>> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm jonathan betz with the headlines. at least five people are dead in central illinois after tornados ripped through the area. neighbourhoods were reduced to rubble. in washington homes have been destroyed as part of a twister that swept through the midwest. >> president benigno aquino as vowed to stay in tacloban. his government has sparked criticism. aid is reaching people. remote areas need supplies. death counts stand at 4,000. all 50 aboard a plane that

crashed in russia was killed. a boeing 737 was attempting to land when it went down. >> a u.s. drone crashed into a navy ship off the coast of jeb corlis. two sailors were hurt. the -- off the coast of jeb corlis, two sailors were hurt. u.s. navy was testing the ship's combat weapons system. they are the headlines. we planned to bring you a documentary called "tiny", but stayed tuned to a special documentary live from the philippines. "tiny" will air next week. >> "america tonight", i'm joie

chen reporting from tacloban. >> it's the largest of the cities to be struck and destroyed by the super typhoon. it was not the first. it belongs to an outlier on the point known as gewan and we met a number of people there looking to start new lives. she had been waiting at the airport for two days. and the anxiety overwhelmed her. please, she pleaded. my husband died in the storm. i have nothing left. i need to get my two kids out. this would not be her turn. >> there'll be more slides. those that lost so much would get out. given the tragedy the storms

must seem like a last hope. >> in the week since the storm came help was slow to arrive on the land in the eastern provinces. here, as far east in the philippines as you can get. there's much history. and a few firsts. giaan is known as the place where ferdinand magellan first set foot in the philippines, and u.s. forces built a base for the allies in the pacific. now, as a place where super typhoon hayan made landfall. >> this is the first time i made a big storm come here. >> the first time you saw a storm like this? >> yes, yes, yes. >> was it loud? was it scary? >> it's very scary. almost five hours. blowing winds. heavy rains. so my house down.

>> your house is gone. >> gone. >> my hours is not in the airport. i don't have house. >> with five kids and elderly parents at home. this woman does not want to go. the crowd at the airstrip is divided between those waiting for rations to stay, and a definedling number queueing up for a -- definedling number queueing up for a lift on the royal australian air forces c130. this woman left her in-laws, worried she wouldn't get more food for m. >> ka. >> after the storm, the view of the houses was heart breaking. you can see the small houses and the big houses are all alike. some toppled down. some didn't have roofs any more. some only have one fourth of the roof left on the house. people were on the streets

trying to see whatever they could from what was left of the storm. people were trying to find ways and means to get medicine and food. >> were you worried? >> very worried. >> we were scared. we scared and worried. >> what did you tell your daughter. >> not to worry because god so watching us. >> with a steadier stream of international aid landing at geyan, survivors said the government has done a good job bringing help and the international aid and appreciated. but the road ahead is likely to be a long one. the government estimates the supertyphoon forced 13 million from their homes. the u.n. says they will need six months of aid. faith and patience will be badly needed. >> what is good about the people

there. if during the first few hours after the storm. even if they lost their homes they can smile, they haven't lost hope. >> certainly there is a great deal of need out there in the outlying areas. also here in tacloban. joining us here to help us understand some of the medical needs is kate oliver. your organization is made up from folks that are veterans and first responders. what makes you guys uniquely able to serve. >> we are volunteers and we got here last monday. we come together and work on the assessment side. we provide medical care as well as helping some of the remaining structures putting tarps up over the remaining structures.

>> you are an army medic. you have been working with the field hospital. >> it's been busy because as of now between tacloban and down in tanwon, there's no go-to medical care here now. there's not a formal facility. there was one set up by the australians, but at the airport we have people coming in droves. >> you are having to treat them in tents. we are not talking about a structured setting. >> it's whatever framework remains from the storms. we are setting up triage. >> what injuries are you seeing? >> a lot of puncture wounds and infections from wound received during the typhoon. and we need resources. >> how are people - the patients coming in, the people coming to you for help. how are they reacting. you were impressed with their

resilience. >> i was amazed. they are a tough group of people ready to move forward and are grateful for care we can provide them. we are providing care without lieda cane. >> without a pain-killer. >> they are taking the care because they need it. it's the infection and disease will follow, because there's no sanitation here right now. >> what will you do moving forward, after the initial week. your organization is going to move forward. >> we have a bunch of assessment teams. they have been travelling to get out as far away from a lot of the coastal towns. there are areas that have been untouched. we have been able to work collaboratively with the u.s. armed forces and filipino military to work on assessments and come back. team ruby con is working on setting up a hospital clinic. we have a new wave of 40 individuals, volunteers waiting in map illa.

