DISASTER RESPONSE / DEATH TOLL NOW AT 823
[PHOTO - Washed out: Police approach a
distraught resident following a flash flood that inundated Cagayan de Oro City,
killing scores of people. Mayor Lawrence Cruz of nearby Iligan said the Coast
Guard and other rescuers were scouring the waters off his coastal city for
survivors or bodies that may have been swept to the sea by a swollen river.
AP]
MANILA, DECEMBER 20, 2011 (STANDARD) by Maricel
Cruz - THE Palace on Sunday said President Benigno Aquino III would visit the
flood-stricken areas of Mindanao, but offered no details as the Chief Executive
drew flak for being slow to act on yet another natural disaster.
"The President will visit the flood-stricken areas. We just cannot give the
details now," deputy presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte said.
"The President just wants to make sure national agencies already have
coordinated responses before he visits."
Vice President Jejomar Binay was in Cagayan de Oro Sunday morning handing out
relief at two evacuation centers.
Valte said the Palace would defer investigating which agencies were remiss in
warning residents in the areas devastated by tropical storm Sendong as the death
toll climbed to more than 650 on Sunday.
"At this point, we should not focus yet on accountability," Valte said.
"That can be determined later. We should [be] giving help first."
Valte said there were "conflicting reports on the ground" as to any timely
warnings from the state-run weather bureau.
"We were told they were able to sound the alarm, but the people did not heed
it because they did not want to leave their properties," Valte said.
She said the government would welcome any foreign aid to boost the
rehabilitation process and help the affected families.
But opposition lawmakers on Sunday slammed President Aquino for calling for a
review of the government's disaster-response manual in the face of the high
death toll and damage caused by the tropical storm.
Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay said a review should have been done long
ago,.
Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez said the President gave instructions for the
government agencies to make the necessary preparations only on Saturday, when
the storm had already taken its toll in Mindanao.
Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Vicente Emano said they were not warned about
Sendong's strength, which tore through his city and Iligan on Saturday.
In October, the President came under fire for convening the National Disaster
Council five days after typhoon Pedring battered Luzon and left Bulacan, Nueva
Ecija, Pampanga and Pangasinan submerged in floodwaters. At the time, Valte also
sought to deflect criticism that Mr. Aquino was slow to respond to the damage
left by the typhoon.
"The President does not want to immediately visit the typhoon-struck areas
because he does not want to become the focus or the center of attraction when he
visits," Valte had said. With Joyce Pangco Pañares, John
Anthony Concepcion
FROM THE TRIBUNE
Decomposing bodies pile up; casualties hit 823
12/20/2011
As the body count rose to 823 late yesterday, authorities expect that
the casualties from flash floods that devastated two port cities in Mindanao
spawned by Typhoon Sendong will continue to pile up in the coming days as
officials said more are missing than reported since entire families were
believed swept to sea as they slept in coastal slums.
Towns in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities which were worst hit by the
devastation prepared mass burials for decomposing bodies with authorities saying
unclaimed cadavers piling up in mortuaries were posing health risks and had to
be buried.
Several television footage showed decomposing bodies lined up in different
centers where the dead were delivered for identification, underlining the
serious tragedy that some of the survivors compared to the recent tsunami that
hit parts of northern Japan last March. One footage from an Iligan mortuary
showed a
corridor lined with bodies wrapped in white plastic bags bound with
tan-colored packaging tape.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported
Monday afternoon that bodies of 823victims were thus far recovered.
NDRRMC executive director Benito Ramos said most of the fatalities were from
Region 10. He said many of the bodies found were already decomposing.
Ramos added his agency had lost count of the number of missing people. He
called to the public for donations of food, clothing and blankets for people now
staying in temporary shelters.
Burials were expected to take place starting Tuesday, local officials said.
The disaster area is normally bypassed by typhoons that ravage other parts of
the country every year.
Teresita Badiang, an engineer at the Iligan mayor's office, said the city had
begun constructing two concrete communal tombs where cadavers would be placed
side by side "so that their burial will be dignified."
The disaster council said at least 227 people died in Iligan.
In Cagayan de Oro, where the disaster council placed the death toll at 336,
Mayor Vicente Emano said a mass burial would be held within the week but aides
said the exact location had not been finalised.
Dr Jaime Bernadas, the department of health's director for the region, said
cadavers were still being processed prior to "temporary burial" in the city.
Health officials were taking DNA samples and photographs of victims. "We are
giving time for relatives to claim (the bodies)," he said.
About 47,000 evacuees are now huddled in evacuation centres in Washi's wake,
mostly in the northern coast of Mindanao, a vast poverty-stricken island
troubled for decades by a Muslim separatist insurgency.
