DPA/Manila

Crews communicated mainly through hand signals as the roar of the choppers and aircraft taking off and landing made it impossible to hear each other.

For the past week, the aircraft carrier was the hub of the US’ massive operation to assist relief efforts in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan devastated a wide area in the eastern islands of Leyte and Samar.

The carrier directed more than 50 helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and support ships since it arrived six days after Haiyan struck, sailing from a port call in Hong Kong.

“The US and the Philippines are close partners and allies so it shouldn’t be surprising that we’re here for our allies and partners as soon as we could be,” said Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery.

“We are a present force here in the Western Pacific ... so we had 10 ships here in just three or four days after the typhoon,” he added.

While Montgomery stressed that the effort was purely humanitarian and that the US was just one of dozens of foreign militaries helping in the relief operation, the deployment has also scored a diplomatic victory for the US in its bid to re-assert its influence in Asia.

“The US has proven to the world that it is a responsible Pacific power,” said Rommel Banlaoi, chairman and executive director of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research based in Manila.

Banlaoi said the US humanitarian effort in the aftermath of Haiyan was a strong message that the US goal to play a bigger role in the Asia-Pacific region was not confined to military power but also other areas such as disaster relief.

“This is the kind of pivot that we want to have as far as the US is concerned,” he added. The status of the US as a regional power was magnified by China’s minimal participation in the multinational force that helped the Philippines, said political analyst Ben Lim.

“The relief and all-out efforts exerted by the Americans was actually a symbolic air-sea battle with China to win influence over the Philippines,” he said.

While the slow response of China could be attributed to an attempt to assess how best it could help out, the opportunity paved the way for the US to show that it was the bigger brother in Asia, Lim said.

“The Americans took advantage to win the battle,” he added.

Banlaoi agreed that China has lost “the soft power rivalry among major powers” with its lukewarm response in time of distress, but said that Beijing could recover “by making up not only with the Philippines but also with other countries in the region.”

China has been locked in diplomatic spats with the Philippines and Japan over rival claims to territories in the South China Sea, a key shipping lane in Asia and believed to be rich in mineral and marine resources.

 The dispute has forced the Philippines to turn to the US to prop up its ill-equipped military, unable to secure its coastline.

Before Haiyan struck, negotiations between Manila and Washington to allow greater access to US forces to Philippine military camps stalled after the US insisted on exclusive access to a facility it planned to build in a western province.

 Banlaoi said the US response to the typhoon would have “tremendous influence on the Philippines to rethink its position when it comes to the US increased rotational presence.”

 “I think the Philippine government will be more accepting of the idea,” he added. Clarita Carlos, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines and a former president of the National Defence Colleges of the Philippines, said the US assistance showed the primacy of its logistics.

 “They are really showing how efficient operations for disaster management should be done,” she said.

“I have no doubt that their volunteerism is not anything fake. It really comes from the heart.”

 The political implications are lost on the thousands of US personnel helping in the operation. For air warfare systems operator Jeff Gill, the deployment has been an emotional high of his tour of duty.

 “I am very happy and proud of this relief operation,” he said after a day of delivering supplies to remote areas by helicopter.

Gill said survivors of the typhoon have been rushing to the US choppers. In one of the aid drops, he had to push people away from the helicopter to keep them safe from the blades.