12/11/2013 BBC News at One

Millions of people in desperate need of help in the Philippines, amid

warnings the devastation could be as bad as the Boxing Day tsunami. New

footage shows the strength of Typhoon Haiyan - the wind reached

speeds of almost 200mph as it battered the country last Friday. At

least 10,000 people are dead five days after the disaster, and

millions are hungry and need shelter. The other big thing now is

food - look at this line, it stretches for hundreds of metres in

both directions. You are waiting for rice? Are you hungry? Yes. Do you

have any food? No. We'll be speaking to our

correspondents who are in some of the worst-hit areas. Also this

lunchtime... A warning to the energy industry not to treat customers like

cash cows, as EDF becomes the latest energy company to raise its prices.

A fall in the cost of transport leads to a surprise drop in

inflation last month - it's down to 2.2%.

And shopping vouchers to encourage more new mothers to breast-feed - a

new pilot scheme will see if it works.

Later on BBC London News, half the capital's A departments are not

meeting the target of treating patients within four hours. And it

has been confirmed that demand in the housing market far outstrips

supply. Good afternoon and welcome to the

BBC News at One. The United Nations has launched an appeal for almost

?200 million to help relief efforts in the Philippines. Four days after

Typhoon Haiyan swept across the country - survivors in some of the

worst-affected areas are still waiting for help. At least 10,000

people may have died and more than 11 million people are thought to

have been affected by the storm. And now forecasters say another typhoon

could hit the country in the next few days. We'll hear from our

correspondents in Tacloban, a city which felt the full force of the

typhoon and in Cebu, in the eastern Philippines, where aid is just

beginning to arrive. Alastair Leithead has this report, and it

contains some images which viewers may find distressing. The extent of

this typhoon is only now becoming clear. Across the Philippines,

buildings and homes have been destroyed, people left without

shelter. Even solid concrete buildings, like the local school,

could not withstand the power of the storm. Cebu Island was not the first

place to be hit, but Typhoon Haiyan levelled buildings all the way along

its destruct path. It is an overwhelming task, trying to restore

power supplies which have been cut off across the entire north of the

island, but you have to start somewhere. On the road north, with

another tropical storm approaching, the extent of the damage edgily

worsens. We stumbled across a home built to keep out the weather, but

the storm came in anyway. -- gradually worsens. A very strong

wind came in my house. We were afraid, and my grand daughter was

shaking. This was the first truck of a to reach this area. When the

people heard, they came running. A group of friends from the main city

on the island loaded up a truck with whatever they could find - Rice,

tins and water rumble we were trying to go around and look for a town

which really needed help. It was taking too long for the aids to come

in, and some of the roads were blocked, so we found this house, and

we tried to find a spot for us to get our stuff ready. This is just

one little feeding station that we have stumbled across on the long

drive up to the north of Cebu Island. The further you go, the

worse the damage gets and the greater the need for people to get

food and water, whether it be from private organisations or from the

government, they all need help as soon as possible. This is your

house... ? This lady, her husband and her three children were lucky to

is of five when their roof came off. They had to battle a gale to reach

the safety of a friend's home. There are so many stories like hers in

this neighbourhood. Across this battered island, there are many,

many more. Tim Wilcox now joins us live from

Cebu. The stories are still unfolding, the devastation

extraordinary, so give us the latest. Well, there is a problem

here at the moment in terms of this international airport in this city,

which was meant to be the main drop-off point for international aid

relief for areas like Tacloban, which is about a 45 minute flight

away. The problem seems to be that some of this aid is arriving, and

there is a bottleneck, which means the aid cannot be transported to the

areas where it is needed most. I have been speaking to a Belgian crew

who flew in this morning just before dawn. They had refuelled in

Azerbaijan and in India, and when they landed, there was no connecting

flight to take their aid across to where it is needed most. But is

because the runway is too short for their aircraft to land. They need

C-130 aircraft, which can take off and land on a shorter runway, but

there do not seem to be enough of them available at the moment. They

may be waiting to three days, with aid which could provide clean water,

shelter and a mobile field hospital for 30,000 people, for up to one