Dr Eric Tayag, head of the national epidemiology center and Department of
Health (DoH) spokesman, said the government was taking steps to prevent
outbreaks of cholera, dysentery, dengue and respiratory problems particularly in
congested evacuation centres.
"Around 10 days after this flooding there might be an epidemic of water-borne
diseases," Tayag warned on television.
Philippine Red Cross chief Gwendolyn Pang said strict guidelines had to be
followed in mass burials, including photographing corpses, listing identifying
marks and laying them a meter apart for possible exhumation. "I'm sure their
families will look for them," she said.
President Aquino is set to visit the stricken zone today after ordering a
review of the country's disaster defenses.
Ramos, the government's disaster agency chief, said most of the victims were
"informal settlers" — a term typically used for slum squatters who are often
unregistered by authorities.
Authorities likened tropical storm Sendong to Ondoy, one of the country's
most devastating storms which dumped huge amounts of rain on Manila and other
parts of the country in 2009, killing more than 460 people.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM), for its part, vowed the
fast-track release of P1.297 billion calamity fund to help victims of the
tropical storm that ravaged Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and several areas in
Mindanao.
Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad said "the government is
generously equipped to mobilize and support disaster relief efforts in Cagayan
de Oro, Iligan, and other Sendong-affected areas."
"We are ensuring the quick release of these funds so that victims will
receive swift and proper assistance," he said.
Abad also said that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD),
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of National Defense
(DND), and the Department of Education (DepEd) "are also adequately supported by
separate Quick Response Funds (QRFs), which will guarantee direct and immediate
support to Sendong-stricken areas."
"In addition to the Calamity Fund and the QRFs, we also have the Local
Government Support Fund shares of all affected local government units, for whom
President Aquino will provide Special Allotment Release Orders (SAROs) and
Notices of Allocation (NCAs) tomorrow," he said.
Abad said "if additional disaster-response funds are required, the
Administration has sufficient reserves to augment the Calamity Fund and QRFs to
expedite relief operations to all affected areas and communities."
Relatively, Abad said that for next year the calamity fund was increased by
P2.5 billion to P7.5 billion relative to this year's budget.
The governments of France , United Kingdom and Japan joined the growing
international outpouring of support and sympathies for the victims and survivors
of the deadly storm that battered Mindanao and some part of Visayas over the
weekend and feared to have killed at least 1,000 people.
Philippine government officials on Monday said the death toll is nearing 700
as more bodies are being retrieved two days after tropical storm Sendong dumped
heavy rains Friday to Saturday, causing rivers to overflow that inundated many
villages and destroyed vital infrastructures.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in a letter to President Aquino, expressed
his "deep sympathy and sincerest condolences for the many victims of this
catastrophe."
"My thoughts are also with the families of those persons who are still
missing. I would be grateful if you could convey to them the solidarity of
France with the Philippines during this trying time," Sarkozy said.
Britain's Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne, for his part, said "the loss
of life caused by flooding in the Philippines is tragic."
Browne, who visited the Philippines earlier this month, said he knows "how
keenly this loss will be felt by all its people."
"I would like to express my sincere condolences to the families and friends
of those affected. My thoughts are with them and the government of the
Philippines as they lead the recovery work," Browne said.
Japanese Foreign Minisyer Koichiro Gemba sent a message to his counterpart,
Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert Del Rosario to express "his heartfelt
sympathy to the loss of many lives and serious damage" caused by storm and
offered to help the country in its disaster relief operations.
He noted " Japan will spare no effort in providing necessary assistance and
cooperation for rehabilitation of affected people and areas."
Gemba said he hopes for "the speedy alleviation of the suffering of the
affected people as well as for the full restoration in the areas damaged by this
calamity."
Earlier, the United States and China extended their condolences and pledged
assistance to Manila 's relief efforts.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also sent a 15-man team on a
weeklong assignment to Cagayan de Oro and Iligan to help identify bodies through
photographs, fingerprints, dental records and DNA tests on tissue samples.
An NBI Disaster Victim Identification team based in Cagayan de Oro has
already identified 203 out of 249 bodies recovered in Cagayan de Oro, as of Dec.
18, 6 p.m.
"We have to identify first the bodies. We might as well do it now because if
not, we might have to exhume them again," said NBI deputy director for technical
services Reynaldo Esmeralda said.
NBI-Medico-Legal team Division Chief Dr. Alvin David said he has sent a
15-man team belonging to the agency's Disaster Victim Identification Team (DVIT)
to help Cagayan De Oro authorities identify hundreds of corpses.
