ROME - The World Food Programme said Tuesday it was providing helicopters and dinghies to help get food to hundreds of thousands of people stranded following violent storms and flooding in the Philippines.

"Many needy people live in areas that still remain inaccessible because of the widespread flooding," WFP's director in the Philippines Stephen Anderson said in a statement from the UN agency's Rome headquarters.

The first seven of 30 inflatable boats requested by the Philippine government arrived Tuesday in Manila, the statement said, adding that the first two of three requested helicopters were set to arrive Wednesday.

WFP is providing some 10,000 tonnes of food but estimates the need at some 26,000.

The UN agency's assistance totals some 26 million dollars (17.6 million euros), about one-third of the 74 million dollars requested by the United Nations in an appeal launched Tuesday in Geneva.

"We are today launching a flash appeal for six months for 74 million dollars to bring assistance to one million people following the typhoons that struck the Philippines," Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the UN's humanitarian coordination office (OCHA), had told journalists in the Swiss city.

The move followed a meeting with representatives of donor nations.

About one third of the overall appeal covers food and other relief from the WFP.

"WFP is continuing to expand food assistance to help one million people over the next three months," said spokeswoman Emilia Casella.

At least 16 hospitals, as well as rural and community health centres, were damaged, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned that cases of diarrhoea and skin ailments had been recorded, raising fears about epidemics.

WHO spokesman Paul Garwood said the risk was heightened by the damage to water and sanitation systems, especially within areas where health facilities were out of action.

"There are fears of outbreaks of communicable diseases, as yet there have been no reported major outbreaks," he added.

Some 4,000 homes were destroyed by the combined blow from Typhoon Parma over the weekend and tropical storm Ketsana on September 26, according to the UN's humanitarian coordination office.

About 400,000 people around Manila have fled to emergency shelters and cannot return to their homes until floodwaters subside, and UN agencies are warning of the threat of waterborne diseases.

Relief agencies reported that flood victims were wading through neck high water to collect emergency food rations, with more torrential rain forecast as typhoon Parma lingered off the coast of the Philippines.

The storms and flooding, which left at least 300 people dead, have also destroyed about 117 million dollars in crops including rice, according to government estimates quoted by OCHA.

OCHA said typhoon Parma was gathering strength off the coast and bringing fresh torrential rains that could trigger more floods and landslides.