Relief efforts overwhelmed

MANILA, Philippines - Rescue workers struggled through knee-deep mud and putrid water yesterday in a desperate effort to help nearly half a million people displaced by devastating floods brought by tropical storm “Ondoy,” as the death toll reached 140.

“We are concentrating on massive relief operations. (But) the system is overwhelmed, local government units are overwhelmed,” National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) director Anthony Golez told reporters.

“We were used to helping one city, one or two provinces but now, they are following one after another. Our assets and people are spread too thinly,” he said.

Reaching people still stranded after Saturday’s disaster in Metro Manila and surrounding areas, preventing disease outbreaks and getting aid to survivors were all big concerns, authorities said.

The death toll from the flooding climbed to more than 100, with 32 people still missing, the NDCC said in its latest update yesterday afternoon. Another 451,000 had been forced out of their homes with 115,000 in evacuation centers.

Soldiers, police, medics and a huge number of volunteers were involved in the effort to help flood victims, authorities said.

“We are completely unprepared for this kind of calamity,” Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte said, adding that the disaster has brought to light the need for rubber boats and life jackets for rescue operations.

He said hardest hit by the calamity in the city was Barangay Bagong Silangan where 27 casualties were reported, mostly children.

At least 50 people were initially reported killed in the city.

The mayor said that despite warnings, several shanty dwellers near the Tullahan and Lagarian creeks refused to evacuate.

Tomas Ortega, deputy director of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council, also complained of lack of rescue equipment in the Calabarzon area.

“We have only four rubber boats used during rescue operation, two boats were already dispatched to Quezon province while two others were sent to Rizal province. However, we are trying our best to immediately respond to flood victims particularly in Rizal and Laguna provinces,” Ortega said.

Saturday’s disaster saw Ondoy (international name Ketsana) pound the heaviest rain in more than 40 years on Metro Manila and neighboring areas.

The nine-hour deluge left some areas of Metro Manila, a sprawling city of 12 million people, under 20 feet of water, with poor drainage systems and other failed infrastructure exacerbating the problem.

Eighty percent of the metropolis was submerged and, with parts of it remaining underwater yesterday, local television reported that some people remained stranded on the second floors of their homes.

Vast areas where flooding had subsided also remained covered in knee-deep sludge.

Adding to the chaos, telephone and power services in some parts of the metropolis remained cut, while local government officials said survivors in makeshift evacuation camps were desperately short of food, water and clothes.

More casualties likely

There were fears the number of dead could soar past the official tally.

Radio station dzBB quoted local officials as saying that 58 more bodies had been recovered from a flooded area in Marikina, and that they had not yet been included in the official tally.

Armando Endaya, barangay captain of Bagong Silangan village in Quezon City, also said 29 bodies had been recovered and 108 people remained missing from his community.

He said those deaths had not been reported to national government officials.

Endaya was overseeing a makeshift evacuation camp set up at a gymnasium, where more than 3,000 people were sheltering on the concrete floor alongside 11 white coffins containing the bodies of their neighbors.

“We are waiting for more aid to arrive. We are trying to mobilize our own relief operations here. But we need more help,” Endaya told AFP from the gymnasium, which had a roof but no walls.

The home of Edgar Halog, 44, a jeepney driver, was destroyed in the floods and he was sheltering at the center with his wife and seven children aged between three and 12.

“We do not have any money, we do not know what to do. We don’t have any other relatives. We are waiting for food rations,” Halog said in Filipino.

Defense Undersecretary Antonio Romero explained that casualty and property damage reports reaching the NDCC were not yet final.

“Metro Manila was heavily affected by widespread flooding and the LGUs have to contend with these problems before they could establish their respective incident management centers,” Romero said.

With sanitation services across the city in disarray, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said authorities were working to prevent disease outbreaks.

“Our health teams are bringing in water and (products for) sanitation and hygiene at evacuation centers to make sure that disease does not spread,” he said.

Initial frantic rescue efforts saw military helicopters and rubber boats fan out across the city to pluck people off houses and car roofs.

The government said more than 7,900 people had been rescued.

Looters’ paradise

Residents of flood-ravaged middle-class Provident Village in Marikina raced yesterday to save their homes from looters, as both sought to salvage televisions and other valuables from the deep brown sludge.

“We hope to recover something from our home, if there is anything left to recover,” said resident Jun de Guzman, 48, as he and three relatives carrying brooms waded in the knee-deep muck covering what was left of their village.

For some, it was too late as gangs of men pushing wooden carts went into abandoned homes and emerged with muddied electric fans and television sets.

