The beginnings of starvation, civil disorder and epidemics have set in. Domestic news agencies report that desperate people have looted supply trucks stranded on the main highway, and police as well as paramilitaries had moved in to quell the unrest. It may be that there will be further deaths through water-borne diseases and upper respiratory tract infections. The big concern is typhoid breaking out. Bulldozers dumped bloated corpses onto the beaches to be burned in mass cremation.
Troops work to protect relief convoys from angry, starving mobs.
Hundreds of people who stop every car, bus or jeep that passed, seizing not only food but also whatever else is available. One Army Colonel said there were widespread complaints of looting, robbery and women being raped. Army and police are still unable to reach the worst hit areas. There is a fear that epidemics and violence will cause more deaths than the cyclone. At this time, we are thinking of going back in February.