at 4am eastern. thanks for watching. recovery and the pivot towards asia are the "inside story." >> welcome to "inside story." i'm ray suarez. for more than a months the specific island nation of the philippines have struggled to recover from the worst national disaster that it's ever known. typhoon haiyan. there are still people missing

as the storm scoured towns and villages from the land. aid workers will be helping the millions of people who survived but lost homes and shelter for a long time to come. now the united states is promising a new package of military aid to the philippines, $40 million, as geopolitical tensions in the region rise after provocative decisions made by china. we'll get the latest on storm recovery and face off of the south china sea on this edition of "inside story." but first some background. >> secretary of state john kerry traveled to the philippines tuesday. he met with senior filipino officials to discuss trade, security and disaster relief. it is part of the u.s. strategy to pivot towards asia and become closer to its pacific partners. >> the united states will stand with our friends in this region. >> the tour comes during rising tensions in the region.

china declared a new air defense zone above the east china sea. with disputes still boiling in the south china sea, the restriction has concerned it's neighbors, including vietnam, japan and the philippines. >> the united states does not recognize that zone and does not accept it. the zone should not implemented, and china should refrain from taking similar unilateral actions i in the region particularly over the south china sea. >> we believe safety and security of the affected nations. >> the trip is kerry's fourth to the region as secretary of state. he canceled the planned visit just before typhoon haiyan. this week kerry plans to visit the area hardest hit in that storm, in the town of

tacloban. typhoon haiyan hit a little over a month gone with winds gusting at 200 mph and a storm surge that swept away entire neighborhoods. since the u.s. has dispatched an aircraft area to discontribute aid. >> with significance assistance give to us by the united states after typhoon haiyan. whether by support or by generously providing relief goods and aid, your support of the filipinos was clear. >> reporter: initial aid responses approaching $300 million. tent cities have been built and cash networks have been set up with charities and the philippine government. >> it is up to the people we can persevere and rise up to the challenges.

even though it is slow people are still rising up. >> reporter: more than 5,000 were killed in the storm. 27,000 people were injured, and 1700 are still missing. disaster experts predict rebuilding affected towns will take up to ten years. >> is the united states new aid commitment to the fill pines simply help from an old ally? another step in the pivot to asia or some combination of the two. joining us to discuss this question or more, vice president and director of the brent sco scocroft center, and worked in administrations of both president barack obama and president bush. and bonnie glazer, let me start

with you, is the pivot to asia that we keep hearing so much about a slogan, or is there something substantial that is going on now? >> well, it's not a slogan. the united states has interest in the pacific asiaen region, and there is desire of president obama to be more active in the area and we're trying to promote the trans-pacific partnership that will hopefully get established next year. and in military terms there is also an important component. the united states is trying to reassure our allies and our partners in the region that the assistance that the u.s. provide ready presence, the peace and stability that we have provided for the region will continue in the future. that the united states will be a credible and reliable ally and partner going forward.

so there are diplomatic components and military components. this is a critically important region in the united states. and the key factor is central in this policy is china's rise and how the united states will manage china's rise going forward. >> how does china's rise look, camille, when you're standing in manila. is the country looking to tighten itself to the united states because a politically , powerful china makes it feel insecure? >> you can see that the philippines may be insecure, but we are just admitting that our military capabilities are limited, and it's challenged, and so having the united states there as a key ally, one of our oldest allies, really, gives us more confidence.

facing china, however, we see--we look at it as david versus goliath. we have elevated the government has elevated the case through the al jazeera america arbitration course through the hague, there is a case there right now on the south china sea dispute. having the united states support this measurement is something that the people really appreciate, the public and the government, that they have a backer some how. >> ddon't you have to live with china as a neighbor. and a new relationship now that it's a more powerful and wealthy country is there risk of having it look like provocation in beijing? >> so definitely we are also trying to be more measured in our approach knowing that the u.s. is here and taking steps.

the rebalancing strategy of president obama, so i think the government is worried that it might send the wrong signal to china, that we're trying to form what they already call an axis. we want to hear these words because it reminds us of potential conflict. the tension is escalated by the assertiveness. >> can the united states from thousands of miles away be a counterweight to china for these smaller countries in southeast asia? >> well, we've had significant military capabilities in the region for quite awhile. it's been several decades, and it will certainly be several more. i think this is really a reaction to china overplaying its hand a bit recently, and there has been a sign wave of china in 2010. they overplayed their hand.

