New Bataan: Desperate families begged for food on Sunday as the storm returned to the north of the country.
Forecasters on Saturday said Typhoon Bopha will slam into the northern tip of the main island of Luzon early Sunday, packing gusts of up to 160 kilometres an hour (km/h), the state weather service said.
It was likely to bring heavy rainfall to the area, civil defence office director Benito Ramos told a news conference. “People there need to take precautions,” he added.
The eye of the cyclone was 230 kilometres west of the northern town of Sinait at 4pm and moving slowly northeast, the service said. Heavy to intense rainfall is expected within the typhoon’s 400-kilometre footprint, it added.
Bopha smashed into the east coast of the southern island of Mindanao with gusts of up to 210 km/h on Tuesday. Some 212,000 other people have also been left homeless, according to the civil defence office.
Officials said 548 people are confirmed dead, most of them in the southern island of Mindanao.
Civil defence chief Benito Ramos said the number of missing had shot up to 827 from previous figures of 500 unaccounted for, after reports of more missing fishermen came in.
Too stunned
Search and rescue operations have been hampered in part because many residents of this ravaged farming community are too stunned to assist recovery efforts, an official said on Saturday.
Soldiers, police and volunteers from outside New Bataan have formed the bulk of the teams searching for bodies or signs of life under fallen trees and boulders that were swept down from steep hills surrounding the town, said municipal spokesman Marlon Esperanza.
President Benigno Aquino III issued a national calamity declaration in areas in southern Mindanao hit by typhoon Bopha.
Aquino on Friday evening issued Proclamation No. 522 which is aimed at hastening relief efforts as it allows local government units to utilise their respective calamity funds for the rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts in their areas.
Normally, provincial officials can release funds for rehabilitation upon deliberation and concurrence of the local council. The national calamity declaration does away with this provision as it overrides the circuitous process. It will also hasten the government and the private sector’s release of assistance, including humanitarian donations from abroad, and effectively control the prices of basic goods and commodities in the affected areas.
Powerful tornado
One witness in New Bataan, Compostella Valley recalled experiencing a powerful tornado during heavy rains. “This was the reason why there was so much damage, we had never experienced anything like this in all my 60 years here,” he told Gulf News, requesting that his name be not mentioned.
Despite the government warning of an approaching powerful typhoon, hundreds of people died and hundreds more remain missing. Government buildings such as the provincial capitol, public schools and other private facilities were a scene of devastation.
Government buildings were a mass of twisted metal if not totally destroyed by the powerful, 180 km/h winds whipped up by Bopha.
New Bataan in Compostella lies at the foot of Mount Diwalwal. Heavy rains falling on the slopes of the mountain caused massive landslides as rivers and waterways swelled.
Entire plantations devoted to cultivating bananas, the region’s chief product, were devastated as well.
Illegal logging to blame
Another witnesses said illegal logging taking place in the upland areas were to blame for the tragedy.
Timber harvested illegally could be seen strewn by the rampaging floodwaters in certain portions of the affected areas.
Logging has been taking place in the mountains despite an order from Aquino last year declaring a total ban on harvesting of timber. Hardwood from the Davao and Compostella Valley region is prized and fetches a higher price in the market because it is not distorted unlike those taken in other parts of the country such as Bicol and Luzon.
According to Aquino, he also instructed government agencies to speed reconstruction of damaged roads and bridges so that needed goods and services could reach heavily damaged areas.
The road leading to New Bataan opened up two days ago while communication and internet services remain inoperable due to the damage caused to mobile telephone towers.
With inputs from agencies
