Leyte town again hit by landslide; 5 children killed

MANILA, Philippines - At least five children, including a one-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl, were buried and killed while another is still missing after a landslide caused by heavy floods hit Barangay Balod-balod in the town of St. Bernard, Southern Leyte, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

The fatalities were identified as Fatima Discaryal, five, her one-year-old younger brother Rodel, and three-year old Jordan Laquipon, who was earlier reported missing but was found dead.

Also recovered were the remains of 11-year-old Patrick Pelaez, who drowned in a creek in Pancho Villa, Bontoc Southern Leyte, and Ricavelle Montederamos, 12, who drowned in Barangay Maanyag Tomas Oppos town.

Army rescuers recovered the five children in a village in St. Bernard town, the scene of a massive landslide almost four years ago that caused widespread damage and loss of life. The official death toll in that accident was pegged at 1,126.

Lt. Col. Noel Vestuir, spokesman for the 8th Infantry Division based in Catbalogan, Samar, said the body of Laquipon was recovered underneath their collapsed house at Purok 4, Barangay Balod-balod by Army rescuers yesterday morning.

Shortly after the landslide, responding Army and police rescue teams retrieved the bodies of Fatima and Rodel from beneath the tons of debris that buried four houses made of light material in Barangay Bulod-Bulod after noon time Sunday.

Vestuir said the parents of the children survived the disaster and are now recuperating in a local hospital in Leyte.

Army disaster teams, in coordination with the local police and concerned local line government agencies, also rescued stranded Ro-Ro bus passengers after their vehicles were trapped in a landslide that shut down traffic along Libagon-Liloan highway.

Three to five deep floodwaters that inundated five sections of the Taft-Buray in Eastern Samar have started to subside, especially in Barangays Binaloan, Malinao, San Pablo, Mabuhay and Burak, all in Taft town.

But the highway is still closed to traffic to all types of vehicles, including Army vehicles, according to Vestuir.

Floods and landslides over the weekend also forced more than 1,000 families to flee their homes in Leyte and nearby Samar island, with soldiers mobilized to conduct rescues and clear roads, it added.

Tragedy after revelry

At least three people were also killed while more than 62, 000 people were evacuated in the wake of heavy rains that hit Bicol last week.

NDRRMC said a young woman who was reported missing in Bicol was found dead, raising the death toll in that region to three.

All three Bicol victims were swept away by flashfloods while they fled their homes last week.

The Bicol flood forced more than 62,000 people to seek shelter at government-run evacuation camps, but most returned home as the weather improved a few hours before the year turned, NDRRMC said.

The death has forced Albay Gov. Joey Salceda to ask the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) to assign names to the unnamed weather systems that had already claimed hundreds of lives even without the coded typhoons.

Salceda even tagged the tail-end of the cold front (TECF), low-pressure areas (LPA), and inter-tropical convergence zones (ITCZ) as “silent killers,” stressing that these weather systems could also pose damage to life and property like the coded tropical cyclones.

“I am repeating my request to Pagasa to establish a titling or naming system, and warning or alert signal system at least for these three – TECFs, LPAs and ITCZ. These three weather systems are major hazards – they were just typhoons without winds,” he told The STAR through e-mail.

Quoting data gathered by Albay’s Center for Initiatives and Researches for Climate Adaptation (CIRCA), Salceda said 80 percent of those killed in typhoons were caused by water, with only 20 percent by wind.

“If you analyze the casualties of ‘Juan’ and ‘Basyang’ through their death certificates, the majority is from ‘asphyxiation due to drowning’ and far second is from ‘fallen trees or electric posts’,” he said. “For the past four years, disasters with no names have been the bigger challenge to Albay and most parts of the country than typhoons.”

Salceda said once these weather systems are given specific names before they hit an area, it would be easier to alert people, just like whenever typhoon signals are hoisted.

Legazpi senior weather specialist Meriem Carbonel said they would bring Salceda’s request to the attention of their higher officials for serious consideration.

Surigao poised to declare state of calamity

Down south, heavy rain pounded the eastern coast of Mindanao for the third straight day yesterday, forcing about 900 people to flee their homes.

No casualties have been reported in the Mindanao flooding, but Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat, city Disaster Risk Reduction Management Committee (DRRMC) chair, said floodwaters rising before midnight swept several houses.

Several low-lying areas were also hit by shallow floodwaters but did not affect the villagers and no one was reported hurt or injured from the disaster.

Some villagers were awakened by gunfire as alerted residents fired warning shots.

Rescue units from navy, air force, and the police were immediately deployed for evacuation of the residents.

City Social Welfare Officer Francisco Barredo said they have accounted for more than 100 families who were affected by the flashflood.

He said relief emergency food assistance has been extended to the displaced residents who have returned to their respective houses as floodwaters subsided yesterday morning.

Lobregat immediately convened the Task Force Contra Avenida (task force against flooding) as the city braced for possible flooding incident. 

In Surigao del Sur, Gov. Johnny Pimentel asked the provincial board members to immediately convene and declare the province under state of calamity.

Nine municipalities covering 52 barangays in the province were already submerged in floodwaters and residents in the affected area have already been evacuated.

NDRRMC reported that a total of 182 families or 898 people has already been affected in the flooding to hit Surigao City’s Barangay Washington and San Juan as well as in San Francisco town in Agusan del Sur.

The evacuees are now being housed in various evacuation centers while waiting for the flooding in their villages to subside.

Flashflood coming from the overflowing Bulod River also hit Tubod, Lanao del Norte forcing the evacuation of undetermined number of residents coming from low-lying villages.

Pagasa warns public against landslides

As this developed, Pagasa continued to warn the public against flashfloods and landslides as heavy rains are expected to prevail over most of central Philippines.

The weather bureau said the northeast monsoon and the tail-end of a cold front would bring widespread rains over Leyte provinces, Bohol, Cebu and Mindanao.

“Heavy rains are expected in Surigao and the rest of eastern Mindanao today then gradually move toward Leyte, Samar area until Friday, and the Bicol region by weekend,” Pagasa weather branch chief Robert Sawi said.

Pagasa also warned fishermen in Luzon, Visayas, including northern and eastern Mindanao, not to venture out to sea due to big waves generated by strong northeasterly winds.

Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) continues to provide assistance to families affected by the recent flashfloods in the Bicol region and Caraga region.

“We have already mobilized our resources and personnel to help the victims of the flashflood incidents in Regions 5 and Caraga,” Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said.

Soliman said about 68 evacuation centers in Albay and Sorsogon were opened and provided temporary shelter to 4,653 families with 20,077 people.

“The evacuation centers, however, were closed when the weather improved and all evacuees have returned to their respective places of origin on Dec. 31,” Soliman said.

The DSWD has provided 1,300 family food packs, 69 boxes of corned beef, 25 boxes of vienna sausage, and 25 boxes of sardines worth P371,270 to the affected families in Albay and Sorsogon.

Some 2,000 family food packs and 1,000 blankets were transported on Dec. 31, 2010 from the DSWD National Resource Operations Center (NROC) to Legazpi City, according to Soliman.

As of yesterday, some 42 families composed of 208 individuals coming from Barangays 1, 2 and 3 in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur took temporary shelter at the San Francisco Municipal gym.

In Surigao City, affected families in Barangays Washington, San Juan and Rizal have been evacuated to the Surigao City gym, DSWD said. – With Helen Flores, Roel Pareño, Ben Serrano, Jaime Laude, AP