MMDA asks owners of funeral homes to ready body bags, Philippines prepare for disaster

With the “Big One” likely to cause 35,000 deaths, owners of funeral parlors are not only being asked to participate in the “Metro Manila Shake Drill” but also prepare to provide cadaver bags.

The exercise to be conducted by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is scheduled on July 30 to prepare residents for what the Philippine Volcanology Commission says is a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that is due to hit the capital anytime.

In a news briefing on Thursday, MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino urged members of the Philippine Mortuary Association (PMA) to participate in the disaster simulation as well as to extend their services should the worse happen.

Public service not business

Urging morticians and funeral parlors to view this as a public service and not as a business, Tolentino requested each member of the 400-strong PMA to provide 500 cadaver bags.

He said operators of mortuaries had an important role to play in times of disasters, such as taking care of the dead and the prevention of the outbreak of epidemics.

“We need to establish definite roles for every sector involved in disaster preparedness and management as each and everyone should be ready to provide necessary services to the public in times of disaster,” Tolentino said.

The MMDA has projected 35,000 deaths in case of a massive earthquake, with Manila and Quezon City expected to have the most number of casualties.

Mass burial site identified

Earlier, the MMDA identified an area in Macapagal Boulevard as the designated mass burial site during the earthquake simulation. The MMDA and National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) are set to sign a memorandum of agreement with the PMA on Monday on disaster preparedness and response.

The deal includes the training of at least five of the MMDA’s personnel in embalming with the help of the PMA and the Department of Health. In turn, the MMDA and NDRRMC will provide training in rescue operations for funeral parlor personnel and community coordination in their barangays in times of disaster.

For their services, Tolentino said the government would pay them back with the barangays (villages) expected to pay for the cadaver bags used in their respective areas.

Ready to help

According to PMA chair Renato Dychangco, the group was prepared to deploy personnel to assist in preserving and identifying the bodies in the event of a massive earthquake.

The Metro Manila Shake Drill, amid the ringing of alarm bells and audio recording of a rumbling earthquake, has been scheduled on July 30 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the capital region, except in Pasig City, where it will be held from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Friday 17 July 2015

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/705783/mmda-asks-owners-of-funeral-homes-to-ready-body-bags

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Victims' families still wait for justice, three years after Maguindanao massacre

Grace Morales knew something was wrong when a friend sent her a text message urging her to go home to listen to radio reports of a massacre close to her home in Maguindanao, a province in the conflict-torn southern Philippine island of Mindanao.

Her husband and sister, both journalists, were among 31 reporters who had accompanied the family of Esmael Mangudadatu, a rival of the politically powerful Ampatuan clan, that morning to witness the filing of his election papers for the post of provincial governor.

The trip on Nov 23, 2009 led to the election-related massacre of 57 people, described by the International Crisis Group (ICG) as “one of the worst acts of political violence in modern Philippine history, and the largest number of journalists slain on a single day ever, anywhere in the world.” About 100 armed men attacked the convoy of vehicles on a lonely stretch of highway and drove them to the top of a hill before killing them all. Several women were raped before they were killed.

Morales, who identified the bodies of her husband and sister and now heads a support and lobby group for the bereaved, says she’s still waiting for justice.

“It's already three years now and yet no one has been convicted. There are many accused who are not yet arraigned or who are still at large,” she told journalists in Bangkok on Wednesday night at the screening of a 2011 documentary on the families’ quest for justice.

“I don't understand why it happens like this,” said Morales. “As one of the families of the victims, that's what we dream of, to have justice for our loved ones who were killed by the brutish people.”

Andal Ampatuan Sr, whose family ruled poor and troubled southern Maguindanao for nearly a decade and has close ties to former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, was charged with murder in February 2010, along with 196 others (members of the Ampatuan family, soldiers and police officers and members of a civilian militia).

About 100 of those charged are still at large, rights groups said, and bail proceedings have dominated the trial for the past two years.

Meanwhile, at least three witnesses have been murdered and others talk of intimidation and threats by the still powerful Ampatuan clan. Victims’ families, living hand-to-mouth, also received offers of millions of pesos to settle the case but have so far refused, Morales said.

In their latest setback, on Monday the Supreme Court denied the request of victims’ families for live media coverage of the trial.

"Our enemy is very powerful. Many members of the clans continue to hold government positions,” said Morales. The families of the victims do not have the resources to fight them as many are struggling to survive, she said.

“Most of those who died were breadwinners and those left behind are ordinary housewives with no work experience. One is a 67-year-old grandmother who suddenly found herself saddled with six grandchildren to feed,” she added.

Mindanao, where more than 120,000 people have been killed in 40 years of fighting between government forces and Muslim rebels, has some of the worst social, educational and economic indicators in the Philippines.

A 2008/2009 United Nations Development Programme report said seven of the 10 provinces with the country's worst human development ratings are in Mindanao. Around two-fifths of Mindanao's people live on about a dollar a day, against a national average of 26.5 percent.

In October, the government and the Muslim rebels reached an agreement to end a conflict which had enabled clans such as the Ampatuans to achieve positions of great local power in exchange for supporting then president Arroyo with crucial votes and armed followers.

Despite the peace deal, activists and rights groups say justice remains elusive for victims of the Maguindanao massacre.

The Philippines also remains the third most dangerous country for journalists, with 128 journalists killed since 1986 as a direct result of their work.

Seventy-nine of the killings, including those in Maguindanao, occurred during the Arroyo administration (February 2001 – June 2010) and 11 journalists have died since President Benigno Aquino came to power in February 2011, said the Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility in the Philippines.

Thursday 16 November 2012

http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/victims-families-still-wait-for-justice-three-years-after-maguindanao-massacre

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9 dead in tanker-bus collision in Nueva Ecija

SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ—Leoncio Pajarillo, 39, was ferrying his wife, Evangeline, 42, on his motorcycle to the city center here to catch a bus for Metro Manila. She was to attend an orientation for an overseas job. They never made it. They didn’t know what hit them.

