SALT LAKE CITY — Utahns who are on the ground in the Philippines say relief is not getting to the people who need it quickly enough. One organization is trying to speed things up.

Craig Weston is the head of international operations with CharityVision International. It specializes in helping people with vision problems in needy countries get the treatment they normally wouldn't. He was already on his way to the Philippines when the typhoon hit.

After seeing the devastation, Weston originally thought there was no way he could help. The need for aid was bigger than anything his group could handle. Families there lost everything they had. They lost homes, possessions and even loved ones. Now, they're starting to lose hope.

"The locals feel like help isn't coming," Weston said. "They're panicking and that's where the violence and other things are happening."

Weston said his group has reached out to about a dozen doctors with ties to the Philippines and they will be going to the city of Ormoc.

There, they will be performing triage for people with injuries from the storm that haven't been treated yet. He said people are walking around the area hurt, almost like zombies.

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Close your eyes and hold your breath, and you could imagine you are in a normal sports stadium. You hear a ball bouncing and the children's cheers echoing under the cavernous dome.

"They're walking around. They're hungry. They haven't been eating. They're probably drinking water that is not purified," he said.

He said news reports may make it appear that large charitable organizations are getting a handle on the relief effort, but they're not. However, he said a few hundred local residents have started helping organize their relief effort.

They'll be using an LDS stake center as their base of operations.

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