>> -- manila. >> you went on on an exploration and you were struck by the level of damage. >> i was in total shock. we have seen combat, loss, a lot of death. the drive from tacloban - sorry, the drive to tacloban, coming north on the coast was heartbreaking. there's very little left. and not everybody has been recovered. so there's still definitely search and rescue needed. we need to continue to work collaboratively with who is here now. >> your group of veterans arrived on a particular day, veterans day. >> yes, the best way. we are volunteers, this is humanitarian effort. none of us would rather be anywhere else. we are here to help.

>> what are the best thing for people at home, who see what is happening. not only across your organization. >> you have a lot of other ngo groups linking up - looking online. seeing if you find what their mission is. right now, food, water, medical supplies. >> they are needed. they are needed with the lack of sanitation disease is following. >> you spect beyond the initial puncture wounds you'll see more infection and disease. >> think about the climate, it's hot, wet, there's standing water and... >> and no sanitation. >> no sanitation. people have wounds on the feet, legs. if they are not covering they are continuing to reinfect themselves over and over. >> thank you for the work you are doing. >> we appreciate the effort people are making. we see a lot of medical

organizations and others moving forward and trying to assist in all parts of this area. it is a very complex process. particularly when you are getting into the remote and isolated areas. >> joie chen on the ground. we'll check back with you through the course of this hour. ahead on "america tonight" special, "philippine's in crisis" but is the aid reaching the people who need it. >> and task force katrina, lieutenant general russell honoree joins us, we'll join parallels, andway could be learn after katrina that can help us in these other disasters?

conversation >> welcome back.

politics seems to play a roll in the frack somehows history of the philippines, it is the truth today. here in tacloban, the largest city to be levelled there has been a major development. yesterday the president of the county, benigno aquino, arrived in tacloban saying that he plans to stay for an indefinite period to oversee rescue and relief operations, because there has been questions about the pace of those efforts. he'll stay here. benigno aquino is well-known to people around the world. he is the son of a legendary political figure and the son of the first female president of the philippines. we are seeing the arrival of a political dynasty in tacloban. >> thank you. in the aftermath of super typhoon haiyan relief organizations called on international community to help and donate funds.

many countries answered the call. the australians are leading the charm when it comes to humanitarian funding, donating more than $28 million. the u.s. $27 million, the u.k., $24 million, the united arab emirates and the japanese $10 million each. there has been a lot of frustration and criticism about the relief efforts in the philippines. survivors still describe conditions as horrific. many have gone days without water and food. joining us now is lieutenant russel honore. you basically have been credited with turning and a botched response to hurricane katrina, and getting things moving on the ground. what did we learn during hurricane katrina, and how is it being implemented? >> you have to move with speed. the old saying you have to have

a need for speed, and that trumps everything. you have to collaborate and coordinate with everyone and get communications to the ground so the government can be reconnected. until the people can talk to each other, you can't work in a collaborative way. the other is to give the government a set of priorities. what is the priority? it has to be saving lives. in the process of doing that it has to be focused on food, water, medicine, and evacuation of critically injured or ill people. and that has to be played out on the ground. you see in c-130 aircrafts, anywhere a c-130 can land - you get bigger aircraft in there and you get more people whose lives are threatened to include babies that are problems. get them out of the air.