They were among the nine people killed with eight others injured on Wednesday when a Metro Manila-bound bus hit a fuel tanker on Maharlika Highway at Barangay (village) Bantug here, police said.

The drivers of the bus and tanker and the Pajarillo couple on a motorcycle were among those killed in the accident on a newly paved section of the highway in Purok (sub village) Villa Medina at 2:30 a.m.

Supt. Michael Angelo Zuñiga, city police chief, said the Victory Liner bus, which came from Cagayan province, tried to avoid the motorcycle carrying Pajarillo and his wife, and hit the fuel tanker instead on the opposite lane.

The Pajarillos died instantly but police could not say which vehicle hit their motorcycle.

The other fatalities were bus driver Victor Ryan Camanguig, tanker driver Silvino Marzo and Donatella Aquino and Marife Cale-Bondoc, who were among 44 passengers of the bus. Three other fatalities, all of them women, have yet to be identified.

The eight injured passengers were taken to hospitals in San Jose and Cabanatuan cities.

Ronnie Calica, one of the two bus drivers, said the vehicle left its terminal in Tuao, Cagayan, for Pasay City at 3 p.m. Tuesday. Calica drove the bus from Cagayan to San Jose City. There, after a pit stop about 12 kilometers from the accident site, he turned over the wheel to his alternate driver, Camanguig.

Calica dismissed reports that Camanguig was sleepy while on the wheel. “He just relieved me in San Jose City. It was my turn to sleep and I was awakened when I fell off my seat,” said Calica, who was seated at the rear section of the bus.

Lilibeth Geron, 33, said her fellow passengers started screaming and jumping out of the windows when they saw other passengers strewn around.

“The impact of the collision was frightening. People were screaming,” said Geron, who complained of leg pains.

Another passenger, Rowella Elepante, 26, said she felt the bus swerve before it hit the tanker.

“I was seated five rows from the driver and was wide awake. I felt the bus swerving to the left as it avoided hitting a motorcycle. In an instant, I heard a loud thud. Then I immediately smelled diesel fumes,” Elepante said.

She said the front part of the bus was wrecked. Four passengers in that section died instantly, she said.

Thelma Estera, a professor at Central Luzon State University whose house is a few meters from the accident site, said she took in some of the dazed survivors and provided them food.

Firemen cleaned up the fuel spilled on the highway. Traffic was stalled for at least five hours until the vehicles were removed at 7:30 a.m.

Friday 28 September 2012

http://www.philstar.com/nation/article.aspx?publicationsubcategoryid=200&articleid=853020

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Flooding eases after killing 23 in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Widespread flooding that killed at least 23 people, battered a million others and paralyzed the Philippine capital briefly eased Wednesday, allowing rescuers on rubber boats to reach a large number of distressed residents still marooned in submerged villages.

Government forecasters said the monsoon rains that overflowed major dams and rivers crisscrossing Manila and surrounding provinces would gradually abate and lead to sunny weather later this week after 12 days of relentless downpours.

The deluge that began late Sunday was the worst since 2009, when hundreds died in rampaging flash floods. "We're still on a rescue mode," said Benito Ramos, who heads the government's main disaster-response agency. "Floods are receding in many areas but people are still trapped on their roofs." Ramos said the massive flooding turned half of Manila into "a water world" on Monday evening and into Tuesday.

At least 23 died, including nine in a landslide in a hillside slum in suburban Quezon City and several others who drowned in outlying provinces.

More than 1.2 million people were affected by the deluge, including 783,000 who fled from their inundated homes.

With the receding floodwaters, some of the displaced have started returning to their homes but others stayed put despite the hard conditions in emergency shelters as rain clouds again darkened the sky Wednesday afternoon.

Carmen Empesao said she panicked and left with her three grandchildren when waist-deep floodwaters swamped her home in the hard-hit city of Marikina. "We fled without any food and the clothes we managed to grab were wet and cannot be worn," Empesao, 60, told The Associated Press in an evacuation center teeming with 3,000 displaced.

Rescue efforts shifted into high gear Wednesday, with more than 130 emergency crewmen from two provinces reaching the capital city of 12 million people to help their overwhelmed teams, including police and soldiers.

Rescuers used rubber boats and ropes to navigate flooded streets where many people climbed on rooftops to escape neck-deep waters.

Food and drinking water were in short supply because of impassable roads. President Benigno Aquino III distributed food packs in flood-hit communities south of Manila. Ramos said he was overwhelmed by the extent of the flooding when he flew aboard a helicopter with Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin for an inspection Wednesday, although he added that water in many areas was beginning to recede. "In some areas, I could not tell the sea from the flooded villages," he told The AP.

Manila was drenched with more than half of a month's worth of rain in just 24 hours starting Monday. A typhoon in eastern China that has helped intensify the southwest monsoon in the Philippines blew further into the Chinese mainland, prompting Filipino forecasters to predict better weather the rest of the week. "We may see the sun tomorrow," government forecaster Glaiza Escullar said. She added that heavy but brief downpours may still sporadically drench the coastal capital.

Although heavy rains may ease, she warned that up to three storms or typhoons were expected to lash the country this month.

At the height of the flooding, many residents called radio and TV stations desperately asking to be rescued. TV footage showed rescuers dangling on ropes to bring children and other residents to safety from a rooftop.

Vehicles and even heavy trucks struggled to navigate water-clogged roads, where hundreds of thousands of commuters were stranded.

The government suspended work and classes Tuesday but most offices opened Wednesday. Traffic was still light as workers began clearing roads of debris, trash and fallen trees.

In 2009, massive flooding spawned by a typhoon devastated Manila and surrounding areas, killing hundreds.