month, and they are frustrated because that aid can not get across

to Tacloban, for example. What these people have been through is

unthinkable, we are going to show some amateur footage of the wind, as

it swept across the Philippines, and when you look at the pictures, you

can see just how strong and violent these winds were. Yes, and when you

look at those pictures, it is truly shocking. You are talking about

winds of 235mph. But the crucial, most destruct thing is the storm

surge which was created by this typhoon, waves of up to 20ft hi,

which crashed into the town, where this footage was taken. Normally,

typhoons in this area, and the Philippines is no stranger to

typhoons, this being the 25th one this year, normally it leads to

flooding and mudslides from the mountains, which is how people lose

their lives, but this is completely different, this storm surge caused

even more devastation than normal, making it most powerful storm this

country has probably ever had to end your. Our correspondent Jon Donnison

has managed to travel to Tacloban, where he has been hearing some of

the stories of the loss and devastation there. It is a bleak,

bleak situation for people living here. In this plot of land there are

probably a couple of hundred families packed in, and not one of

them has a roof left to put over their heads. We had a heavy night of

driving rain, making a bad situation even worse. When a typhoon came, a

wall of water swept in from the sea. Abel said they were up to their

necks in sea water, doing anything they could to try and save

themselves. -- people said. One man told me he went inside his toilet

and wrapped his hands around the toilet and clone for dear life and

prayed. People are doing whatever they can to rebuild their lives and

their homes. -- and prayed. People ask averaging around, they say they

have only got a few days' worth of provisions left, and they say there

is a real problem with dirty water. Here, people are scooping up the

dirty water from this well. They are basically straining it through a

T-shirt so they can cook with it. The people here say they have not

seen any sign of the government in the past four days. We will sleep

anywhere, but we need food, only food. No money, no televisions, no

cell phones, no technology, food, we need food. There is a real risk in

these coming days of disease spreading quickly in these

conditions. People are showing remarkable resilience, they are

doing their best to try and rebuild their homes and their lives. But

where do you start? Getting the aid to survivors is

proving to be extremely difficult, as you can see. The flooding of the

streets of Tacloban is making it almost impossible, as Rupert

Wingfield-Hayes reports. It has been raining here overnight. We have had

torrential downpours. Everything is now swamped in this stinking

Blackwater. And there is more rain coming. The fact is that maybe

80-90% of the buildings along the coast have lost their roofs. So,

even where the buildings have survived, people are effectively

living in the open. The other big thing now is food. Look at this

line, it stretches for hundreds of metres in both directions. Everybody

is lining up here, pretty patiently. If I just speak to some of them...

How are you? Fine. What are you doing here? Waiting. You are waiting

for rice? Yes. Are you hungry? Yes. Do you have any food? No. Did you

eat today? Yes. No food. No food. This is the really big issue now

here, all of the food and rice belonging to these people was

damaged in the storm. It is now the fifth day since the storm, and

supplies are running out. There is still a sense that aid is not

getting in here. The airport, there are planes coming in, but we do not

see any of it here. The situation is becoming more and more tense, more

and more hunger, people are getting increasingly desperate. And Jon

Donnison joins us live from Tacloban. The question is really,

when will the aid get there? Yes, and that is what everybody asking

us. And they are getting desperate. A few hours ago, we were out at a

big food warehouse which was being ransacked, absolutely chaotic

scenes, as people stormed into this food distribution centre and started

just streaming out, carrying sackfuls of anything they could get

their hands on - noodles, biscuits, crisps, you name it. Truth is that

the aid is not getting in. People are asking why that is. It has been

five days now, they are seeing these planes coming in to Tacloban

airport, but where is it? And also, you have got all of these people who

have been killed, bodies which have not been buried, and clearly, the

risk of disease? I think that is a real problem, there is no sanitation

here. There are no toilets. So, the water everywhere is absolutely

filthy. We saw a young family today, as we saw in that report earlier,

sipping water through a T-shirt just to try and get it filtered so they

could use it to cook. There is a sense that unless help comes, things

are getting worse rather than better.

