More than 10,000 feared dead in typhoon-ravaged Philippines

This would make it the country's deadliest recorded natural disaster

A super typhoon that destroyed entire towns across the Philippines is believed to have killed more than 10,000 people, authorities said today, which would make it the country's deadliest recorded natural disaster.

The horrifying new feared death toll from Super Typhoon Haiyan came as the United States pledged military help in the relief effort and as countless survivors across a huge swathe of the country remained without aid for a third day.

Ten thousand people were believed to have been killed in the worst-hit province on Leyte, regional police chief Elmer Soria told reporters in Tacloban, the devastated provincial capital.

"We had a meeting last night with the governor and, based on the government's estimates, initially there are 10,000 casualties (dead). About 70 to 80% of the houses and structures along the typhoon's path were destroyed," Soria said.

The scenes in Tacloban, a city of 220,000 people, and other coastal towns were reminiscent of a tsunami aftermath, with concrete slabs the only part of many homes remaining, vehicles flipped over and power lines destroyed.

"This is destruction on a massive scale. There are cars thrown like tumbleweed and the streets are strewn with debris," said Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, the head of a UN disaster assessment coordination team, in Tacloban.

"The last time I saw something of this scale was in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami," he said, referring to the 2004 disaster that claimed about 220,000 lives.

Haiyan hit Leyte and the neighbouring island with maximum sustained winds of around 315 kilometres on Friday, and generated waves up to three metres high that surged deep inland.

However, while Leyte was believed to have been the worst hit, the carnage extended across a 600-kilometre stretch of islands through the central Philippines.

A few dozen other deaths had been confirmed in some of these areas, but authorities admitted they were completely overwhelmed and many communities were still yet to be contacted.

"We're still establishing command and control through logistics and communications," military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala told AFP.