PHILIPPINES: Casualties climb in the wake of Typhoon Durian in the Philippines as rescuers continue to recover bodies from mudslides

Distraught survivors searched piles of bodies for the faces of their loved ones in the central Philippines on Saturday (December 2) after landslides triggered by Typhoon Durian left hundreds dead. Driving rain and winds of up to 225 kph (140 mph) dislodged tonnes of mud and boulders from the slopes of Mount Mayon, an active volcano about 320 km (200 miles) south of Manila, on Thursday smothering nearby villages. In the rural Bicol region, the office of the civil defence said 208 people had been killed and 261 were missing. Officials said the toll was rising sharply as rescue workers, some using their bare hands, pulled corpses and body parts from the mud. Nearly 45,000 people were left homeless and whole communities isolated as power lines and phone links were knocked out, bridges washed away and roads blocked by debris. "We struggled to hold on to a fallen tree. I tried not to let go but I lost hold of my child's hand. He died," said one distraught woman. Livelihoods are now lost with fruit trees uprooted and rice harvests destroyed. Durian moved into the South China Sea on Friday after affecting nearly 800,000 people in the Philippines and was expected to weaken into a tropical storm before hitting Vietnam on Monday. In the town of Daraga, bordering Mount Mayon, more than 50 bodies were stacked in front of an overflowing funeral parlour. The undertaker estimated there were around 150 corpses in all. Communities around Mayon thought they had escaped catastrophe in September when the volcano subsided after months of spewing flaming lava and rocks, raising fears of a major eruption and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate. The debris left behind proved deadly when Durian struck. As he dug mud from his home survivor Alex Echaluce said, "This was one super typhoon. I have never experienced this kind of devastation in our place, only now." Thousands of survivors crammed into schools and churches, and disaster agencies called for fresh water, rice and medicines. Miners were due at the disaster zones to help soldiers and rescue workers dig through the mud. Named after a pungent and spiky Asian fruit, Durian was the fourth to hit the Philippines in three months. Forecasters expect one more before the end of the year.

ITN Source | December 2, 2006

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