By DPA,
Little Kibungan (Philippines) : Philippine authorities Monday rushed relief to northern provinces devastated by landslides and floods as the typhoon disaster death toll reached at least 321.
Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said the government was shifting its efforts to the hard-hit northern provinces of Pangasinan, La Union and Benguet.
Dozens of villages remained underwater in Pangasinan and La Union, forcing authorities to look for alternative ways to send them relief goods.
“The air drop of food packs was very effective in the relief operations,” Teodoro said. “If non-rubber boat type of seacraft can reach the other flooded provinces, we will try it.”
Roads blocked by thick mud, boulders and gushing floodwaters were slowly being cleared by backhoes and bulldozers to allow relief teams to pass through.
Police officers, soldiers and rescue volunteers also took advantage of the good weather to search for more missing people in the deluge.
“More people are arriving to look for their missing relatives,” said a police officer who identified himself only as Date, in Little Kibungan village in Benguet province, 210 km north of Manila.
“We don’t know if we will ever find the missing now,” he added, noting that it was not clear how many more were unaccounted for.
Authorities said 174 people were killed in dozens of landslides in Benguet.
In Little Kibungan, an entire community was almost wiped out when a mountainside caved in due to days of heavy rains, burying dozens of houses. Only six people have been rescued alive in the area since the deluge last Thursday.
A backhoe Monday continued to scoop out thick mud in hopes of finding the bodies of an undetermined number of missing residents.
Arnold Anablun, 14, has been waiting at the village for the past four days now for rescuers to find the body of his missing father.
“I don’t know if they would still find him,” he said, sitting on top of a mound of mud littered with books, slippers, shoes, stuffed toys and clothes. “But I want to be here if ever they do.”
Anablun’s mother and four other siblings are staying in an evacuation centre.
Leo Abalos, a leader of the village disaster relief team, guided teams digging in the area to help them pinpoint possible sites where dead bodies could be found.
When asked when the search and retrieval operations would end, he said, “How can we stop? Look at this boy, he has been here everyday to search for his father. We have to help them.”
Little relief had arrived in the affected areas in Benguet and the adjacent mountain resort city of Baguio, as roads leading to the province were only cleared Sunday evening.
Huge boulders, mud and water damaged three highways going up to Baguio City. One highway was cleared overnight, allowing light vehicles to pass but the road remained treacherous and slippery.
Thousands of residents began their exodus out of the city late Sunday.
“There’s no more food and fuel supplies in Baguio,” said one man, who packed his family and some relatives in a small sedan. “We decided to just go down to our relatives in Manila.”
Some petrol stations had run out of fuel to sell, while those with supplies were forced to ration diesel and gasoline. Basic commodities were also running out, according to local officials.
Dozens of landslides also occurred in Baguio city, killing 54 people. In the district of Bokawkaw, a boarding house was one of those buried in the landslide and an undetermined more were missing.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council said typhoon Parma, which slammed into the northern Philippines Oct 8, has caused damage to infrastructure and agriculture worth an estimated 5.08 billion pesos ($11 million).
One week earlier, storm Ketsana dumped more than one month’s worth of rain in Manila and outlying areas, causing the worst floods in over 40 years.
At least 337 people were killed in Ketsana’s onslaught, with 37 still missing and feared dead. More than 4 million were affected by the devastation, while nearly 100,000 people were still staying in evacuation centres, raising concerns over health and sanitation.
Ketsana’s damage to infrastructure and property was estimated at 10.45 billion pesos.
International aid has continued to pour in for the Philippines, with assistance reaching $94.7 million.
John Holmes, UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, arrived in Manila Monday to review the emergency response to Ketsana and Parma.