Earlier in the city, soldiers sat atop trucks distributing rice and water, and chainsaw-wielding teams cut debris from blocked roads, indications that relief operations were picking up steam, even as thousands swarmed the airport, desperate to leave.
The first nighttime flights - of C-130 transport planes - arrived since the typhoon struck, suggesting air control systems are now in place for a 24-7 operation - a prerequisite for the massive relief operation needed.
Food, water and medical supplies from the US, Malaysia and Singapore sat on pallets along the tarmac.
The UN's World Food Program distributed rice and other items to nearly 50,000 people in the Tacloban area on Wednesday. Nearly 10 tons of high-energy biscuits were also delivered to the city on Wednesday, with another 25 tons on the way.
Hundreds of injured people, pregnant women, children and the elderly have poured into a makeshift medical center at the ruined airport. The run-down, single-story building with filthy floors has little medicine, virtually no facilities and very few doctors.
Doctors who have been dealing with cuts, fractures and pregnancy' complications said on Wednesday they soon expect to be treating more serious problems such as pneumonia, dehydration, diarrhea and infections.
The medical woes add to the daunting tasks for authorities, including dealing with looters and clearing the bottlenecks holding up thousands of tons of aid material from coming in.
The disaster displaced 600,000 people. Many are living without shelter, hungry and thirsty, with their livelihoods destroyed. Much of the aid - and the staff needed to distribute it - remains stuck in Manila and the nearby airport of Cebu, a 45-minute flight away.