Wednesday 8 August 2012

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/10379699

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NDRRMC: Death toll from Typhoon Gener, monsoon rises to 45

The death toll from tropical cyclone "Gener" (Saola) and the southwest monsoon rose further to 45 Sunday, with four members of a family in Mindanao being the latest fatalities.

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) head Benito Ramos said a mudslide fell on the house of the victims in Midsalip in Zamboanga del Sur Saturday.

The NDRRMC said the mudslide and a subsequent flash flood swept the victims' house after a tornado (buhawi) hit the area.

 It also said a person previously missing, 15-year-old John Marck Rigueros of Benguet in northern Luaon, was confirmed dead as of Saturday.

The NDRRMC said Gener and the southwest monsoon have so far affected 190,196 families or 858,534 people in 1,207 villages in 150 towns and 28 cities in 35 provinces.

Of these, 3,258 families or 14,181 people are being served in 94 evacuation centers.

Sunday 5 August 2012

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/268372/news/nation/ndrrmc-death-toll-from-typhoon-gener-monsoon-rises-to-45

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Philippine farmer finds mass grave; 30 skeletons exhumed

MANILA - A Philippine farmer unearthed a mass grave with the skeletal remains of up to 30 people believed to be victims of an internal purge by communist rebels in the 1980s, the army said on Sunday.

Rommel Malinao was ploughing his field in a remote village in Quezon province, south of Manila, when he made the discovery on Saturday, army spokesman Major Harold Cabunoc said.

The army deployed a team to cordon off the site and with the help of police forensics experts exhumed the skeletons. “As of last count, there were about 30 human skeletons,” Cabunoc said. “We believe these were victims of the New People’s Army (NPA) ‘kangaroo courts’, which sentenced to death many members they had suspected as government intelligence agents.”

The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which has been waging a Maoist rebellion since 1969 — one of the longest-running communist insurgencies in Asia.

At its peak in the 1980s, NPA numbers were believed to have reached 26,000, but that is now down to only 4,000 fighters due to losses on the battle field.

The government alleges that in the mid-1980s, the NPA set up so-called ‘kangaroo courts’, which condemned to death hundreds believed to have become agents for the state.

Various mass graves have been unearthed by the military since 2009, but Saturday’s find was believed to contain the biggest number of skeletons so far, Cabunoc said.

Cabunoc added that villagers interviewed by the army near the site said many of their relatives whom they had suspected of joining the NPA went missing in the 1980s and had not been heard of since.

Some of the skeletons showed the hallmarks of torture, although further verification was needed, he said.

President Benigno Aqu-ino re-opened peace talks with the communists in February last year but the negotiations have been delayed by the rebels’ demand to release detained comrades.

Wednesday 1 August 2012

http://www.omantribune.com/index.php?page=news&id=124258&heading=Asia

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Fourth year anniversary of the sinking of the Princess of the Stars

Persida Acosta, chief of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), said Judge Peras is set to conduct an occular inspection in Romblon where the ship sank at th height of typhoon Frank in June 21, 2008.

Acosta said government lawyers assisting families of victims to identify remains and seek damages, as well as the PAO “pray to the courts and high heavens that the courts in Cebu and Manila expedite the resolution of the damages suit.”

Around 560 cadavers were recovered from the sunken ship.

Acosta told Cebu Daily News the PAO Forensic Laboratory identified 11 skeletal remains taken from the ship. Of the number, seven were turned over to their families.

Acosta said PAO recently identified the remains of 42-year-old Joselito Aballe, whose remains were turned over in a simple ceremony to the daughters of Joselito in Cebu City. Acosta said the PAO Forensic Team will proceed to Sibuyan Island to process, analyze and identify the recovered body.

Efforts of the laboratory are focused on the biological profiling of the skeletal remains recovered from the sunken M/V Princess of the Stars.

Through the efforts of the PAO Forensic Team, the Philippine Coast Guard and the private salvor, the skeletal remains in the laboratory have reached more than 140, Acosta said.

She said PAO needs access to the victims’ ante mortem data which is under the custody of Dr. Renato Bautista, head of the Disaster Victim Identification team of the National Bureau of Investigation which did extensive work in Cebu with the Interpol to identify cadavers brought here.

Judge Peras earlier ordered the arrest of Baustista for his failure to heed the court order to turn over documents needed by PAO. But Acosta said Dr. Baustista continues to defy the court order.

Bautista, in an earlier interview, denied that he was withholding the documents and said he was willing to give them to the PAO but said the victims’ data remain “confidential” as agreed upon by the NBI and Interpol.

PAO has been seeking the transfer of the documents from the NBI to help identify the human remains that will undergo an anthropological examination by a University of the Philippines based forensics group.

Retired ship captain Amado Romillo, an expert witness presented by the prosecution, insists that MV Princess of the Stars took an “extremely dangerous” route from the Manila port to Cebu City at the height of typhoon Frank in 2008. Instead of passing through the west side of Mindoro, Romillo said the sunken ship made its regular route where the eye of the typhoon was situated when it sank on June 21, 2008.

Acosta said the skipper’s testimonies proved that there was negligence on the part of ship officials who decided to travel despite an impending typhoon. Using a nautical chart or map, Romillo explained to the court the route of the MV Princess of the Stars when it left the Manila North Harbor on June 20, 2008.

The MV Princess of the Stars capsized off Romblon enroute to Cebu City with 820 people on board. Only 32 survived.

Friday 22 June 2012

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/216895/four-years-after-tragedy-damage-suit-drags-on

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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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Click here to find out more! More Sharing ServicesShare | Share on facebook Share on twitter | Share on email Print Text Size With morgues full, Philippine flood victims buried

ILIGAN, Philippines - With funeral parlors overwhelmed, authorities in a flood-stricken southern Philippine city on Monday organized the first mass burial of some of nearly 700 people who were swept to their deaths in one of worst calamities to strike the region in decades.