trying to sustain them while you do search and rescue won't work. >> there's need for search and rescue. you heard from families, concerned about families. >> is that a problem. >> you turn the switch in this and it gets solved, it's no that. it's a function of capacity to get the airfields so you can get bigger aircraft in there and evacuate the vulnerable populations out and continue search and rescue. at the same time you need medicine and need to evacuate people. you need a balance in what you are doing. there's people that have not been touched. the clock is running. many times people see the calendar. as i remind my troops, we are

dealing with a watch, not a felipe calderon. >> you are meeting with fima that you observed about cuba, the way they respond to natural disasters. here we are looking at developing nations like the philippines. what did you see in cuba that they could do in the philippines. >> i made three trips to cuba. we want to talk about how a developing country without fima or private insurance, how do they withstand the hurricanes. they teach preparedness in the schools, from elementary to high school, and do evacuation drills. when the government give a warning that a hurricane is coming, they send cars out to pick people up who are on dialysis. they pick up the pregnant women and babies under 30 days and evac wait them before the storm, and then they send army trucks in to evacuate people. people know if they don't e vac

ute there's no insurance or fima. they put the television, matt res and refrigerator on the truck and evacuate ute. >> some of these things don't happen in the u.s. >> they have 2500 medical people that can deploy within hours anywhere in the world. that's a capacity that we need to organise around the u.n. and u.s. and other nations to have a capacity where we can fly in a couple of thousands docs and medical people with equipment. they come in like an airborne brigade. >> let's bring into the conversation ben smilerwitz. ben, you have been a whistleblower over bad responses to storms, hurricane katrina, the initial response. what are you seeing. what are the challenges that you see with all the aid groups trying to head there and provide

help. >> we saw earlier in the segment - you have dedicated skilled people that go in to help out. that's great. the problem is sometimes you have 100 generals moving in at the same time. they say here we don't need 100, just a few. the public and the u.s., when they want to help, it's important to figure out which groups have the greatest capacity to deliver services that are plucked in to the organizations. the philippines prepared for disasters, they have a lot of typhoons. they are the ones that need to prepare for the next one. if the groups rush in and take over. they'll inhib it the response and prevent philippines next time. >> there's no shortage of people on the internet asking for money to go and provide help. does this provide hep or create problems. either one of you can chime in

on that. >> certainly it's a challenge. but, you know, good intentions - i think some people need to wait until you get to recovery. search and rescue - every helicopter, every aircraft needs food, water and medicine and on the way out carrying people, the vulnerable population that needs to get to a place to be cared for. i don't see how you can move supplies by air. there'll have to be a mass evacuation until you get the infrastructure back up like electricity and water. if you take waterpurification unit in, it will take days. they have a tough problem on the hand. nothing i say is easy. the priority of work is set. the good news is the president of the country is there. if you don't handle a disaster right. it can be disruptive to the government.

>> if you don't spend the money, that can be a problem as we saw after the earthquake in haiti. >> there's a lot of philippines based organizations that are responding. the question is how quickly will they move money and resources so they can deliver services the way they plan. >> otherwise, what, it sits in a bank account and looks good for charity, but not for the people on the ground. >> we saw after sandy, we saw a lot on the ground. half the fund were in the bank. money doesn't have to move fast like a general rule, but if services are needed and you have money and resources, you have it move them. >> what do we need to do to better prepare the world for the storms happening. one thing you mentioned was technology. >> better technology, communicating after the electricity.

satellite communications in villag villages. philippine is our ally. if someone told us 10 days ago that a foreign army would attack tacloban and would destroy or kill 1,000 people, the pacific fleet would have been assembled and went that way. you know, when we see things like typhoons and tsunamis - we have to start moving. because the first rule of warfare is get there. this is a war when you get attacked by mother nature, kills thousands of people. we have to respond quicker. we have to treat it like if someone attacks an ally and starts moving. we have to stop waiting for people to wait for help. >> russel honore and ben smilowitz. thank you both for joining us. when we come back, extreme weather closer to homes. twisters touch down in the

midwest. we take you to the hardest hit areas. that's coming up next.

cz

>> welcome back to, "america tonight", our coverage of the typhoon haiyan. before we continue we have severe weather of our own to tell you about. more than 50 million across the midwest thre midwest threatened by a fast-moving tornado. nearly 50 tornados were reported across the region, five confirmed deaths at the height of the storm tornado watchers were issued from michigan to missouri. rebecca steven joins us from new york, metrologist, with the latest on the developing weather situation. >> adam, at last count the storm prediction center showed there was 77 outbreaks.

