4 killed in Mt Gamalama cold lava flood

Four people died as a result of a flood of volcanic material from Mt Gamalama, North Maluku, leaving at least 10 people missing while 15 others sustaining minor injuries. The four fatalities were identified as Raihan Sangaji, 9, Mildawany Johar, 25, Sarnawia Hamid, 52 and one remaining individual that was unidentified. The North Maluku and Ternate chapters of the Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) said in a statement that the officers continued to locate flood victims and damaged houses. The agencies also reported that a total of 188 houses in 11 villages had been destroyed by the flood, leaving 58 families, or 284 residents, homeless. In addition to the houses, the flood also ripped through two bridges connecting Daulasi and Air Tege-Tege villages and also the districts of Dufa Dufa and Akehuda. “We keep updating our data from the ground. A joint rescue team from the agencies, the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the police continues to evacuate the victims,” the agency said. (dre) Wed, 05/09/2012 http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/05/09/4-killed-mt-gamalama-cold-lava-flood.html

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Philippines clothing store fire kills 17 workers sleeping inside

Predominantly female staff became trapped on top floor of building in Butuan city, authorities say A fire at a three-storey clothing store in the southern Philippines has killed 17 employees, most of them women who had been asleep and found themselves trapped on the top floor, officials said. The fire in the Butuan city store broke out at 3.55am and raged for five hours. Firefighters and police scouring the gutted building found 17 bodies, the city police chief, Pedro Obaldo, said. A store employee, Mylene Tulo, who escaped with two co-workers, said she had awoken as the fire was spreading rapidly in the third-floor office where they slept. Amid the flames and cries for help, she managed to dash out with her colleagues. They sustained minor burns on their arms. "We wanted to rouse others from sleep but the fire was already too strong," Tulo said. At least 20 employees, mostly women, had been sleeping at the store when the fire broke out, Obaldo said. Many stores in the Philippines allow their employees to sleep over, especially workers with homes far away. Relatives and friends, most of them in shock and tears, gathered in search of loved ones in front of the building, where police stood before body bags containing the victims' remains. Obaldo said investigators were trying to determine what sparked the fire, and whether the owners had violated fire regulations. The building, in Agusan del Norte province in the southern Mindanao region, was a theatre before being turned into a commercial centre with several stores, including Novo Jeans and Shirts, where most of the victims died. A lack of firefighting equipment and personnel, coupled with safety violations, has resulted in major fire disasters in the Philippines, especially in shantytowns. A 1995 blaze that gutted the Ozone Disco Pub in Manila, the capital, killed 162 people. Butuan is a city of more than 300,000 about 500 miles south-east of Manila. 9 May 2012 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/09/philippines-clothing-store-fire-sleeping

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