That is not entirely correct. Within hours of the aftermath of the typhoon, many agencies were in the process or had advance teams on the ground. Some were also delivering aid within hours, often at the risk of their lives. Furthermore many countries do not want any foreign military or government organizations in their country and will turn down assistance. Case in point, this typhoon is the first in recent months that the Philippine government has accepted UN humanitarian assistance

Orla Fagan, the public information officer at the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Philippines spoke with the Wall Street Journal about how the U.N. begins responding to disasters and how no amount of preparedness could have saved some parts of the country from such massive destruction.

WSJ: When a natural disaster of this scale hits a country, how do humanitarian organizations begin responding?

Ms. Fagan: When there is something this massive and this big, we’re guests of the government in the country. So we offer assistance and then the government welcomes the assistance or they don’t take the assistance. Since the 10th of August, this is the fourth typhoon [to hit the Philippines] and this is the first typhoon where they have welcomed the offer of assistance.

Military response teams are initially effective and provide needed heavy lift (air and sea) capability and muscle. However this is usually not long term and it is left up to the NGO's to keep the assistance going, often for months and years after the crisis is no longer in the daily news.