hungry, have no water, no communication, no

power. the challenge here is almost li like... >> the relief effort is hampered by rumours of misinformation. it was thought one island - everyone was killed. we went and discovered they were full of survivors, wondering why help had not arrived. >> they are the forgotten victims of typhoon haiyan, people in the islands north of tacloban - left to their own fate. most managed to survive - they, too, have lost their homes. we are on an eerie journey verifying reports that populations of some islands have been wiped out. we head to an island with a population of 1800. one report said they were all dead. it was untrue. the survivors tell us we are the first visitors in a week. the islands show the same

pattern of destruction. >> government has to help us. we are highly affected and we are getting hungry. we need food. >> many residents decided not to wait for help. tired of waiting - they are helping themselves. >> this village is looking like the storm happened. everywhere you hear the sounds of hammering. people are fixing their own houses as much as they can. not only homes, but livelihoods are destroyed by the typhoon. some fishing boats are intact. others are damaged. fishing equipment has been destroyed by the wind. although relief efforts are underway elsewhere the islanders need help too. we are doing our best to stand on our own. that does not certainly mean that we do not need help because

we do and we are appealing to everyone to send help. >> the most urgent needs are shelter, blankets and medicine. there are shortages of water and foods. they have been invisible victims of the disaster say it's about time they got help too. >> our correspondent wayne hay is live for us at the airport on cebu island, a main distribution center for aid. what is the situation with aid arriving and its distribution? >> well, it's extremely busy here at cebu airport. there are military and civilian planes coming and going throughout the day, from countries, from the likes of new zealand, australia, malaysia, south korean planes have arrived and the netherlands. plenty of aid coming in here in the form of food, water, medical

supply, items to make shelter for people who have been badly affected in the areas by typhoon typhoon haiyan, and things like water purification systems and generators. in those areas there is no running water, electricity and limited communication in the form of mobile phone signals in areas like tacloban city. so there has been a bit of a bottle neck in cebu, and in tacloban airport as well, getting it from these areas into the outlying places where the storms strike, but that also seems to be speeding up one week after the storm. still there are areas that have not seen any outside assistance. >> absolutely. the government has come under criticism, hasn't it for what some see as a slow response. on the other hand everyone recognises that this is a massive catastrophe. >> yes, the biggest storm

possibly to strike land, so no one is under illusions in this was a massive disaster, difficult for any country to handle of the the philippines is constantly facing natural disasters - vol cano, typhoons - averaging 20 typhoons a year, earthquakes as well. they should have systems in place. i think that is the feeling from both nongovernment organizations and other governments around the world - that perhaps the philippines does not have the systems in place to immediately get help on the ground after something like typhoon haiyan strikes. the government at the time in those hours, a couple of days before typhoon haiyan struck. sent out plenty of warnings that this would be a significant storm, but what took everyone by surprise a week ago was the storm surge. people so used to typhoons in this part of the world, but they are only used to strong winds and lots of rain which in itself

can be devastating. this was so different because of the size and strength of that storm surge that came onshore. it appears that most people who died in the disaster, indeed died from that storm surge that came ashore. acknowledging that, the criticism of the philippine government has been strong. the president benigno aquino iii acknowledged that his administration has fallen short in disaster response and he was taken control and responsibility for relief operations going forward. >> that's wayne hay from cebu airport in the philippines. thanks, wayne. >> to other new, britain's prince charles opened the commonwealth heads of government meeting in sri lanka. it's been overshadowed by allegations the sri lankan government failed to investigate war crimes against the tamil minority during the civil war which ended four years ago. three commonwealth leaders,

including the ippedian prime minister singh decided not to go to the summit because of this. >> our correspondent is standing by for us in colombo. we'll get to the trouble over the human rights abuses in a moment. what is on the agenda for this meeting? what is it? >> well, the commonwealth summit is for 53 nations who were once british and the u.k. to meet to discuss human rights, economic development. the president of sri lanka is keen to foebz on the economy. in the four years since the civil war ended he said the country has seen a turn around, that is open for business, and he's hoping with the leaders of all these various countries from different parts of the world and economic statuses, will come and

invest in sri lanka and push for a prosperous country as well. >> he has not been able to move attention away from what happened during the last months of the civil war, has be. there has been reports that protests over human rights abuses have been stopped. are we likely to see this brought up by the other heads of government at all. >> absolutely. in fact, david cameron, the british prime minister has asked for a private meeting with the president. he has said that he wants to press the issue of human rights. the sri lankan president, i should say, for his own right, said that this isn't the venue for that kind of conversation, that the commonwealth should be focussing on how to improve sri lanka, how to bring the country forward. but again many leaders wanting to focus on the issue of human rights. a lot of questions over sri