HMS Daring is on its way to the Philippines right now to help

support the operation. The commanding officer is on the line to

us now from on board the ship. First of all, explain how far away you are

from the Philippines now. We are about 1400 miles away, and we are

making good headway. When you get there, what will you be able to do

for these people? Well, I heard your previous reporters talking about

distribution issues, and we can take stores on board and move them around

the coastline to some of the more remote communities. I have got a

helicopter, I have got boats, I can reach the more remote communities

and make sure that they have got water, first of all, and also help

them with electricity restoration and get them blankets to make sure

they are warm. I can make water on board myself to support smaller

local communities, as well as providing first aid provisions for

some of these communities which have not had any support to date. You say

you are still a feud thousand miles away, when do you think will

arrive? I should be there by the morning of the 16th. We have got

about 1400 miles to run, and we are making best speed to get around the

east coast. We are still in negotiation with the UK and with the

authorities on the ground to make sure that our efforts are best

targeted to meet our unique attributes. What do you think of the

task ahead? It is a daunting task it is one for which my ships company

are well prepared. We train in this kind of stuff before we come away.

We have a mock-up village to prepare for this kind of exercise. We are

very much prepared. Commanding officer, boxed over joining us.

The Prime Minister has announced that the UK is sending a team of

addition medical experts. And a reminder that there is more on the

impact of Typhoon Haiyan with updates from our correspondents in

the Philippines on the BBC News website.

The time is 1.15. Our top story this lunchtime. Millions of people in

desperate need of help in the Philippines amid warnings the

devastation could be as bad as the Boxing Day Tsunami. And coming up

later, I will be reporting from this Red Cross depot in Bristol. Three

trucks of aid leaving here today heading for the Philippines.

800 years old, and now dying. Specialists try to save one of

London's oldest trees from decay. And strides being made by a charity

for children, introducing them to 4-legged friends.

Yet another energy company has announced it is putting up its

prices. EDF says average gas and electricity bills will rise by 3.9%

from January, but points out the rise is half that of rivals. But the

company has warned that there could be further price increases if the

Government does not make its expected reduction in the "green

levy" on energy bills. The Energy Secretary Ed Davey today told gas

and electricity firms that they risk being perceived like "greedy

bankers", and must not treat customers as "cash cows". Simon

Gompertz reports. No let up from the autumn price

hikes. SSE started it, then three more. Now 2.5 million EDF customers

face a hike, smaller one. No move yet from E.ON. The rise of 3.9% is

less than half the typical increase. There is a warning. EDF will slap

more on bills if the Government doesn't cut the green levy that

suppliers have to pass on to households. Instead of having to

increase it more than twice what we have done, we have said that he will

hold back half of the increase now so that our customers can benefit

from the review of the cost. Of the money EDF is putting on the average

bill, ?49, ?24 come from higher transmission cost. ?10 from

installing smart meters. ?8 for discounts for vulnerable families

and VAT. ?6 for supporting renewables. And only ?1 from higher

energy costs. The sting in the tale is that cost of installing

insulation and energy efficient boilers. The focus of the

suppliers' attacks after Labour promised it would freeze prices. The

company says it is up to the Government to act and pay for green

measures out of normal taxation. Let's get to each and every element

of that bill and see how it could be minimised, what should be paid for

in the way that it is what should be paid for differently, and let's get

that in place rather than doing an accusation and counterclaim, the

kind of lunch and Judy that we have seen so much of the last few weeks.

