I won’t beat around the bush, our country needs help
Landslides, floods and 462 people dead and rising and this is just the count from the latest super cyclone that hit the Philippines since last week. Northern Luzon is totally devastated and now isolated following a week of rains from Typhoon Pepeng. Please help by donating, praying and changing our lifestyles now.
Typhoon Pepeng forced thousands of residents up their rooftop for safety after dams released excess water from the continuous rain. This has turned Pangasinan into one big river.
GMANews.TV reports:
“Mayor Nonato Abrenica of the Pangasinan’s Villasis towns said rain and water released from a nearby dam caused floods to rise quickly, isolating his town. He asked for food, water and medicines to be airlifted and for boats to rescue stranded residents.”
Heavy army trucks could not penetrate the area, and Primicias appealed for helicopters and boats to move people out of danger.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) is now asking for the US Embassy assistance and ask for redeployment of American troops to help with the massive cleanup in and around Manila to the flood-hit areas in the north.
“Two US Navy ships took positions in the Lingayen Gulf in Pangasinan to provide helicopters and rubber boats for the rescue mission in the province, said US Marine Capt. Jorge Escatell.”
Numerous landslides
While Pangasinan struggled with floods, the Cordillera and Cagayan Valley regions battled landslides that were all over mountains roads.
The Cagayan Valley, one of the biggest sources of rice and corn supply for the country, was cut off from the rest of Luzon due to massive landslides along Maharlika Highway in the Caraballo Mountains.
“According to Chief Supt. Roberto Damian, regional police director for Cagayan Valley, a big portion of the two-lane highway near Putlan Bridge leading to Dalton Pass on the side of Carranglan, Nueva Ecija has been washed out.”
Central Luzon police regional director Leonilo dela Cruz said the landslides in Carranglan “were so enormous” that it would take them three days to clean up the area, which remains impassable even to heavy vehicles.
All roads leading to the mountain city of Baguio in the heart of the Cordillera region were blocked by landslides. Relief official Rex Manuel said about 100 landslides have struck the region since the weekend.
Cordillera police regional director Senior Superintendent Fidel Posadas said Baguio City was cut off from other parts of Luzon as three main roads leading to the resort city – Kennon Road, Naguilian Road and Marcos Highway – were closed. He said the Department of Public Works and Highways was working overtime to clear the roads.
The rest of the Cordilleras – Mountain Provinces, Ifugao, Abra, Apayao and Kalinga – were also isolated from other provinces, Posadas said.
Buried in mud
Of the 125 confirmed fatalities from Pepeng, 118 were from the Cordillera Administrative Region, said regional police director Chief Superintendent Orlando Pestaño. He said 59 people remained missing in the region and 55 were injured.
Senior Superintendent Loreto Espineli, Benguet provincial police chief, said the hardest hit in Benguet was the capital town of La Trinidad, where 41 people were killed from four villages.
Seventeen bodies have been recovered so far from Kibungan village also in La Trinidad, which was almost entirely buried in mud and debris late Thursday, Manuel said.
In Buyagan village, also in La Trinidad, only three out of some 100 houses remained visible after Thursday night’s landslide buried most structures there. Some 50 residents were saved but it was not clear how many died, Manuel said.
Several other deaths were reported in Benguet, including two in Bugias town, four in Mankayan town on Thursday night, and six people in Tublay town. A worker at the provincial engineering office also reportedly died in an accident while assisting in the clearing operations.
In neighboring Mountain Province, at least 28 people were reported buried when the side of a mountain collapsed in Sitio Bulala, Kayan East village in Tadian, on Friday. Only five bodies were recovered so far. Another landslide hit a second village in Tadian early Friday but no immediate casualty reports were available, officials said.
More deaths expected
Espineli said the death toll is expected to go higher as dozens more people were reported missing and believed to have been buried in landslides. Only four people have so far been pulled out of the rubble alive.
Benguet Gov. Nestor Fongwan said rescue operations were hindered by bad weather.
“Nahirapan sila, medyo malakas ang ulan (at) very foggy pa rito. Mahirap ang retrieval operations (Workers are having a hard time in retrieval operations because of the heavy rains and fog),” Fongwan said in an interview on dzBB radio.
Fongwan said the local government was focusing its effort on clearing major roads filled with boulders and mud to allow the transport of agricultural products from Benguet to Metro Manila.
Fongwan said both evacuees and rescuers needed food, clothes, and medicines. But he advised rescuers against traveling by air to reach Benguet. “Aircraft can land but it’s very risky because it’s foggy. Roads need to be reopened),” he said.
Cagayan and Ilocos
Melcito Castro of the Office of the Civil Defense in Cagayan Valley said there was heavy damage to agriculture and roads from Pepeng’s strong winds on Oct. 3. The cyclone also destroyed 1,135 houses.
“But today, we are having a sunny weather, the first time since Pepeng visited the country,” he said on Friday. Castro said of the 620 families that were brought to evacuation centers, only 194 remain.
In the Ilocos Region, Eugene Cabrera of the regional disaster coordinating council said his office is still confirming reports that seven people were killed in two landslides in the cities of San Fernando and Bauang, both in La Union.
Cabrera said communication through land lines in the region is down, and rescue officials only coordinate through mobile phones.
3 Comments
Hi! I am from American Chamber Foundation and we are planning to have a relief operation in Baguio. Can you please advise me on the passable roads way up there? We might be having a ten-wheeler truck to deliver the goods. Please reply to my email address (hilariousdelia@yahoo.com)
Thank you.