For the first time in a day, the staggering death toll from Friday night's disaster, spawned by a tropical storm, remained little changed but the number of missing varied widely. Official figures put the missing at 82, while the Philippine Red Cross estimated 800.

The disparity underscores the difficulty in accounting for people who could be buried in the mud and debris littering much of the area or could be alive but lost in crowded evacuation centers or elsewhere.

"We lost count of how many are missing," said Benito Ramos, head of the government's Office of Civil Defense.

In Iligan, a coastal industrial hub of 330,000 people, Mayor Lawrence Cruz said the city's half a dozen parlors were full to capacity and no longer accepting bodies. The first burial of 50 or so unclaimed bodies was to take place later Monday in individual tombs at the city cemetery, he said.

"For public health purposes, we're doing this. The bodies are decomposing and there is no place where we can place them, not in an enclosed building, not in a gymnasium," Cruz told The Associated Press.

He said many of the Iligan dead — 279 by official count — "are just piled and laid outside the morgues," which ran out of formaldehyde for embalming and coffins.

"We're using plastic bags, whatever is available," Cruz said.

In nearby Cagayan de Oro city, the situation was more chaotic and people were resisting mass burials, instead demanding that bodies be interned until relatives can claim them.

About 340 died in Cagayan de Oro, most of them women and children and many of whom lived along river banks. Flood waters came gushing after 12 hours of pounding rain, catching most of them in their sleep.

Residents told local officials that plans for a mass burial was "un-Christian," said Cagayan de Oro city administrator Griscelda Joson.

Mayor Vicente Emano called a meeting later Monday to discuss the problem. Funeral parlors have asked authorities to do something about the unclaimed bodies because of the stench and complaints from neighbors, she said.

More bodies continue to be found. While city officials were meeting Sunday, more than 40 bodies were seen floating off an island but the coast guard could not recover them, Joson said.

In a grim sign of desperation, a funeral parlor dumped about 30 badly decomposed bodies in a city garbage dump over the weekend, sparking protests from distraught villagers who were looking for the missing loved ones.

Ramos, the head of the agency that is spearheading the recovery and relief operations, attributed the high casualties "partly to the complacency of people because they are not in the usual path of storms" despite warnings by officials that one was approaching.

"We've had flooding before but nothing like this," Cruz, the Iligan mayor said, recalling floods in the early 1950s. "We have a good drainage system but it as simply overwhelmed. The rainfall fell heavily on the mountains and this flowed down to two of our river systems and they overflowed and swept away houses and covered the highway and residential areas."

About 143,000 people were affected in 13 southern and central provinces, including 45,000 who fled to evacuation centers. About 7,000 houses were swept away, destroyed or damaged, the Office of Civil Defense said.

An estimated 35 percent of evacuees are children, said Trevor Clark, head of UNICEF in the southern Mindanao region. Running water and hygiene were major concerns, followed by a lack of clothing, blankets and even shoes for young children, he said.

Although he said government agencies were responding in a quick and efficient manner, they were overwhelmed and the United Nations was preparing an appeal for urgent assistance from donors and foreign governments.

11 December 2011

http://www.cbs8.com/story/16353370/with-morgues-full-philippine-flood-victims-buried

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Memorial wall to be constructed for ‘Sendong’ victims

A MEMORIAL wall is set to be constructed at the Gaston Park to remember those who perished at the height of Tropical Storm Sendong in December 2011.

On Friday, groundbreaking of the marker was conducted by JCI Bai Lawanen, the project’s proponent.

A MEMORIAL wall is set to be constructed at the Gaston Park to remember those who perished at the height of Tropical Storm Sendong in December 2011.

On Friday, groundbreaking of the marker was conducted by JCI Bai Lawanen, the project’s proponent.

The marker, which measures eight feet tall and 12 feet wide, will be engraved with the names of those who died in the flash flood based on the list of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC).

Based on the NDRRMC list, at least 674 persons have been reported died during the tragedy.

However, of the number, only 459 were in the master list who have already been identified.

Once the list is updated, the JCI would also update the engraved names on the wall.

Jean Tulang, JCI member and project chair, said they conceptualized the project in January in the hope to remember those who lost their lives in the tragedy.

Tulang said the project also hopes to honor the donors and benefactors, the gallant rescuers, the resilience of the survivors and the conviction of Kagay-anons to rebuild their lives.

“Because in a way, something deep inside us also died when our relatives, friends, co-workers and neighbors died,” she said.

Tulang said during the one-year anniversary of ‘Sendong’ tragedy, JCI Bai Lawanen hopes to gather the families of those who died and other sectors at the memorial wall as a way of remembering them.

Mayor Vicente Emano graced Friday’s groundbreaking and lowering of capsule.

“This will also reflect to the world that people are working together and it makes a difference in making the city go back to be a city in bloom, blossom and in boom,” Emano said.

Families of the victims and other sectors will be invited during the unveiling of the marker once it is finished.

Published in the Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro newspaper on March 24, 2012.

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DSWD-7 implements family access cards in quake sites

CEBU CITY, March 2 (PIA) -- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will implement the use of the family access cards (FAC) in earthquake-stricken areas to ensure that no one is left unattended.

This is also to avoid duplication of goods and services received by the quake victims.

With this development, the DSWD will be able to identify and track who among the disaster victims have received and benefited from the relief supplies (food and non-food items) coming from both government and private sectors as well as the different services they have availed of, such as psychosocial intervention, medical, and shelter.

The cards contain detailed information on all the clients served inside and outside the evacuation centers (family composition, specific address, the number and kind of assistance received, signatures of the head of the family, service providers, social workers) as well as local officials (barangay captains and mayors).