missouri, illinois, kentucky and ohio with the tornados. the storm system started this morning. they broke out from missouri to illinois. by the time we hit noon we confirmed two tornado touch downs in illinois, one to the north and one to the south, that you can barely see a small hooking in the echo of the radar to the south of the red box. after the storms hit, they simply continued on to cause more damage as it worked its way through parts of indiana and into ohio. the rain was coming down. lightening strikes and wind reports. 300 with the storm. the combination of the two makes it more likely we are going to continue through the wind gusts, continuing across the north-east as the storm tracks into canada.

since 1998 storm prediction center is forecast two high risk tornado days. they were in 2002 and 2005. here, sunday, november 17th, 2013, it will go down as day three in the month of november for a high-risk forecast of power thunder storms brought by a difference of temperature and a strong low pressure system. back to you. >> thank you so much for joining us tonight. >> the severe weather forced chicago bear fans to run for cover. the wild weather causing evacuations of soldier field. fans and players were sent to the locker room and the lower areas. >> we have the latest. what is happening out there ashar quraishi. >> it is quiet now.

earlier this afternoon there were heavy wind gusts, a lot of rain. the spectators that came to soldier field were prepared. there were precautions issued by the office of emergency management for them to be prepared for the possibility of them taking cover. half an hour after kick-off they moved down to the safe protection areas. they were waiting, bracing for a possibility of storms. they were moving quickly through central illinois, chicago, passing the city from the south. the damage was not bad. we had wind gusts and rain that subsided by midafternoon. the devastation in central illinois ascertained. we understand that washington was hit hard. some of the devastation that we showed destroyed homes, cars overturned and the office of

emergency management telling us - saying the injuries could be in the hundreds. it's hard to tell with darkness falling. the illinois national guard deployed a team. >> clean up will take days, if not weeks and months. thank you for joining us. >> nine days ago one of the most powerful storms recorded roared ashore, devastating the philippines. joie chen joins us once again from one of the hardest hit areas. tacloban. what truck me about the last interviews that you conducted. a lot of people want to get out. but they can. >> we have seen al jazeera correspondents span out throughout the central philippines and heard different kinds of stories, stories of communities levelled, so many stories of towns becoming virtual ghost towns, abandoned by the residents left. in many cases, because communications were the first thing to go and the last to

comeback, in so many cases worried son, daughters and family members rushing home to try to find anything left of their family homes. >> this is a category 5 superstorm. the red cross says 15 million need help. >> as always no storm can bring a united filipino people to its knees. >> this is what rescue crews will see when they reach isolated areas. devastated towns and vielages. >> a tornado passed us. it lasted four hours. >> the extent of the devastation is making rescue and relief difficult. airports in the central philippines have been damaged. many roads are impassable. emergency personnel walked for hours reaching survivors with aid.

>> wanting to be useful volunteers are coming in droves to the government warehouse, working around the clock to help relief efforts for the victims of typhoon haiyan in the central philippines. some haven't let physical challenges hold them back. >> i wanted to help those badly affected by the storm. >> the weather is deteriorating again, leaving people to look for protection in whatever is left of their homes. >> we have to stay here. we don't have money to leave. we don't have anything to improve shelter. we'll have to cope. >> there are so many casualties in tacloban, the main hospital has no time to deal with the dead. some patients are outside, while tired doctors and nurses take a rare break in the fresh air. most have been working long hours since the typhoon struck. inside there's no electricity and it's hot.

