Race against time for search, rescue
RESCUERS using backhoes and chainsaws began digging across Luzon on Tuesday as floodwaters receded in hundreds of villages and the Typhoon Uwan’s death toll climbed to 25.
Uwan, which left a trail of devastation as a super typhoon over the weekend, displaced 1.4 million people.
It was the second major typhoon to hit the Philippines in days, after “Tino” last week rampaged through Visayas and Mindanao.
Tino’s death toll has also climbed to 232 people, according to the latest figures, with over a hundred still missing.
In coastal Isabela province, a town of 6,000 remained cut off from help on Tuesday, with parts of neighbouring Nueva Vizcaya province similarly isolated.
“We are struggling to access these areas,” said Cagayan Valley region spokesman Alvin Ayson, who added that landslides had prevented rescuers from reaching affected residents.
Others were “now in evacuation centers, but when they get back to their homes, their rebuilding will take time and face challenges.”
He added that a 10-year-old boy in Nueva Vizcaya had been killed by one of the landslides.
The child was among 25 deaths recorded in a new death toll released yesterday by Office of Civil Defense deputy administrator Rafaelito Alejandro.
In a phone interview, Alejandro said even “early recovery” efforts would take weeks.
“The greatest challenge for us right now is the restoration of lifelines, road clearing, and restoration of power and communication lines, but we are working on it.”
In hardest-hit Catanduanes island, issues with the water supply could take up to 20 days to fix, he said.
Jossa Floranza, a resident of the island’s Virac town, told Agence France Presse on Tuesday that another typhoon had already forced her to move neighbourhoods, only to see her new home destroyed as well.
“We thought we were safe here,” the 34-year-old said, adding the family was driving 20 minutes by motorbike to get water from a nearby river.
“My neighbours said this was the first time that they experienced flooding in this area,” Floranza said. “I am very tired of this. So tired.”
Earlier, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the state of national calamity declared over “Tino” would be extended to a full year.
As this developed, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Don Artes yesterday led the send-off of two Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response teams to assist and provide clean drinking water to those affected by the recent typhoons in Aurora and Negros Occidental.
Artes said a mobile water purifying machine can purify 180 gallons of water per hour for use by affected residents.
“The groups will be in the two provinces for 10 days,” he said.
Meanwhile, Senator Imee Marcos called on government agencies to extend loan payment deadlines for victims of recent typhoons.
She urged a grace period of at least one month for government employees, farmers, fishermen, cooperatives, private sector workers, and small business owners.
“It is not only government employees who were affected; we also need to help all workers and small business owners because they are the first to lose income during a disaster,” she added.
Recently, the Government Service Insurance System announced a three-month moratorium on emergency loans for members and pensioners who were severely impacted by Tino and Uwan. With AFP