People are pretty fed up, and if they want to avoid the reputational

damage that we saw for the banking industry, and I still think they

can, they need to work with us, to be on the side of the consumer. As

prices escalate, energy companies have managed to divert some of the

flak. Now the Chancellor will be under pressure to do something in

his Autumn statement in a few weeks. Our political correspondent Norman

Smith is at the energy conference in Central London. The key here is that

EDF are turning the pressure back on the government. They are playing

political hardball, throwing down the gauntlet to the Government and

saying, if you get some of these nasty green bits and bobs that you

insist we put in the bills and we can keep price rises down. But woe

betide you if you don't do that, we will have to do the same as every

other big energy company and include a much bigger price rise. So they

are trying to turn the tables in the energy debate and say it is

government policy driving much of these big price hikes. They are

trying to crank up the pressure on the Chancellor ahead of next

autumn's statement. All of the signs are that Mr Osborne may indeed do

that, and that may create the competitive pressure that forces

other companies to follow EDF's example. But the Government isn't

going to abandon these levies, it will simply pay for them

differently, from the pot marked general taxation, so what in time

may be better news for the average energy payer may not be great news

for the average taxpayer. Norman, thank you.

Inflation has dropped to its lowest level in more than a year. A fall in

the cost of transport, both fuel and air fares, means it plummeted to

2.2% in October, down from 2.7% in September as measured by the

Consumer Prices Index. Our chief economics correspondent Hugh Pym is

here with the details. It was expected to fall, but not by so

much. Indeed, Sophie. Analysts were caught by surprise. They have been

recalculated, because some important constituents exerted more downward

pressure than they thought. Let's take a look at some of the details.

First of all, transport costs were down 1.5%, a whole range of fares

and so on, but it also includes motoring costs will . Petrol was

down 4.9 p in the month. Another factor was education costs, student

fees and so on. That looks pretty sharp increase for the month, all to

do with higher tuition fees, but the increase wasn't nearly as big as

last year. But it is important to remember that inflation is still

running at three times the rate of the average pay rise.

And people will be wondering whether it has any impact on interest rates.

It certainly gives the Bank of England breathing space, and means

that it is less likely that interest rates will go up sooner rather than

later. The key thing for the Bank of England is unemployment. They have

said they won't even think about increasing interest rates until

unemployment comes down to 7% of the workforce. It is currently 7.7%.

Hugh Pym, thank you very much. The Home Office has confirmed that

the Government is considering if it is able to make terror suspects

stateless by stripping them of their British citizenship.

Ministers hope the move, which would apply to foreign nationals who

settled in the UK, would make it easier to deport people deemed a

security risk. How do you encourage more women to

breast-feed their babies? Well, some new mothers are to be offered up to

?200 in shopping vouchers to see if that works. The pilot scheme is

taking place in parts of Derbyshire and South Yorkshire, where the rates

of breast-feeding are low. If the scheme proves successful, it could

be rolled out nationwide next year. Here's our health correspondent Jane

Dreaper. New mothers are told breast is best

for their baby's health, but breast-feeding rates remain very low

in some part of the UK, with babies in well-off areas for times more

likely to have breastmilk. Researchers think that offering

shopping vouchers could hold the key to persuading women to breast-feed.

This early stage of the study begins today. It would involve up to 132

mothers. If they breast-feed for six months, they will get shopping

vouchers worth 200 towns in five stages. The midwives or health

visitors will fill out a form. The initial reaction is, you can't do

that. But once people start thinking about it and realising the

importance of breast-feeding to babies, mothers and society, and the

fact that the UK has one of the worst breast-feeding rates in the

world, they will think, let's give this a try. But in Sheffield, the

city where the research is based, some mothers are questioning whether

vouchers are the right way forward. You're already saving money if you

breast-feed anyway because you don't have to buy the formula. So there is

already a financial incentive. I think it is much more important to

give people support. The people I know who didn't breast-feed, it

wouldn't work, and it is kind of insulting to them because they did

want to breast-feed and they couldn't. Breast-feeding helps tops

babies from getting infections and other health problems, but it is not

always straightforward. There are a small number of mums who will have

difficulty breast-feeding, and if you offer vouchers, they will feel

disadvantaged by that because they will not be able to take it up. If

the researchers Sheffield managed to dramatically improve rest feeding

rates in deprived areas, this would lead to a debate about offering

vouchers more widely. But the results won't be clear for

at least another two years. Back to our main story - the

aftermath of the devastating typhoon in the Philippines. Britain is

deploying a Royal Navy warship and donating ?10 million to help the

millions of people affected by the disaster. Volunteers at the Red

Cross centre near Bristol are preparing to send emergency supplies

to the Philippines. Our correspondent Jon Kay is there.