So far, 61,027 victims have been served, amounting to more than P24 million.

A total of 3,526 houses have been recorded to be totally destroyed and 5,978 houses partially damaged.

There are now 39 evacuation centers left in the province of Negros Oriental with 8,723 displaced families who are currently and still temporarily taking refuge as aftershocks continue. (RMN-PIA-7/HFG/DSWD-7)

Thursday 1st of March 2012

http://www.pia.gov.ph/news/index.php?menu=&pdp=4&article=1091330597280

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‘Keep records of moles, scars, tattoos’

A leading forensic pathologist has urged families, especially those living in disaster-prone areas, to keep files on each member’s distinguishing marks such as scars, tattoos and moles, and have copies of fingerprints and dental records on hand to make identification easier in case tragedy strikes.

Dr. Raquel del Rosario-Fortun of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine pathology department said the suggestion was prompted by the experience of a group of UP alumni who went to Iligan City last month to help find survivors of Tropical Storm “Sendong.”

Fortun said she was haunted by the photos of missing persons and the numerous corpses in varying states of decomposition awaiting identification that she saw in two funeral parlors.

Had there been more detailed descriptions accompanying the photos, it was possible the authorities would have been able to make faster matches with the corpses, she said.

Fortun, who joined Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III at the Kapihan sa Senado media forum last week, was part of a five-woman forensic team that volunteered their services in Iligan City for three days.

“All details (on one’s body) can potentially help. You cannot anticipate (incidents like this). Once the bodies are fragmented and markedly decomposed, details found in soft tissues, like moles and tattoos, are the first to go,” she said.

Other descriptions such as body piercings, height, weight, build and hair color can help. Even medical histories could provide vital leads.

“Locations of fractures are significant, especially when the soft tissues (are gone). A healed fracture could give us clues, so could postoperative scars,” Fortun explained.

“Once a body is retrieved, a possible match could be made (more quickly). Even a person’s handedness could help. An anthropologist could help us determine even (left- or right-handedness) of a headless body. These details taken altogether (could), at least, give presumptive identification clues,” she said.

Geologist and geohazard expert Mahar Lagmay, another UP alumnus, said Fortun’s suggestions were applicable even to families not living in known disaster-risk areas.

Lagmay said natural calamities had become so unpredictable that even those who believe they are out of harm’s way should take precautions.

Fortun said “definitive” information such as fingerprints, dental records and DNA samples provided the best clues.

Fingers gone

However, as in the case of a family that brought along a missing relative’s NBI clearance that had his fingerprints, it would not be much help if the fingers had decomposed.

Fortun also recalled the case of a family that showed a photo of a missing man with decayed front teeth and a large mole near his lower lip.

“Obviously, since he had dental caries that were visible in photos, it could mean we could do away with dental records. But pictures of smiling people that show obvious facial characteristics are a big help,” she said.

Fortun noted that children comprised a large number of the flood victims.

Newborn DNA

“Children usually do not have fingerprint records. This is where dental records can become crucial. Although now I think that with mandatory newborn screening, they have DNA records on file,” she said.

Fortun said the authorities retrieving cadavers should also record where and how the bodies were found.

“Those areas should be treated as crime scenes since they could provide vital clues. In the case of Iligan, it would have helped if those who retrieved the bodies also noted the flow of the water, where the bodies had come from and, if possible, how many kilometers from the communities the bodies were found,” she said.

Fortun noted that while the National Bureau of Investigation was involved in national disaster efforts, it seemed that it was not coordinating with the Philippine National Police in collecting details about missing persons.

“Antemortem information would be useless if it cannot be compared with an examination of the dead. Here is where coordination comes in,” she said.

Philippine Daily Inquirer
4:14 am | Monday, January 9th, 2012

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‘Politicking’ in relief distribution slammed

GUIHULNGAN CITY, Negros Oriental—The parish priest of a Negros Oriental town ravaged by earthquake and landslides has deplored politicking in the distribution of assistance to victims.
Fr. Felipe Luis Ferolina of the San Sebastian parish in La Libertad town also lambasted those who took advantage of the disaster for personal gain.

He cited business owners who significantly increased the prices of their products after the calamity stuck.

“This is an emergency. Instead of taking advantage, we must be united in helping and sharing what we have,” Ferolina told the Inquirer.

La Libertad, along with Guihulngan City, was the worst hit in the 6.9-magnitude earthquake and landslides that struck Central Visayas on February 6.

The death toll in the disaster was 41 as of 2 p.m. Sunday. Fifty-six residents remained missing—18 in Barangay (village) Planas in Guihulngan and 38 in Barangay Solonggon in La Libertad.
Ferolina said “politics came into play” in the distribution of food packs citing those with stickers with the name of politicians. The practice came to the priest’s attention from accounts of evacuees and other victims. But he clarified that the stickers were not of officials of La Libertad.

Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo has come under fire after food packs distributed to victims had stickers that read: “DSWD Magdegamo Rescue.” Degamo has explained that the markings in the food packs were meant to inform the public that the provincial government was doing its job.

Delays
Some victims in Guihulngan City complained of the delay in the delivery of food assistance and the concentration of distribution of the goods in the house of Mayor Ernesto Reyes in the city proper.

One victim of a village spoke to the Inquirer on condition of anonymity that relief assistance arrived in their barangay Friday evening or four days after the earthquake struck.
“We learned that the relief goods were already at the mayor’s house but it didn’t reach us until Friday,” the victim said.

Reyes denied that he was controlling the distribution of relief assistance.
“Anyone or any group can distribute their assistance to the victims. You can confirm that with media organizations and other donor groups,” Reyes told the Inquirer. He said the assistance was channeled to barangay officials and since Thursday, these have also been given directly to the victims. “There are some people who are spreading wrong information including those that I have received cash when in fact these were bottled water and rice. They just want to ruin me,” Reyes said. He, however, declined to identify them.