David explained that they will be conducting specimen harvesting test coming
from the bodies of the dead victim to get DNA samples coming from the bone, leg
muscles and liver tissue.
Members of the House of Representatives crossed partylines yesterday to help
victims of typhoon Sendong in Mindanao.
Led by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, the 285-strong Lower House came up with a
resolution that they would contribute P20,000 each from their salaries and
another P1-million each from their priority development assistance fund to help
the typhoon victims.
"The situation needs an immediate national response. We have decided to give
our all-out efforts, not just as an institution but as individuals," Belmonte
said in a press conference yesterday at the House media center.
The Speaker also revealed that like Cagayan Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and the
other lawmaker from the hard hit areas in Mindanao and the Visayas, he was in
touch with Aquino early the day after the catastrophe.
"The President is on top of the whole thing. He has mobilized the different
agencies of government to help the areas affected," Belmonte said as he
continued to coordinate with the various political parties in the House of
Representatives on ways to rebuild the areas affected.
The Speaker said that the cash donations will be distributed not only to
Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities but also to other areas hit by the storm and
the subsequent flooding that resulted in the death of hundreds of residents and
is still causing damage to private and public infrastructure.
Likewise, the Speaker said that in the long term, he is leading a move to
convince each member of the House to give P1-million each from their respective
Priority Development Assistance Funds reserved for hard projects to be used in
the rehabilitation of public infrastructure in the devastated areas.
Zambales Rep. Mitos Magsaysay was among the first to respond from the
opposition bloc in the House even as she urged Filipinos to mobilize themselves
into action and help the victims of typhoon Sendong.
"What happened was truly a tragedy especially this close to Christmas. My
prayers go out to those who have lost their homes and their loved ones in the
floods," she said as she expressed faith in the resilience of Filipinos and
their strength in times of disasters.
Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, for his part, urged the government to enroll those
who have lost homes to typhoon Sendong in its P40-billion Conditional Cash
Transfer program as it is the best source of long-term aid for the victims.
He said Sendong victims exceed the official definition of what a poor is that
would qualify them for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, CCT's official
name.They need not be identified via the DWSD's household targeting system.
Sen. Edgardo J. Angara expressed deep sympathy for the victims of the
devastation.
"We mourn with those who lost their loved ones in the floods and extend all
the help we can muster," said Angara who also lamented that "this isn't the
first time we faced such a tragedy. The costs are too high for us not to use
what we have learned from past experiences in better preparing ourselves for
future typhoons."
The Chair of the Congressional Commission on Science, Technology and
Engineering (COMSTE) noted reports that a joint weather monitoring mission
between the US and Japan predicted that 'Sendong' would usher heavy rains
similar to 'Ondoy' (International Name: Ketsana).
Analyzing satellite data gathered on 'Sendong,' the Tropical Rainfall
Measuring Mission (TRMM) of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) saw heavy rain falling
at around 50 mm per hour. Rains from 'Ondoy' fell on Metro Manila at 56.83 mm
per hour in September 2009.
In contrast, the national weather bureau Pagasaestimated only 10-25 mm per
hour of rainfall from 'Sendong'.
"Clearly, we still need to improve our disaster management and risk reduction
systems," said Angara. "Government must push for concerted effort not only in
improving our forecasting technologies but also in seeking the help of other
nations, whenever we lack the infrastructure and expertise."
Vice President Jejomar Binay also appealed for aid for victims of flashfloods
brought about by Typhoon Sendong in Cagayan de Oro (CDO) City and Iligan City.
Binay said any kind of relief assistance would greatly help the victims.
"Our kababayans in CDO and Iligan are in dire need of our help. Donations,
whether in cash or in kind, would go a long way towards easing their suffering,"
he said.
Binay said that Christmas is the season of giving and hoped that the spirit
of the holiday season "touch would touch generous hearts to help those in need."
He also asked for prayers for those who died in the floods.
The Vice President flew to CDO early yesterday morning and personally
distributed 2,880 bags of relief goods to Kagay-anons staying at the evacuation
centers in Macasandig, City Central Elementary School and West City Elementary
School.
He also went to funeral homes and extended cash assistance and his
condolences to families who lost their loved ones in the wake of the massive
floods.
Meanwhile, Binay ordered the Office of the Vice President distribute 5,000
bags of relief goods to victims in Iligan City; 5,000 to Dumaguete City; and
another 10,000 bags to CDO.
"The relief goods will be available on Dec. 22nd," Binay said. Gerry Baldo, Pat C. Santos, Michaela P. del Callar, AFP
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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