A United Nations official is appealing for more than $28 million in relief aid for the Philippines, saying the area devastated by massive flash floods looks like it was hit by a tsunami.

U.N. humanitarian coordinator Soe Nyunt-U is calling on the international community to supply funding for basic needs, such as clean drinking water, food and emergency shelters, to the hundreds of thousands of victims of the natural disaster in the southern Philippines.

The government says more than 1,000 people have died, and they expect the number to rise as rescuers continue to search for bodies.

The United Nations says hundreds of thousands of people are displaced in and around the hard-hit cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. Survivors are facing food and water shortages in overcrowded, makeshift evacuation centers on the island of Mindanao.

Cagayan de Oro resident Wilson Termacio is among those who lost their homes and were trying to salvage what was left of their belongings. He expressed trepidation at what appeared to him to be an uncertain future.

“I don't know what to do anymore. I don't know how we can recover. Our home is gone.''

Soe says the United Nations is supporting the Philippine government-led clean up efforts. But he said the needs are “overwhelming.” After a two-day visit to the region earlier this week, he said entire areas were flattened in the the worst-affected cities and that only a few sturdy buildings remained.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino declared a state of calamity after a visit to the region on Tuesday.

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