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) urged local officials not to politicize the distribution of relief goods after receiving complaints from residents about the delay.
“Spare the victims of the earthquake from politics, prioritize the people,” said Christian Tuayon, secretary general of Bayan in Negros. He called on government agencies and the private sector to deliver the aid directly to the people so relief goods wouldn’t go through politicians.

Landslide
On Saturday night, around 200 evacuees in Barangay Tinayunan Beach in Guihulngan were again evacuated in military trucks after the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) issued a landslide alert in the village.

MGB team leader Abraham Lucero Jr., said in a letter to Tinayunan Beach village chief Monica Aranas that the landslide susceptibility rating in the area was “high.”

9:42 pm | Sunday, February 12th, 2012

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/144389/%E2%80%98politicking%E2%80%99-in-relief-distribution-slammed

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Philippines earthquake toll rises as dig continues for landslide casualties

Rescuers have found no further survivors among dozens of people buried by landslides on a central Philippine island after an earthquake. The death toll has climbed to 15, with more than 70 people missing.

Houses flattened in remote villages on Negros island that have been cut off by fallen bridges and damaged roads

The 6.9-magnitude earthquake on Monday also collapsed bridges and damaged roads on Negros island. Soldiers and firefighters had to hike into mountains to reach remote villages. Most of the confirmed deaths were in Planas village, a part of Guihulngan town, where about 30 houses were flattened.

The Guihulngan mayor, Ernesto Reyes, said crews were using earthmoving equipment in the search for casualties.

The damage may be worse than officials first realised because the quake cut off communications to some villages, Reyes said. "We have no water and power because electric posts were toppled. Many of our roads were damaged, including bridges, and stores are closed. We're isolated."

In the mountain village of Solongon in La Libertad town, an unknown number of people were trapped under about 100 houses.

The president, Benigno Aquino, sent air force helicopters and navy and coastguard vessels to the aid of rescuers, some of whom had been digging with picks and shovels. Workers were clearing roads and fixing and bridges to bring in equipment, food and medicine.

The undersea quake was centred 44 miles north of Dumaguete, capital of Negros Oriental province, about 400 miles south-east of the nation's capital, Manila.

The Negros Oriental police chief, Edward Carranza, said at least 73 people remained missing in the province.

The casualties could top a 2004 quake on Mindoro Island, south of Manila, in which 78 people died, about half of them in a quake-triggered tsunami. A local tsunami alert was issued following Monday's quake but was soon cancelled.

Reyes said 13 residents died and at least 29 remained missing in the landslide in Planas, where an army platoon was digging for survivors. Meanwhile the landslide had blocked a mountain river that was threatening to back up and swamp houses along its banks. Residents had been told to leave.

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 7 February 2012 05.08 GMT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/07/philippines-earthquake-toll-landslide

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Philippine quake kills 43, dozens missing

Rescuers in the Philippines are digging through rubble with shovels and their bare hands after a powerful earthquake triggered landslides, collapsed homes and killed dozens of people.

The 6.8-magnitude quake hit a narrow strait between the heavily populated islands of Negros and Cebu around lunchtime on Monday with more than 200 aftershocks, some nearly as strong, causing further panic throughout the day.

Local military chiefs said 43 people were confirmed killed but officials warned the death toll may rise.

Dozens of others are feared injured or are missing with landslides having blocked roads for rescuers in mountainous areas.

"Heavy equipment we've requested from the provincial government has not arrived yet, because the roads and bridges are impassable," said Senior Inspector Alvin Futalan, police chief of Guihulngan town on Negros that was among the most heavily damaged.

"We are using our hands and shovels to search in the rubble," he told AFP.

Thirty-nine people were reported killed in Guihulngan, a coastal city of 100,000 people flanked by mountains that was close to the quake's epicentre.

The city's public market, courthouse and private homes in the area had collapsed or were damaged, while landslides buried some houses completely, according to Futalan.

He said the city's overwhelmed 42-man police rescue squad had been joined by hundreds of army troops and volunteers in clearing debris as they raced against time to find people still believed missing.

"The army (troops) had to walk about 50km from the last stop reachable by vehicle to reach us," Futalan said.

Guihulngan is about 90km to the north of Dumaguete, the capital of Negros Oriental province that covers the southeastern edge of Negros where the worst impacts of the quake were felt.

With rescuers still to reach remote hinterland communities, Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo said he feared there could be more unreported casualties.

"Sadly, we expect the death could still rise," Degamo told AFP.

Degamo said telephone communications in some parts were also cut off, leaving information from remote regions unobtainable.

He said the public was still in a state of shock and fearful of returning to their homes after dozens of aftershocks.

"We've also had to stop our search efforts from time to time and run to safety because of the aftershocks," he said.

Cebu, the Philippines' second biggest city with 2.3 million residents and a popular tourist destination, was 50km from the epicentre and shook violently during the initial tremor but no deaths were reported there.

The Philippines sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" - a belt around the Pacific Ocean where friction between shifting tectonic plates causes frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity.

February 7, 2012 - 12:14PM

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/philippine-quake-kills-43-dozens-missing-20120207-1r297.html

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Magnitude 6.8 quake in Philippines kills 13, buries homes

MANILA, Philippines — Rescuers dig with picks and shovels trying to reach dozens of people trapped under houses collapsed by a strong earthquake Monday that shook a central Philippine island and set off landslides.

At least 13 people were killed and 40 are believed missing, most of them along the shore near the epicenter of the 6.8-magnitude quake that struck in a narrow strait just off Negros Island.

In the mountain village of Planas, 9 miles (15 kilometers) from coastal Guihulngan town in Negros Oriental province, as many as 30 houses were buried with at least 40 residents believed trapped, said Gov. Roel Degamo.