Asked if they were the owners of the houses, the men refused to answer.

Salvaged appliances apparently collected by the looters were piled up on street corners.

Only two policemen were seen patrolling the gated enclave’s streets, which were also littered with the wreckage of cars piled on top of each other. One was marooned precariously on top of a concrete fence.

The government had earlier warned that looting was a concern following Saturday’s horror floods.

Some residents had refused to leave their homes in an effort to fend off looters, Golez said.  

“They don’t want to leave, maybe because they are afraid they will be robbed and will lose property. We understand that kind of sentiment,” Golez said.

On Saturday, water climbed over dikes surrounding the nearby Marikina River.

Within a few hours, a torrent of water 20 feet high was pounding through the village, said Lizette Lumantad, who survived with her five sons after being trapped on the third storey of an apartment block she owns.

“My family survived, but we saw cars slamming against the walls of the apartments below us,” Lumantad said.

Two days later and with the waters gone, chairs and electric fans hung grotesquely from a tree in the yard.

Lumantad and her sons attempted a post-flood cleanup with a water hose and brooms, but a sudden burst of rain instantly brought the mud flooding back.

Local officials said they were unable to cope with the scale of the disaster.

“We are doing what we can for the people to recover, but we need more help,” said Marikina Mayor Marides Fernando.

She said the city government needed heavy equipment urgently to move heavy debris.

Some 10,000 people huddled at Marikina evacuation centers were in need of food, Fernando said, adding that the survivors did not have cooking equipment.

Several fire trucks owned by volunteer fire brigades from Chinatown arrived to supply water rations to displaced residents. They also handed out rice and canned goods.

Official body count

The official death toll from “Ondoy” reached 140 yesterday afternoon as more bodies turned up, with some pulled out from their submerged homes.

The NDCC said most of the deaths – as of noon – were reported in Tanay, Angono, Antipolo, Baras, Montalban and Teresa towns in Rizal; Calaca, Batangas; Calauag, Quezon; Sta. Cruz, Calamba, Sta. Rosa, San Pedro, Famy and Mabitac in Laguna, and Noveleta and Kawit in Cavite.

In Bulacan, landslides and raging floodwaters killed 24 people in Meycauayan, Marilao, Bocaue, Bustos and San Jose del Monte. There were 12 reported deaths due to the landslide in Arayat, Pampanga.

Defense Secretary and NDCC chair Gilbert Teodoro said the figures could go up as casualties were being reported in other areas.

Casualty figures were conflicting as some local government units also released data on deaths and missing.

He said President Arroyo has authorized him to seek help from other countries through the United Nations.

Teodoro said disaster units have shifted to relief efforts in the absence of urgent calls for rescue.

“But this does not mean we are stopping our rescue operations. We would respond if there is a need,” Teodoro said.

Yesterday, Air Force helicopters as well as one provided by the US government started delivering relief goods to affected residents of Marikina, Cainta and Pasig.

“Today’s air operations are just the start of our continuing disaster relief operations in response to the call of the government to utilize government resources in addressing the emergency situation,” PAF chief Lt. Gen. Oscar Rabena said.

Teodoro said they have designated Ever Gotesco mall in Commonwealth, Quezon City as drop off point for relief goods.

He also said 200 families living on the slopes of Mount Arayat have been ordered to evacuate as threat of another landslide remains.

“It’s good that Mayor Dennis Espino has found a relocation site for them,” he said.

Time for rebuilding

President Arroyo said Filipinos should help one another in the face of the latest disaster as government begins its reconstruction efforts.

“Typhoon Ondoy has strained our response capabilities to the limit, but it is not breaking us,” the President said.

“Now we will start repairing our damaged infrastructure and help our fellow citizens rebuild their homes and return to normalcy,” the President said in Filipino.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said damage to crops – mostly palay in Central Luzon – was estimated at P500 million.

But Yap projected a larger palay yield next year as adequate irrigation is assured because most of the dams are overflowing.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), meanwhile, said damage to infrastructure was estimated at P278 million.

“The DPWH regional and district disaster maintenance crew are working 24/7, as ordered by Secretary Ebdane, to conduct palliative repair works and clearing operations, warning and directional signs are also installed to warn incoming motorists,” DPWH Bureau of Maintenance director Luis Mamitag said in a statement. - Perseus Echeminada, Marvin Sy, Ed Amoroso, Evelyn Macairan, Dennis Carcamo, Rudy Santos, Jaime Laude, Artemio Dumlao, Ding Cervantes, Raffy Viray, and Ric Sapnu