>> all 63-year-old rupert wants to do is sleep. he hasn't been able to do that in six days. he may have survived the storm. but he lives in fear for his life. >> translation: how many of us are left? and now this. something else may take our lives. people coming into our houses. if you fight back, they'll kill you. >> a structure damaged by typhoon haiyan is the local prison. many inmates are believed to have escaped and survived the storm. >> there's not a second to lose as australian air force troops back their c130 with equipment and supplies. it's a plane full of aid workers, police and a civilian, a young woman holding back tears in the cargo area. as the plane descends into that landscape she is overwhelmed. her name is delia pagatpatan. hundreds here are desperate to leave - but delia pagatpatan is

desperate to get in. she hasn't heard from her family in more than a week and is terrified of what she might find in her home town of taytay. heading east to the ocean, a panay ramma of destruction scrolls buy. once a bustling seaside ham the of 500 families, it's hard to imagine anyone could have lived through this. then, a shout. >> that's your brother. >> it's her older brother fausto. >> a story of a happy reunion outside of wayan. one of many stories of people looking, hoping to reunite through communications. it's amazing to think how much we have lost because we expect to have communications. a situation like this reminds us how important it is to build connections and re-establish them. >> thank you so much.

>> it's truly difficult to comprehend the raw power of the typhoon and the damage it cost. look at the amateur video released by a group plan international. it shows the storm surge. wiping away the homes, the waves, surrounding buildings there before uprooting them from the foundation, and, yes, there were people in some of those homes at the time of that video. these are before and after pictures. digital globe, a private satellite company switched on cameras above the city. you can see the devastation caused by the typhoon, wiping out the city. tacloban was one of the fastest growing cities in the country. when disaster strikes the need is to save lives, children, especially girls, are at risk after disasters in developing nations.

unicef's director is joining us from new york. why are children so at risk after disasters like this? >> well, children are vulnerable. we estimate that tacloban affected over 5 million children. they are vulnerable because of disease. and one of the first things that unicef worked on with the local water authorities as well as ngos and with the support of u.s. and filipino military is getting in the water system in tacloban, getting it back up and running. we can say today that we have restored water to approximately 270,000 people in tacloban. about 80% of the population, that will avoid disease outbreaks. diseases that children are vulnerable too. we need to look at nutrition, and questions and concerns about violence and separation of children from their families,

these are issues being looked at. >> good to hear that headway is being made. an alarming report from plan international was released saying girls are more likely to die than boys after disasters. what is unicef doing to try to protect girls in particular? >> firstly, you need to engage girls and women in the relief effort - have plans so that you have dedicated facilities for them, sanitation facilities, ways to have showers where privacy is protected. you need to re-establish education so children get a sense. normal si, and the girl child is in school and protect the girl child against sexism and gender based violence. getting them back with families, establishing child friendly places to girls and boys are in a place where they can play and

get a sense of normalcy. if they are separated from their family, find a foster base arrangement until you can reunify them with your fam police. >> you bring up an interesting issue, one that is concerning about sexual violence against children. i have read reports of human traffickers trying to get into countries after disasters like this to take advantage of children. how big a problem is that in a developing country like the philippines, and what is it unicef doing to crackdown on that. >> one thing in the philippines is they have good structures in place, child protection committees. what is important is to re-establish the structures to keep an eye on children who may have been separated, unaccompanied, children who are vulnerable and make sure there is no traffic. so far it seems that the reports

that have been received are rather limited because there has been such a strong community response, because a number of organizations flake plan international, unicef have been on the ground working to establish child friendly spaces, re-establish the child protection committees and take steps to reunify children unaccompanied with their families. >> we are hearing that they may need six months of aid on the ground. is uni self ready to handle this. >> unicef will be there. it will take six months to get through this initial phase. we need to look at recovery and restriction. over 1,000 schools damaged or used by shelter. we'll need to be there and stay the course until the schools are

running, until health centres are operating. we will be there with the filipino children, supporting the government and civil society in the philippines. we'll stay the course. >> an endless list of challenges. the director of emergencies with unicef. thank you for joining us. >> ahead - more from joie chen reporting from hard-hit tacloban, on your social report "typhoon haiyan - the philippines in crisis." desperate to help, how filipino americans are reaching out to families affected by the disaster. >> the filipino people are no strangers to typhoons, according to a joint typhoon warning center. 80 typhoons develop over tropic call waters. 19 into the philippines regions, six of nine make landfall.