“Their situation is bad because if you are covered by landslide for one hour, two hours, how can you breathe?” Mayor Ernesto Reyes said. “But we just hope for the best, that there are still survivors.”

Army troops and police were deployed to help in the rescue.

At least 10 people were confirmed dead in Guihulngan, including students at a college and an elementary school and others in a town market that collapsed, Reyes said. About 100 were injured.

The quake, which hit at 11:49 a.m. (0349 GMT), triggered another landslide in the mountain village of Solongon in La Libertad town, also in Negros Oriental. An unknown number of people were trapped, said La Libertad police chief inspector Eric Arrol Besario.

“We’re now getting shovels and chain saws to start a rescue because there were people trapped inside. Some of them were yelling for help earlier,” Besario told The Associated Press by phone. Three key bridges in the town cracked and were no longer passable, he said.

Food and medicines were waiting in the provincial capital of Dumaguete, but the aid could not reach the villages in need because of damaged roads and bridges.

“There is a Canadian and an Indian doctor who are here for an earlier scheduled medical mission and it’s good that they are helping us,” said Reyes. “They have some medicines with them but that may not be enough.”

Nine bridges were damaged in Negros Oriental, including four that were not passable, said Gov. Degamo. The worst damage was concentrated in the province’s mountainous northern portion, he said.

Philippine seismologists briefly issued a tsunami alert for the central islands. Huge waves washed out five bamboo and wooden cottages from a beach resort in La Libertad, but there were no reports of injuries, said police Superintendent Ernesto Tagle. Elsewhere along the coast, people rushed out of schools, malls and offices.

Two people died in another town close to the epicenter, Tayasan, including a child when a concrete fence of a house collapsed, said Benito Ramos, head of the Office of Civil Defense.

Another child was killed in a church when a wall collapsed during a funeral in Negros Oriental’s Jimalalud town, Mayor Reynaldo Tuanda said.

Tayasan police officer Alfred Vicente Silvosa told AP by phone that aftershocks were preventing people from returning to their homes.

“We are outside, at the town plaza. We cannot inspect buildings yet because it’s dangerous,” Silvosa said. “I felt the building shaking, so I rushed out of the building. Our computers, shelves, plates, the cupboards, water dispenser all fell.”

A three-story office building also collapsed in La Libertad, but occupants escaped.

Negros Oriental police chief Edward Carranza said the temblor damaged many houses in Guihulngan and he ordered his men to help displaced residents find shelter.

Officials in some areas suspended work and canceled classes. Power and telecommunications were knocked out in several places.

Carranza said police rushed out of his building when the quake struck. “All my personnel ran out fearing our building would collapse,” he said.

“Now it’s shaking again,” he said as an aftershock hit. “My keychain is dancing.”

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered 44 miles (72 kilometers) north of Dumaguete city on Negros and hit at a depth of 29 miles (46 kilometers). The area is about 400 miles (650 kilometers) southeast of the capital, Manila.

The Philippines is in the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common. A 7.7-magnitude quake killed nearly 2,000 people in Luzon in 1990.

Associated Press, Updated: Monday, February 6

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/magnitude-68-earthquake-shakes-central-philippines-no-immediate-reports-of-casualties/2012/02/05/gIQAXDdxsQ_story.html

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At least five dead after Philippines earthquake

At least five people were killed today when a strong earthquake shook the central Philippines, destroying buildings and triggering landslides which buried dozens of houses, trapping residents.

The 6.8-magnitude quake, in a narrow strait just off Negros Island, caused a landslide in Guihulngan, a city of about 180,000 people in Negros Oriental province. As many as 30 houses were buried and at least 29 people were missing, Mayor Ernesto Reyes said.

Mr Reyes said four people died there, including a student at a college and two others in an elementary school. Another person died in the collapse of a town market.

The quake, which hit at 11.49am local time (3.49am GMT), triggered another landslide in the mountain village of Solongon in La Libertad town, also in Negros Oriental. An unknown number of people were trapped, said La Libertad police chief inspector Eric Arrol Besario.

“We're now getting shovels and chainsaws to start a rescue because there were people trapped inside. Some of them were yelling for help earlier,” he told The Associated Press by phone.

Three key bridges in the town suffered cracks and were no longer passable, he added.

Philippine seismologists briefly issued a tsunami alert for the central islands.

Five bamboo and wooden cottages were washed out from a beach resort in La Libertad by huge waves, but there were no reports of injuries, said police Superintendent Ernesto Tagle.

Elsewhere along the coast, people rushed out of schools, shopping centres and offices.

The epicentre was closest to Tayasan, a coastal town of about 32,000 people flanked by mountains in Negros Oriental province. A child there died when a concrete fence of a house collapsed, said Benito Ramos, head of the Office of Civil Defence.

“So far one dead, but we could not yet account for the damage to buildings,” Tayasan police officer Alfred Vicente Silvosa told The AP by phone. He said there were still aftershocks “so we are outside, at the town plaza. We cannot inspect buildings yet because it's dangerous.”

“I felt the building shaking, so I rushed out of the building. Our computers, shelves, plates, the cupboards, water dispenser all fell,” he said.

A three-storey office building also collapsed in La Libertad, but the occupants managed to run out.

Negros Oriental police chief Edward Carranza said the quake damaged many houses in Guihulngan and he ordered his men to help displaced residents find shelter.

Officials in some areas suspended work and cancelled classes. Power and telecommunications were knocked out in several places.

Mr Carranza said police rushed out of his building when the quake struck. “All my personnel ran out fearing our building would collapse,” he said.

“Now it's shaking again,” he said as an aftershock hit. “My keychain is dancing.”

The US Geological Survey said the quake was centred 44 miles (72km) north of Dumaguete city on Negros and hit at a depth of 29 miles (46km). The area is about 400 miles (650km) south-east of the capital, Manila.

