Two weeks after Typhoon Haiyan flattened much of this city with a tsunamilike storm surge and winds approaching tornado strength, bodies like Athena’s are showing up regularly as work crews begin to dismantle and remove the head-high piles of debris that line every large road, clog alleys and fill shattered houses and empty lots. In just an hour of work by a team clearing an alley down the block from the chapel on Saturday, three more bodies were uncovered.

Image The nation faces a huge cleanup and a public health crisis. Credit... The New York Times

The Philippine government said on Sunday morning that the death toll was 5,235, with 1,613 still missing and 23,501 injured.

Mayor Alfred S. Romualdez of Tacloban said in an interview at City Hall on Saturday that according to the latest estimate, it would take three months to clear the city of debris. More trucks and heavy equipment are needed, partly because the nearest landfill available is a round trip of 16 miles along crowded roads.

Work crews give priority to debris piles emitting the distinctive odor of rotting bodies.

International organizations and nonprofit groups are trying to create jobs for destitute residents here by paying them to help with the cleanup. The United Nations Development Program is creating 40,000 15-day jobs for people to restore neighborhoods to their previous appearance, said Stanislav Saling, a spokesman for the group.

Along with the death is new life. The Philippines has one of Asia’s highest birthrates, and the typhoon prompted an extra spate of deliveries, some of them premature, according to foreign doctors performing relief work here.