welcome back to "america tonight" special. "typhoon haiyan - the philippines in crisis", back to joie chen in a moment. but first many struggle with food and clean water and basics. family members in the united states are hurting. many wanting to know if family members are safe and alive and want to find ways to send aid. we meet with many where prayer is the only definite form of aid. >> thousands of miles from the

philippines, the community of maryland is reeling from typhoon haiyan. >> my brothers and sisters, it is amazing sometimes - god uses things so that the - he can call our attention... >> this morning at st. column ba father art malare invited his largely filipino congregation to give prayers and offering for the people affected by the storm. >> there'll be a collection for the victims of the typhoon in the philippines. please be generous. >> no stranger to natural disaster. father malare saw his town destroyed by lava flows. after that experience, the number of dead from this super typhoon had him speaking about the end of days. >> can up imagine 185 miles per

hour. who will survive that? >> but they did. put then the surge came in, the water came in. and it let them drown. >> elsa listened and prayed for her family, including her 93-year-old mother - safe but trapped in tacloban. >> my mother was still where she is, with my sister, she's been staying with my sister. we agree she has to be the next person to be airlifted. her mother had a prescription. prescriptions are pricey. she sends her mother money. i supplement what she has, that's why i send money every month. sometimes twice a month, depending on the need. >> with communications down,

those remittances won't go through. if they did, there's nothing left to spend money on. stores are flattened. >> the shopping mall is gone - like, there's nothing in there. it's just standing there. all the shops in the mall are empty. >> she knows someone with the filipino red cross and hopes he can get aid to her home town. >> st. colombo has accepted donations. bags of supplies are set aside to be delivered to those in need. >> we have spam, things like that and clothes. >> each of these donations is personal. it's hard to walk from one end. st. columbo to the other without touching someone directly effected by the storm. this man has yet to hear from his wife's family in bohol.

there's no communication. >> you know, what is their condition. it's like that, you know. or do they need help. >> he doesn't know if they are alive. >> it's the first time i seen this amount of destruction -- i seen this amount of destruction. >> i have known an amount of typhoons. it never - they never destroyed the entire city. maybe a few houses. to destroy a city and a province like that. >> elsa has a trip to tacloban planned for january. until then she is a trying to stay positive and hoping for the best. >> it will come back. i believe that. i hope that it would be basically a filipino effort. >> before she lives, aki this, o stops at the alter to say

prayers. for now, it's all she can do. >> "america tonight" sheila mcviccer is in the studio. it's not as simple as going to the bank and wiring money, is it? >> no, it's not. for 3.4 million filipinos, it is a system that is better than international wire transfer. you see a remittance person the the person you send to in the philippines gets a text message saying, "you have $100 in your account", and they go to a remittance person, but there are no things to buy. there's no food, water, medical supplies. there's not the things they need. they are urgently trying to get her out to manila. >> it could be a life saver. a way people are trying to track

down family members is through technology and social media. let's bring in our digital producer. you found interesting stories that are not widely broadcast, but they are popular online. >> there's great stories n u.n. conventional giving. one highlights the debate over the need whether or not to deliver dried breast milk, formula to pregnant women and those feeding their children in the affected areas. pregnant women affected by disaster have been found to be 2-3 times as likely to give birth to low-weight babies and prematurely. one group. modela mums has been sending pasturized breast milk. on november 13th and 14th the facebook page said it donated more than 1800 ounces of breast milk to the areas.

>> what a unique way to help pregnant women. other stories about people helping going viral. something that can lift your spirits in the midst of tragedy. >> there's a woman who hosted on facebook about meeting five little boys from towi-towi. they were poor, little and approached her with goods to give to those affected. she wrote on the facebook page, "with a smile they greeted us. i opened the bag and saw a kilo of rice, two sar deans and 10 coins." she invites them to help her package goods. it's a tail of children without much, treated poorly on the streets, who are willing to give up everything they have for affectees, who knew what it was like. >> when you watch the images and

see the children there, it's nice to sit back and read a story like that. >> thank you so much for joining us in the studio. more on this at aljazeera.com. now thank you so much. the three most powerful storms to make land fall over the past 25 years all hit the philippines. typhoon haiyan the most powerful one. wind speeds 195 miles per hour. then a few years ago in 2010 super typhoon maggie. winds 180 miles per hour where are, and in 1998 they dealt with super typhoon zeb - made landfill with winds of 180 miles per hour sustained for hours. we'll head to tacloban, and joie chen has the special cover. we continue after this break.

