The United Nations warned Monday of a quickly mounting death toll from the Philippines super typhoon with 10,000 feared killed in the worst-hit city of Tacloban alone.

The United Nations was "expecting the worst" over the final body count, one top U.N. humanitarian official said.

Meteorologists have yet to formally link global warming to typhoons like the one that devastated the Philippines, but they expect increasingly extreme weather phenomena due to a rise in ocean temperatures.

The trail of death and destruction left in the wake of Super Typhoon Haiyan was at the forefront of a new round of United Nations climate talks that opened Monday in Poland, as Philippine authorities warned some 10,000 people may have died.

The Philippine fishing town where one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded made landfall has been turned into a terrifying wasteland where armed men threaten to kill fellow survivors for food.

Guiuan, known for its beautiful beaches and rich colonial history, was where Super Typhoon Haiyan roared in from the Pacific Ocean with winds of 315 kilometers (195 miles) an hour on Friday.

U.S. marines on Monday joined a frantic effort to rescue famished survivors of a typhoon that may have killed 10,000 people in the Philippines, as the government declared a national emergency and security forces struggled to contain looting.

Three days after Super Typhoon Haiyan flattened entire towns across the central Philippines and left countless bodies scattered across wastelands, desperation was building with devastated communities devoid of food, water and medicines.

The Vatican on Monday announced it is donating $150,000 (112,000 euro) in emergency aid to the Philippines after Super Typhoon Haiyan devastated entire communities and left more than 10,000 people feared dead.

"Following the Haiyan Typhoon... the Holy Father has decided to send a first contribution of 150,000 dollars to help the population", the Vatican said in a statement.

The United States, Australia and the United Nations mobilized emergency aid to the Philippines as the scale of the devastation unleashed by Super Typhoon Haiyan emerged Monday.

The Pentagon sent Marines and equipment to assist with the relief effort following the typhoon, which may have killed more than 10,000 people in what is feared to be the country's worst natural disaster.

Emily Sagalis cried tears of joy after giving birth to a "miracle" girl in a typhoon-ravaged Philippine city, then named the baby after her mother who went missing in the storm.

The girl was born Monday in a destroyed airport compound that was turned into a makeshift medical center, with her bed a piece of dirty plywood resting amid dirt, broken glass, twisted metal, nails and other debris.

The United States, Australia and the United Nations are mobilizing emergency aid to the Philippines as the scale of the devastation unleashed by Super Typhoon Haiyan emerges.

The Pentagon is sending military personnel and equipment to assist with the relief effort following the typhoon, which may have killed more than 10,000 people in what is feared to be the country's worst natural disaster.

Pope Francis on Sunday asked Catholics to provide "concrete help" to the hundreds of thousands of people made homeless in the typhoon-ravaged Philippines, and to include them in their prayers.

More than 60,000 people joined the pope in his own prayer for the victims during his traditional Sunday mass in St Peter's Square, a day after he had tweeted his solidarity with the Catholic Asian nation.

China announced Sunday its highest alert for Typhoon Haiyan as six crew members of a cargo boat were reported missing.

The China Meteorological Administration hoisted the "red" signal, the highest in its four-tier warning system, as the typhoon brushed the southern island province of Hainan.