The blankets, the rice, the water. Those kinds of things that people in

the Philippines needs are not coming from here. That sort of stuff is

stored by charities all over the world. The hope is that that can get

there sooner. The stuff leaving today is stuff like this, giant

inflatable tents. This warehouse has been sending out hardware, the kind

of things that rescue teams and aid workers need to build bases and do

their work on the ground. When we got here this morning, this whole

area was full of stuff, but in the last hour or so, the first

consignment has gone. The start of a 7000 mile journey.

From the Red Cross warehouse in Bristol to the Philippines. That is

the stuff that will get there today, with the generator. This kit is

heading for emergency teams on the grounds that they can build rescue

centres and coordinate the aid effort. Inflatable tents for the

teams, takes about eight minutes to inflate them, gives a safe working

environment. We are sending to generators to run communications,

computers, satellites, printers and so on. And in here we have the

food, high energy, and it will hopefully keep the team sustained

for the time that they are working in the operation. Long hours,

difficult job? They work about 18 hours a day. ?25 will buy what water

purification tablets for ten families from on. Tonight, this

Advent -- advert will be screened by the disaster committee. People can

give items in kind, and that will be shipped across, but that might be

too late. Money can get there quicker, and we can buy food and

medicines locally. From Cornwall, this charity is sending practical

help. In each box there is a shelter and essentials for one family. But

getting it to those who need it would be easy. The roads are blocked

and communications down. We hear that petrol is now being rationed.

So there will be huge challenges over those last few miles to get

that aid to the people who need it. Back at the Red Cross, the first

consignment is loaded up and almost ready to go. Next stop, Stansted

Airport, which should we in the Philippines by Thursday.

The first load has left this depot, but staff expect there will be more

to go. They say they are ready and willing, able to help the Sims the

next call comes through. Jon, thank you. The Disasters

Emergency Committee launches its appeal campaign this evening. If

you'd like to contribute to the aid effort, you can call the DEC.

Time for a look at the weather. Here's Elizabeth Saary.

Good afternoon. The beautiful weather that we will see this

afternoon is not going to last. Overnight tonight, high-pressure

moving in, giving us quiet conditions and also some frost and

fog. Wet and windy conditions coming to many of us by Thursday. But here

is what we have for the moment. Some sunshine in merging across many

parts of the UK, but quieter across the north and west of Scotland. They

could be some snow above the higher ground. For the rest of us, with

that ridge of high pressure across us, a fairly quiet night. A little

foggy in places, but it will also be very cold. These are the values in

towns and cities, but in the countryside, it could be down to

freezing or a touch below. A cold and frosty start, potentially a

little fog around across southern parts of the UK come the morning.

Light winds, and of the sunshine gets to work, it will clear a way

that mist and fog rapidly. As we had our way northwards, a little more

cloud coming into Northern Ireland and across the north-west of

Scotland. This is heralding the arrival of that weather system.

Cloud will continue to pile in across the north and west of the UK.

The wind will become stronger and stronger, gale force across the

north-west. Elsewhere, it will remain dry, thickening cloud across

northern England and Wales. Across the South and East, Tim ages should

eventually reached 10 Celsius, but feeling chilly if you are in the

north in the West. Overnight Wednesday night, that rain comes

southwards, so by the Earth Day, we are all into those strong

north-westerly winds. So although temperatures will reach double

figures once again in the south, it will feel colder than that. We still

have a chilly wind on Friday, and could once again see some mist and

fog problems. More chilly nights to come as we head towards the weekend.

At half past one, a reminder of our main story this lunchtime. Millions

of people in desperate need of help in the Philippines amid warnings the

devastation could be as bad as the Boxing Day Tsunami. The United

Nations appeals for nearly ?200 million to help the victims of the

devastating typhoon. Much more on this story throughout the day on the

BBC News Channel. That's all from the News at One this lunchtime, so

it's goodbye from