philippines. we'll head to tacloban, and jph. we'll head to tacloban, and j>>

"america tonight" we thing about what it means and what you can say to somebody who has lost everything. indeed, that is the case in the central philippines. it raises the question. what is the closest experience these people can have, as part of our series "reaching out" we speak with kimberley rivers roberts, a woman that survived katrina. >> i'm kimberley rivers-roberts, i'm a hurricane katrina survivor. the people in the philippines remind me sort of of what happened here. it looked like a bomb hit new orleans. you saw trash everywhere, you had water up to your waist with all type of debris and oil and trash. during a disaster it's like time slows down. i hear the roof climbing,

clattering, and the shingles and the wood on the roof slamming up against the boards. it made us think the roof would fly off. then you hear the whistle. and that's the wind and the water. circling the house. it was - it was definitely something. i lost two loved ones in katrina. it was a waiting game. it was hard on my family waiting to see - you know, waiting for someone to give us answers about, you know, if that was our loved one and that. imagine losing them and don't know where the body is. no one knows where they are at. you have to have a funeral three

to four or six months later because they finally find someone they say is him or her. you are stuck with an open case, open grief, no closure, because they don't know where - if that's then. the question that i posed to myself is we have to keep moving. you know, we ain't got time to get angry. we have to make a decision. it's your hand. you got to work the hand. you got do the best you can with what you've got. i have water. i know how to take a bath. i know how to look up and see everything is full of mud in houses and flats. and loved ones and people and decomposing bodies stinking. we had nothing but the close on our back. we had our heart. we had will. we had love and compassion. we did the best we could with that.

the first step to recovery is look to yourself, make a decision that you will let this make or break you. >> i see the people in the philippines bouncing back. it's a slow process. we haven't fully recovered as a city. i know in time we'll be each other's comforters in the community, help each other back. and have the - what i - nothing is possible. have the faith in your own ability, which you can do. at the end of the day you need to have something outside of yourself to cling to, especially when you have lost loved ones and all your personnel property, pictures, memory. to the people in the philippines, i want to encourage you to hold tonne your faith. it seems as if the war has come to an end. it will be tough moving forward, i want you to have the faith

within yourself that you can and will move forward beyond this. >> kimberley rivers roberts reaching out and helping to understand the situation of people in central philippines. one thing i found interesting, adam, and that is the sense of resilience that so many of the people carry with them. they seem to have a lot of strength and reserve. ability to become frustrated, anxious about what lies ahead. really, willing to understand that look sometimes is it takes a long time for help to come. sometimes it's not enough to help everybody. sometimes the rides out of the town are not going to be available right away. there's a sense here look, we can work it out together, and we'll move forward" making the folks resill ent. and you can understand that they have an opportunity here to come

back. >> that's joie chen on the ground for us in the philippine. it's morning. folks have a busy day ahead of them. continuing to recover and you reporting to us. thank you so much. see you again with another story here coming up tomorrow night. that's it for us on "america tonight." if you would like to comment on any stories you have seen, log on to the website at aljazeera.com/americatonight. you can join the conversation on twitter or our facebook page. thanks for watching this special report here on "america tonight", good evening, and we'll see you again tomorrow night.

welcome to al jazeera america, i'm jonathan betz with the headlines. >> at least five people are dead across illinois after tornados ripped through the area. entire neighbourhoods were reduced to rubble. dozens of homes have been destroyed. the storm system spun more than 60 twisters across the midwest. >> the philippines president has promised to stay in tacloban. he's faced criticism. help is reaching people. remote areas need supplies. nearly 4,000 have been killed. >> 50 people aboard a plane crashing in russia were killed. a boeing 737 went down in