Typhoon mudslides sweep 388 to their deaths in Philippines
By Maria Twink,WNS Philippines Correspondent
MANILA - At least 388 people have been confirmed dead and 96 others missing after rivers of mud and volcanic ash triggered by a typhoon swamped villages in the eastern Philippines. All the dead are in the eastern province of Albay in the Bicol region, Philippine National Red Cross spokeswoman Teresa Arguelles said Friday. She added that she expected the figure to go up as rescuers reach places isolated by heavy rains and winds brought on by super-typhoon Durian. The mudslides triggered by Durian's torrential rains reached as high as rooftops as they poured down from Mount Mayon volcano, around 350 kilometres (217 miles) southeast of Manila, witnesses said. Rescue teams were hampered by blocked roads and swollen rivers as they tried to reach many of the villages dotted around the still-active volcano. Glenn Rabonza, the executive officer of the national disaster coordinating council, said rescuers were concentrating their efforts on saving lives.
Elsewhere in the Philippines, at least one person was killed in the town of Canaman after being hit by a piece of metal roofing blown off by gale force winds, the civil defence office added. Roel Ilarena, a resident of Padang village near Mayon, said as many as 500 people may have been killed when the mudflow struck overnight. Officials could not confirm his story. Rescue efforts Friday were being hampered by storm damage, which knocked out electricity, telephone lines and water supply across much of the Bicol peninsula that includes Legaspi and Daraga. Legaspi City's airport was shut down as debris littered the runway. Windows and part of the roof of the terminal were destroyed by the storm. A power outage also knocked out the control tower. Forty military rescuers were flown out from the capital to the Mayon area by helicopter. A C-130 transport plane, loaded with equipment and rescuers, is due to fly out to the area at first light Saturday. Rescue personnel plan to bring special search dogs trained to find buried bodies. In a meeting with disaster relief officials, President Gloria Arroyo called on the military to help in any way with the relief efforts. Around 30,000 residents of villages on the slopes of Mayon had been forced to evacuate in August when the volcano showed signs of erupting. They returned home in September after it simmered down. The civil defence office said more than 13,900 people had been evacuated in the Bicol region due to the storm. The Public Works Department put initial estimates of damage to infrastructure in Bicol at one billion pesos (20.04 million dollars.) Large parts of Legaspi City were flooded, the civil defence office said, making it difficult to reach the areas hit by the mudslides. Durian had weakened as it passed near Bicol late Thursday, packing maximum winds of 150 kilometres (93 miles) per hour. It was charted at about 5:00 pm (0900 GMT) Friday 235 kilometres (145 miles) west of Manila.
Storm alerts were lowered in most of the country as Durian continued moving west at 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) per hour into the South China Sea. The Philippines is still recovering from the impact of typhoon Cimaron, the strongest cyclone to hit the nation in more than 10 years, which left 38 dead or missing in late October. In September, Manila was hit by typhoon Xangsane, which caused widespread damage and cut off electricity in many parts of the capital for days. By the time Xangsane left the Philippines there were more than 200 people dead and a damage bill running into the millions of dollars.
posted by wnsworld @ 7:20 PM
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