Over 300 dead in Philippines landslides

Manila:  Some 304 people died including 50 missing due to 40 landslides and massive flooding that occurred after typhoon Parma dumped relentless rains for 10 days in northern Luzon since early October, disaster officials and sources said said on Monday.

Of the 304 officially recorded fatalities, half of the victims were buried by landslides in the Cordillera region, and the other half by drowning in Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija in lower northern Luzon, including upper southern Luzon's Quezon province and the Bicol Region, Olive Luces, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense-Cordillera Administrative Region (OCD-CAR), said in a radio interview.

Parma’s current death toll and the 337 who perished from the floods of storm Ketsana in Metro Manila and nearby lower northern and upper southern Luzon last September 26 now stands at 731.

Landslides in northern Luzon occurred in areas without power and communication, and were isolated by sections of roads that gave way since typhoon Parma made a landfall there on October 2, said Luces, adding, “Northern Luzon will be isolated for some more weeks due to extensive damages on roads and bridges due to typhoon Parma.”

"More bodies are being unearthed by rescue and recovery teams who have been moving mud and rocks from hills that have collapsed," said Luces.

The number of fatalities and the cost of damage to nature, infrastructure, and agriculture could rise further, said provincial governors and local mayors.

“We have been clearing roads, villages, and rivers of mud, debris, and siltation, but the mountains seemed to have moved and caved in. A hill in Bulala town in the Mountain Provinces just fell over, destroying lives and houses there. The magnitude of these landslides is the first time in recent memory," Mt. Province Governor Maximo Dalog said in a TV interview.

“Dogs must be used to sniff out dead bodies that were buried in deep mud,” Dalog said, adding, “Choppers must be used to evacuate the wounded. We have a victim who needs foot amputation to save his life,” said Dalog.

Benguet Governor Nestor Fongwan was teary-eyed when he talked of 175 bodies that were recovered from early clearing of landslides in Benguet.

At least 50 bodies were retrieved from Little Kibungan alone, where 100 residents were reported missing, said Fongwan, adding that numbers of the dead keep rising, hinting the final figure in northern Luzon alone would reach 600.

In response, radio reporters could not help but vent their rage against lawmakers who failed for year to pass the proposed total log ban in the Philippines.

“Mountains have been denuded. Illegal loggers have not been jailed. Many of the dead were killed by logs that fell from the mountains,” said one radio announcer.

Typhoon Parma affected 521,531 families or 2.4 million people in 3,929 villages, 351 municipalities, 34 cities in 27 provinces in eight regions in the north and south Luzon, said Glenn Rabonza, administrator of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC).

Of the affected families and people, only 18,921 families or 92,312 people were placed at 206 evacuation centres, Rabonza said.

A total of 25,826 houses were damaged in the worst hit areas in the north, Rabonza said.

An estimated damage to infrastructure and agriculture amounted to P 5 billion (Dh 416 million), said Rabonza, adding the figure included P 3.9 billion (Dh 332.583 million) damage to agriculture. The northern area is the country’s vegetable and fruit basket.

Almost all areas in the north are still suffering from total power blackout, said Rabonza.

Many areas affected by Ketsana are still flooded. Some 500 evacuation centres still house 300,000 displaced residents.

Typhoon Parma and Ketsana affected over six million people, Rabonza said.