A Scottish aid worker is flying to the Philippines as part of an emergency relief operation to the islands devastated by Typhoon Haiyan.

Katy Martin, 31, from Paisley, Renfrewshire, is one of four specially trained Red Cross staff sent to the region where it is feared thousands have died.

The senior community fundraiser for the Red Cross in Scotland was put on standby for the mission on Saturday afternoon and is due to fly out.

On arrival her team will organise and run an aid distribution warehouse on the island of Cebu.

Speaking before her departure she said: "The conditions in the Philippines are dreadful but we won't know exactly what we're facing till we get there. We don't even know what sort of accommodation we'll have so we're taking tents and camping equipment with us.

"The scale of the devastation caused by the typhoon is massive and it's absolutely vital that the people get the aid they need as quickly as possible.

"This is my first international duty so I'm quite apprehensive. But this is what I've trained for and I just want to do everything I can to help the people of the Philippines."

Haiyan hit the eastern seaboard of the Philippine archipelago on Friday, moving across its central islands before exiting into the South China Sea.

Winds of 147 miles per hour that gusted to 170 mph, and a storm surge that caused sea waters to rise 20 feet, caused catastrophic damage.

As many as 10,000 people are thought to have died in Tacloban, the capital of the hardest-hit Leyte province, alone.

The region regularly contends with earthquakes, volcanoes and tropical cyclones but Haiyan appears to be the deadliest natural disaster on record.

The British Red Cross has launched an appeal to help with the aid operation.