Aid rushed to 64,000 displaced by typhoon

MANILA, Philippines – Food, medicine and housing materials were rushed yesterday to more than 64,000 people displaced by typhoon “Emong” (international name Chan Hom) as the number of fatalities rose to 30, a senior disaster official said yesterday.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said yesterday afternoon that if Emong would maintain its strength, it would remain in the country for the next three days.

Citing reports from Cagayan Valley, Cordillera, Ilocos and Central Luzon, police Director Leopoldo Bataoil, overall head of the North Luzon Regional Disaster Coordinating Councils, said 14 people were injured while eight remain missing.

Meanwhile, the first district of Pangasinan as well as Ifugao have been placed under a state of calamity, Bataoil said.

The Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR) registered the highest number of fatalities at 14, who all perished in a landslide in Ifugao.

The Ilocos region had 13
fatalities – 12 from Pangasinan and one from La Union; Cagayan Valley, one; and Central Luzon, two – one each in Bataan and Zambales.

Bataoil also said that search and recovery operations were still underway for the four persons missing in Pangasinan, three in Central Luzon and one in the Cordillera Region.

Emong to stay

Weather forecaster Bernie de Leon said Emong, which has already weakened from a typhoon to a tropical depression, could still stay in the country until Tuesday.

“Come Tuesday it might leave by passing through the northeastern part of the country and head for southern Japan,” he said. 

There is also a possibility that the weather disturbance would weaken and further downgrade into a low-pressure area until it dissipates. 

As of 2 p.m. yesterday, Pagasa said the center of the weather disturbance was spotted at 670 kilometers east of northern Luzon with maximum sustained winds of 55 kph and is forecast to move northeast at 15 kph.

The weather bureau’s 24-hour public weather forecast said the Visayas and Mindanao would experience mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms because of the intertropical convergence zone.

The rest of the country will be partly cloudy to at times cloudy with isolated rainshowers and thunderstorms, mostly in the afternoon or evening.

Still without electricity

“Wide areas in Pangasinan and Ifugao are still without electricity,” Bataoil said, adding that power restoration in these badly hit areas is expected to be completed in one or two weeks.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), on the other hand, reported that 2,811 houses were totally destroyed while 4,608 others were partially damaged by the typhoon that also displaced 13,507 families or 64,367 people in 235 barangays in the Ilocos and Cordillera regions.

Defense Secretary and NDCC chairman Gilbert Teodoro said Emong has so far caused massive destruction to major power transmission lines, roads and bridges and agriculture in northern Luzon amounting to P379 million.

Teodoro, who personally inspected the first district of Pangasinan, said Emong destroyed 74 power transmission posts in the towns of Alaminos, Bani, Anda, Bolinao, Agno, Dasol, Burgos, Infanta, Sual and Labrador.

“We have pre-positioned sufficient standby funds, family food packs and relief commodities composed of food and non-food items to the field offices,” Teodoro said.

He added that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) field office in the Cordilleras has already allocated P300,000 in calamity funds and has 1,000 family food packs ready for distribution.

While in Pangasinan last Friday, Teodoro facilitated the release of 950 sacks of rice for distribution to the affected residents in Anda, Bolinao, Burgos, Bani, Agno and Alaminos City.

Damage to crops, fisheries

Emong’s damage to crops and fisheries in Pangasinan has reached more than P314 million, the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC) reported yesterday.

Mayor Nestor Pulido of Anda town in Pangasinan told The STAR yesterday that their bangus (milkfish) industry is also heavily devastated, as well as their mango industry.

Pulido appealed for help, saying their town only has P2.1 million in their calamity fund and since it’s only May, they could not spend the whole amount.

Mayor Alfonso Celeste of Bolinao town told The STAR in a separate interview that 90 percent of the houses in their area were destroyed, most of them beyond repair.

He echoed Pulido’s sentiments, saying their P5-million calamity fund is not enough to extend help to all the affected residents.

Ifugao, perhaps the worst hit among the six Cordillera provinces, has initially posted P150 million worth of damage to government and private properties.

Up to now, Ifugao Gov. Teodoro Baguilat Jr. said only 10 percent of the province’s national and provincial roads are opened, thus virtually isolating the province from the rest of the Cordillera and Cagayan Valley regions.

Army and police personnel are now assisting the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in road clearing operations in areas ravaged by Emong.

Under water

A number of villages are still under water in Solano, Bayombong, Villaverde and Bagabag towns in Nueva Vizcaya; Ilagan, San Mateo, Ramon, Cabagan, Tumauini, San Pablo and the cities of Santiago and Cauayan in Isabela; and Tuguegarao City and some northern towns in Cagayan.

Some 20,000 residents in Nueva Vizcaya, mostly in the towns of Solano, Bayombong, Bagabag, Bambang and Villaverde, were displaced by floodwaters from the typhoon.

This was in addition to at least 10,000 families in Isabela and Cagayan earlier reported to have been heavily affected by the storm.

Meantime, more than 5,000 commuters to and from Cagayan Valley were stranded for more than five hours along the national highway near Dalton Pass in Barangay Tactac, Santa Fe after a trailer truck suffered mechanical trouble while negotiating the zigzag stretch of the national highway. - With Evelyn Macairan, Eva Visperas, Cesar Ramirez, Charlie Lagasca, Artemio Dumlao