lanka's behaviour at the end of the 2009 conflict. according to the united nations, around 40,000 civilians - mostly ethnic minority tamils were killed in the final days of the conflict. everyone agrees atrocities were committed on both sides. the reality is the vast majority were killed by shells. according to the human right chief, she is saying sri lanka is authoritarian - something commonwealth leaders want to discuss with the president who wants to focus on sri lanka's revival. >> thank you. joining us from colombo. >> now, the u.n. estimates the number of child soldiers in the central african republic doubled in the last year. poverty, displacement and increased in armed groups mean children are more vulnerable to

recruitment. we have this report from the capital. >> december last year, pierre was separated from his family. he thought joining rebels would help central african republic. he was 16 when recruited by silica, a coalition of troops sweeping through, taking control. he realised he made a mistake >> translation: i fired my weapon, i don't know if i hit or killed anyone. i saw people killed. i saw civilians killed. it hurts me to think about it. >> the u.n. and local charities helped to get pierre out of the group. he received money to open a little kiosk. the u.n. says there are around 3,500 child soldiers in the country. it managed to release 150, but admits there's a long way to go.

we filmed several children in uniform at this government base. it's clear that security forces have children in their ranks. it's not just boys who join. 40% of child soldiers around the world are girls. like sophie. she says girls are also trained to fight. >> translation: they fire blank round at us to stop us being scared. we sleep on the floor, they fire above our heads, sometimes when we are running or eating. >> girls suffer from sexual violence. sophie was raped by her commanding officer. she's back living with her family, but reintegration is always difficult. >> translation: the children tell us they are addicted to drugs. in the armed groups they see killing, smell rotting bodies and are in contact with blood so they take drugs.

sometimes the children kill people. when they leave the armed groups memories come back so they take drugs to forget. >> some children are forced to join, others volunteer because they never had an education and have no hope of finding work. either way, their experiences will stay with them forever. . still ahead - unrest in saudi arabia as the government moves to deport undocumented migrant workers. and we are in santi ago as final rallies are held for chile's government.

. these are the top stories on al jazeera: thousands of people in the philippines are still waiting for aid a week after the islands were struck by hay rur. president benigno aquino has visited volunteers packing relief supplies. some government agencies say the number of people who died has risen to more than 4,000. the first mass burials took place in tacloban - one of the worst-affected areas. >> british prime minister david cameron has arrived in the sri lankan capital for the commonwealth heads of state meeting, for the summit in columbo - it is being overshadowed by allegations of war crimes committed against the tamil minority during the civil

war. >> ann taylor is from doctors without borders. i asked her about challenges facing aid workers. >> there are a number of operation centres here. i'm working with paris. we have been trying to go to tacloban. we have a team there. we have freight coming and we have a hospital - inflatable - surgical hospital arriving here tonight in the airport that we wish to move in the next - the next 24 hours to tacloban. >> others from doctors without borders said that the situation in eastern samma is bleak, the public hospital has been destroyed. how do you deal with a situation like that? >> as i said, we are taking in a full system - a full hospital system that can do everything. we have to get it there to be working. as i said, it's arriving

tonight. there are other - there's certain - i know once the main hospital there is no longer functional. there's a certain amount going on, not a great deal. there's a bit of support from the military self-defence force, but we want to get our hospital up and running. >> and what are the people there in need of. what sorts of - what sort of injuries and what sort of diseases are needed to be treated. >> we will - personally we'll concentrate on surgery and maternity, obstetrics to provide the service - medical service to the community, to have a good level of secondary health care. >> when do you hope... >> in terms of the need -- >> yes, the need. >> in terms of the need, there's a lot. we want to do food distribution in the area. we'll have some health posts,

set up health posts and work through the primary health system and the secondary, and with a backup of nfi. i do know that food is - and water particularly is an issue there. there's no water, except the place is flooded. it is soft, difficult for us to put up a hospital, in fact. at the same time there's no water to drink and no water for the people to look after themselves with. >> in terms of timing, when do you hope the hospital that is going to be set up - when do you think realistically that it will be up and running? >> well, we are looking at the different possibilities and solutions of the - that have to go through the process here, with a lot of backup of larmer aircraft. then it has to move into smaller aircraft because the tacloban can only take smaller aircraft.

