Areas hit by typhoon experience widespread looting.

By Andrew RC Marshall and Stuart Grudgings

TACLOBAN, Philippines, 13 Nov (Reuters) - Despair gripped the Philippine islands devastated by Typhoon Haiyan on Wednesday, as looting spread and survivors panicked due to lack of water, food, and medicine. Some even dug up pipes in search of water.

Five days after one of the worst storms on record hit towns and villages in the central Philippines, anger and frustration were simmering on Wednesday as essential supplies dwindled. Some survivors scribbled signs pleading: "Help us."

A controversy also arose regarding the death toll. President Benigno Aquino said that local authorities exaggerated the number of deaths and that the correct total was between 2 and 2,5, not the previously estimated 10. His comments, however, were met with skepticism by humanitarian teams.

Some areas seem almost plunged into anarchy, amidst the indiscriminate looting of warehouses containing food, water, and other supplies.

There are reports of an exchange of gunfire between security forces and armed men near a mass grave in Tacloban, the worst-affected town in Leyte province, but the local mayor, Tecson John Lim, denied the confrontation, citing reports he received from the Army.

Eight people were crushed to death when looters stormed a rice storage facility at a government warehouse in the city of Alangalang, causing a wall to collapse, according to local authorities.

Still, other looters managed to take 33 sacks of rice weighing 50 kilograms each, said Orlan Calayang, administrator of the state grain agency, the National Food Authority.

Warehouses belonging to the food and beverage company Universal Robina Corp and the pharmaceutical company United Laboratories were looted in the city of Palo, Leyte, as well as a rice processing plant in Jaro, according to the director of the Leyte Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Alfred Li.

The mayor of Tacloban, Tecson John Lim, declared that 90 percent of this coastal city of 220 inhabitants was destroyed, and only 20 percent of the residents are receiving aid. Homes are now being looted because the warehouses have been emptied, he said.

"Looting is not crime. It's self-preservation," he told Reuters.

Some survivors in Tacloban dug until they reached the plumbing, desperate to find water.

"We don't know if it's safe. We need to boil it. But at least we have something," said Christopher Dorano, 38. "Many people have died here."

Resident Rachel Garduce said the aid—3 kilograms of rice and 1 liter of water per household per day—was not enough in her devastated neighborhood. Her aunt in Manila, 580 kilometers further north, was traveling by train and ferry to bring her supplies. "We hope she won't be kidnapped," she said.

Secretary Mar Roxas denied that law and order had collapsed. "It's wrong to say that this is a lawless city," he told reporters. The government was overwhelmed by the force of the typhoon, which devastated large areas of Leyte province, where local authorities say they fear 10 people have died, many drowned in the immense avalanche of seawater, similar to a tsunami.

On the defensive regarding his reaction to the disaster, Aquino stated that the government is still gathering information from various areas affected by the storm, and the death toll could rise. "Ten thousand, I think that's an exaggeration," Aquino told CNN in an interview. "There was emotional drama because of that specific estimate."

On Wednesday, authorities confirmed 2.275 deaths and only 84 missing, a number that relief workers consider incorrect. "At this moment, it's definitely not 10," said Cabinet Secretary René Almendras in a press interview. "There's a count based on bodies in the streets, but we can't be precise because there are still, some people say, people buried in some areas."

Some members of the aid teams expressed skepticism about Aquino's estimate.