and then they did pivot policy announcement, and this year, too, there is a bit of playing and assertiveness and you're seeing the u.s. reaction to this through working with allies and partners, with the philippines, japan, the visit to the vietnam. i think these countries are nervous. i think they find it helpful when the u.s. reassures them. i guess that provides an useful balance. >> is china in effect unilaterally trying to extend the reach of its territorial waters, redrawing the map in east asia? >> there are a number of disputed territories and places in the ocean and i think china is trying to test and prove. this is classic rising power stuff. the rising power is probing, trying out now rules. trying to make up somewhat it accommodated are it's interests, and i think it's very useful for

secretary kerry to take this trip. i think it was useful for the united states to fly the b-52 bombers over this zone right after china announced it over the international waters. i think we'll see more types of these actions and reactions, and we hope things stato stay conta, and they don't escalate. >> we'll talk more about this budding relationship or reintroduction to east asia on the part of the united states. the pivot to asia, this is the "inside story." >> evey sunday night, join us for exclusive, revealing, and suprizing talks with the most interesting people of our time. this sunday, >> i spent my whole life thinking about themes and thinking about how to structure movies, so this is highly unusual. >> the director of the sixth sense, says there are five things we can do to fix

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>> welcome back to "inside story." i'm ray suarez. it's been more than a month since typhoon haiyan slammed into the philippines. we want to turn our discussion over to the relief efforts and the millions of filipinos displaced by the storm. with us is john, director of the world food program, and gareth

with save the children. early on we were told one of the great difficulties was the tremendous damage in the cente central area of leyta and tacloban, it was very difficult to get aid in that last mile where the need was greatest. have those difficulties been solved now? >> oh definitely, the last mile of the logistics is always the challenge, but that has been massively improved now. 14 million people still remain effected, and mainly children. we've been able to reach more than 150,000 people with life-saving aid already, so the logistical effort is difficult,

but we need to make sure that it doesn't happen again. >> after you get people hydration and first aid, what needs to come in train right behind them? >> well, what's most striking about the situation here is the extraordinary resourcefulness and resilience of the filipino people themselves caught up in this emergency. you see banners on the ground saying things like homeless, roofless, but not hopeless. that's a real measure of what people want. to recover their livelihoods and build back better. we help people to recover their lives. that's everything from coconut farmers who lost their trees, those who lost their boats and education. the disruption to the education of one million pupils has been extraordinary. it becomes very quickly helping people to recover all the vital parts of their lives and livelihood which they so

urgently want to get back. >> in the typhoon belt, and in this particular place where the storm was worse is a very vulnerable place. ar are yours and other agencies developing a tool kit in response to this typhoon and the typhoon next year and the typhoon after that. >> we are, indeed. we started out with traditional food assistance program delivering food to the people in need in those disaster areas, but we're very much focusing on how quickly the markets are recovering, and shifting from food to cash-base programming, where we give a family a few months allowance to give them the ability to re-establish their livelihoods. this was a dynamic response.

i was there just a couple of weeks ago, and as gareth said the people of the philippines is taking action to get back on their feet, and also the government of the philippines is very much engaged. we're very much a support effort to the filipino people and their government as they take the lead. >> what is the virtue of putting displaced people back to work as part of the aid effort rather than bring in workers for that same labor. >> it's critical that we allow the people to take control of their own lives, and they want to. they don't want to be served or be beneficiaries. they want to take over their lives. our focus is to help them get back on their feet. in our case its food. but on other organizations, they work with livelihood, and how soon can we get the farmers planting again?

we need to plant now to have food in the coming months. everything is considered now and this is part of the new dynamic response. it's not step by step. it's many things happening at the same time. >> gareth, you refer to building back better, when people put up new neighborhoods to replace the ones that were blown away, are they neighborhoods that will stand up a little better to the next typhoon? >> that's what is an important aspect of save the children and other organizations. this is organizations. as we help the people of the philippines to rebuild, we rebuild with resistence in the infrastructure so lives are not lost. >> do you have what you need? are the governments of the world stepping up?

>> the world food program is doing very well but what is very important are the reconstruction efforts that will come after the immediate response. we can't forget about those, the international community cannot be passive about the fact that this is a very vulnerable area and there are tremendous opportunities through reasonable investments to give the people a greater capacity to with stand the next storm. >> how long are you going to be on the ground? >> we have plans to be on the ground at least through march, but we will assess what the needs are, and we'll stay longer if necessary. >> and gareth how long do you plan on your team being there on the ground? >> save the children have been in the philippines for 0 years already, and already our plan is stretching for the next three years. we'll stay as long as the job is needed. >> what does that mean? and in what fashion, really, is it full-on relief at this point for another year or even

longer? >> no, it will be full on on relief for the next six months and that will bring more to the livelihood efforts. we'll take our coul cues from te filipino government and how long they want us to work in the region. we're receiving very genius funds that are welcome for the next six months but we need to look at the longer term when the cameras have left. there will be vital needs that will need a response. >> john brown , gareth, thanks to you both. that brings us to the end of this edition of "inside story." in washington, i'm ray suarez.

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