there's a backlog. we have to get it in. we can barge if across. so we have barges on standby. we are looking at the fastest solution we can come up with to get the hospital up and running. >> somalia is recovering from a tropical storm, a cyclone that battered the north-eastern regions, 300 died in puntland alone. the u.s. estimates tens of thousands are in need of food, shelter and medical supplies. many aid agencies have been forced to deliver supplies by foot. >> they are waiting for food to arriving. authorities in somalia say 50,000 people are in need of food, water and medical supplies. the challenge is how to get the aid to the people. six days after the cyclone happened a few aid agencies are trying to reach the stranded

villages. >> some workers are trained or are on standby. from there they are going to carry the kits and walk in the push. they'll go to the villages and will keep walking. damage to the infrastructure is massive. this is what the cyclone did to the road linking puntland's major cities. long queues of vehicles are on both ends of the damaged road. after days waiting for the floods to recreed, people can cross on foot. >> aid can't get to those that need it the most. the governments are supposed to do that, hampered by a lack of resources. >> this is the only machine available. officials from the puntland call for urgent help. >> translation: we need help

from the international community and islamic countries. we need foot and a way to get aid to the villages. >> survivors have been telling tails of families wiped out. >> translation: my neighbours, a family of seven were killed. we found six bodies, the mother is missing. we have to food or clean water. i have to flee here with my six sons. >> thousands of livestock are dead as a consequence of ice and rain. for now it's the storm's toll on people that is of immediate concern. >> tension over the deportation of illegal foreign labourers is continuing in saudi arabia. more than 23,000 ethiopian workers are scenarioedering.

the government clamp down led to violent incidents. >> unrest in saudi arabia is uncommon. the traffic jams like these are more frequent. more than a dozen were arrested when workers blocked the road at a (portation center. there was more trouble else were. securities was tight in riyadh after scuffles between lis and out-of-job immigrants. a sudanese man was killed when riot police moved in. >> we closed the stores after prayers, we found eight cars were damaged. people with mash eaties crashed the cards. 23,000 surrendered. more are coming into the centres. they don't want to go home. >> translation: we will not leave until the yooeth i don't

knowian em -- either i don't knowian embassy comes. >> the deportation started after saudi authorities gave migrants seven months to comply with stricter visa rules. the government wants to end black market cheap labour. they will implement the policies until all residents are legal. millions have been affected by the new laws. and security checks and raids on businesses resulted in rare turmoil in the king dom. frustrated workers took to the streets. amateur pictures show workers gathering and harassing people. it began last week when the amnesty to legalize paperwork expired. clashes followed. three people, including a saudi were killed. some have been detaped. the government warned there

would be zero tolerance towards those that broke the law. for thousands, they'll have to take their dreams elsewhere. >> final campaigning has taken place in chile. we have the latest from santi argo. >> the campaigning is over. chileans must decide which candidate they'll vote or whether they'll vote at all in a presidential race where it is no longer mandatory to vote. the final campaign rally for the center left candidate. the former president is running and leading in the polls. thousands came here to cheer her on. they are acting as they they have won the election. she a running in a center coalition for the first time in half a century which incloouds

the communist party. she is also saying that there will be a new pension fund run by the state and better health care. importantly she is calling for a new constitution to replace the current one, which rose under the dictatorship of general pinochet. the two leading candidates are women. evelyn is her opponent. she held an opposing campaign rally 500km from the capital. she is behind in the polls, but is putting on a brave face. the big question is not who will win, but whether the winner will make it in the first or second round. that, according to experts depends on how many chileans

decide to vote on sunday. >> the brazilian amazon increased by a third. activists blamed the rise on the loosening of the environmental protection law, and the government's push for infrastructure projects like dams, roads and railways increased deforestation. >> officials at u.s. ports seized tonnes of illegal ivory from tourists, traders and smugglers over two decades, representing 2,000 elephants killed for their tusks. much has been crushed to deter them worldwide. >> a confinement machine used to pulverize rock and concrete on construction went to work on ivory. 6 tonnes seized from ports in the united states was turned to dust to send a message to the

world that selling tusks and trinkets from slaughtered elephants will not be tal roited. >> we can't do it. we are the second largest in the world. legal and illegal. unless we actually get control of our own markets, how do we ask china to do the same. by doing this we take the first step. >> much of the ivory traded in the world heads for china. the fish and wildlife service collected confiscated ivory storing it at this warehouse. >> ivory is trading at a high value on the black market. there's incentive for poachers, hunters and traders to move small pieces. what it means on the ground is not just hunters removing an occasional elephant, it's poachers taking down a herd. >> wildlife experts say much of the poaching and trading is carried out by terrorist

organizations - traffic and ivory, instead of drugs. >> it's a high-profit low-risk crime where individuals can make hundreds of thousands on elephant ivory and rhino horns in a short period of time. in a lot of countries they don't face gaol time. >> we have a choice. we will either be witness or solution to an unfolding ecological disaster. >> wildlife advocates say international enforcements need to be stepped up or elephants will go extinct. >> one elephant dies every 15 minutes, that's 30,000 a year, in less than 10 years elephants are gone. the time is yesterday. we have run out of time. >> some of the remains from the destruction will be saved to build a memorial for slaughtered

lel fantastic, other culturally significant pieces will be saved for schools and museums. >> that story and the rest of the new, including more as you see on the website on the philippines is on the website. aljazeera.com. ♪ this is "real money," you are the most important part of the show. join our conversation not next half hour on twitter using