Tacloban buries more dead in mass graves

CEBU, Philippines - A total of 393 cadavers, in black bags, were laid in a temporary mass grave dug up in a public cemetery in Basper, a village in the northern outskirt of  Tacloban City, while on Thursday, 143 bodies more were put in a long trench dug up at Balyuan site near the City Hall.

Survivors could not properly mourn and bury their dead, and only about 10 to 15 percent of the bodies were identified, said Mayor Alfred Romualdez.

Romualdez said the city lacked manpower, and that he "constantly requested" help from the national government to retrieve bodies but the he understood that it could only do so much with what it has.

The mayor earlier gave assurances the SOCO and the NBI conducted "dead victim processing" in coordination with the Department of Health. "This will help provide closure to survivors in the future, if not today," he said.

Romualdez said he will wait for the recommendation of the agencies on when the graves can be covered. Bodies can be exhumed and identified in the future, he said.

On relief operations, four hubs were identified to accelerate distribution starting today: Tacloban airport, Guiuan airport, Ormoc and Borongan airports.  (FREEMAN)