The U.S. military response to the Philippine typhoon has been substantial, as the Pentagon ordered the USS George Washington aircraft carrier group to the beleaguered islands.

The group, which carries with it 5,000 sailors and more than 80 aircraft, will aid in disaster relief in a country where it is estimated that as many as 10,000 people may have died and tens of thousands are now homeless.

These US sailors will join some 90 US Marines who arrived on the ground Saturday. That number will grow as a Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is generally comprised of some 2,200 Marines, may soon be in route to the region.

Haiyan, which has been designated a super typhoon, has potentially affected more than 4.2 million people across 36 provinces in the Philippines, according to the Pentagon.