President Benigno Aquino III's spokesman said authorities did not force people to evacuate but implored those along the shore to be vigilant. The coast guard grounded all vessels while the tsunami alert was in effect.

A shopping centre in San Carlos city in neighbouring Negros Occidental province was damaged when its windows were shattered by the shaking, said civil defence chief Mr Ramos.

The quake was also felt in Cebu, where it lasted about 30 seconds.

The Philippines is located in the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common. A 7.7-magnitude quake killed nearly 2,000 people in Luzon in 1990.

AP - Monday 06 February 2012

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/at-least-five-dead-after-philippines-earthquake-6579629.html

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More dead bodies recovered in Misamis Occidental shores

OZAMIZ City--At least six (6) more dead human bodies in advanced stages of decomposition were recovered from the shores of Misamis Occidental while nine (9) others in the same condition were recovered from the shores of Zamboanga del Norte, days after the onslaught of Typhoon Sendong. This brings up to 1,388 the number of accounted dead bodies who were believed victims of 'Sendong,' of which only 837 were identified, as of Jan. 12, Regional Director Ana Caňeda of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), region 10, said.

Data gathered by the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC), region 10, also show that 737 of the dead bodies were from Cagayan de Oro City, 693 were from Iligan City and 45 were from Bukidnon. Caňeda, who is the Chairperson of RDRRMC-10, said their data also show that 5,889 were injured during the onslaught of TS Sendong, but only 138 of them were identified. Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has been cited as government cluster lead, with Dr. Tammy Uy as focal person, in the Disaster Victims Identification (DVI) Cluster.

As of Jan. 5, the DVI Team has taken a total of 243 specimens for DNA testing, gathered 214 specimens for ante mortem data and processed and buried 200 unidentified bodies in Cagayan de Oro City. It has also taken a total of 121 specimens for DNA testing, gathered 118 specimen for ante-mortem data and processed and buried 128 unidentified bodies in Iligan City, as of the period. PIA-10

Tuesday, 17 January 2012 00:00

http://www.goldstardailynews.com/northern-mindanao-%7C%7C-x/7575-more-dead-bodies-recovered-in-misamis-occidental-shores.html

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15 bodies found off W. Mindanao coast

Six of the bodies in their advance stages of decomposition were recovered in the shores off Misamis Occidental while nine others were found off Zamboanga del Norte shores.
The findings brought to a total of 1,388 number of accounted dead bodies where 737 are traced to Cagayan de Oro City, 693 in Iligan City and the remaining 45 bodies from Bukidnon, the Office of Civil Defense in Region 10 said.

It said that only 837 dead bodies were identified as of Thursday last week.
Typhoon Sendong struck midnight December 17 last year, eight days before Christmas, with a killer flash flood that overflowed in the rivers of Cagayan de Oro and Mandulog in Iligan City, clearing middle-class subdivisions, shanties and gobbling thousands of residents, most of them living along riverbanks.

“It was like a bomb exploding in the dead of the night where everyone who were sleeping were roused from their sleep only to be trapped and drowned in rampaging waters that provide survivors a deadly glimpse of the ripper,” an survivor narrated.
The OCD estimated some 6000 injured. It said that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is now conducting forensics on unidentified bodies hoping to provide clues that would established their identities.

The NBI heads the Disaster Victims Identification (VDI), comprising clustered government agencies mandated to establish identities of victims, with the employment of the latest forensic technology.

In Cagayan de Oro City, the NBI has taken 243 specimens for DNA testing, 214 gathered specimens for ante mortem data and buried 200 unidentified bodies while 121 specimens for DNA testing taken in Iligan City, processed 118 specimens for ante mortem data and buried 128 unidentified bodies. CD With wire reports.

Posted on 16 January 2012 by mdb-admin

http://www.mindanaodailybalita.com/content/?p=1999

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Filipino mom still hopeful of finding 3 kids lost in flood after a month

Lucina Waluhan 's only wish when she celebrated her 32nd birthday on Thursday was to see her three children again.

Nearly a month since up to 30 feet of rampaging water inundated the city on Dec. 17, Lucina said she had not lost hope of seeing them one day.

Mary, 6; Ian, 4; and Joshua, 2 years old, were among hundreds of people still missing from the devastating flood that had killed some 700 people.

When the flood struck, Lucina said her husband, Felix, had wrapped Mary Joy with a jacket and tied her on his back.

She said she took their two other children with her as they drifted down the river. "I lost them (Ian and Joshua) under the bridge," she recounted.

Lucina was later rescued in Camiguin Island while Felix was swept and rescued in Iligan City.

As tears rolled down her cheek, Lucina said it was important for her to see her children again, even if they died in the flood.

"I wanted to see them even if they are gone, that way at least, I know where they are," she said.

Felix refused to talk about his children anymore.

But Lucina said her husband did not tire looking for them every day.

She said Felix-armed with photos of their three children-would visit nearby areas, including mortuaries, in search of the children.

Lucina said they also provided the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) with their blood samples for DNA extraction.

The NBI 's disaster victim identification process would help identify those who perished in a calamity.

The bodies of those who perished in the Dec. 17 flood here were processed at the hangar of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.

"It would take at least two months before the result could be released," Lucina said.

Lucina said she and her husband had not given up hope of finding the children, or at least one of them, one day.

The couple 's neighbors at the evacuation center here told the Inquirer there are nights when they could hear Lucina crying.

"Felix would stand outside the tent, staring into the night sky as if looking for answers for the questions he cannot fathom," one of them said.

"The hardest thing to do is to give up hope knowing that we have not seen any body and they had not appeared in our dreams, somehow, we know that they are in good hands, but we need to see them so we can rest too," Lucina said.

By Bobby Lagsa in Cagayan de Oro

http://www.pinoyfans.com/topic?nid=2113&itemsid=670

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