Myths and realities in disaster situations

Myth: Dead bodies pose a health risk

Reality: Contrary to popular belief, dead bodies pose no more risk of disease outbreak in the aftermath of a natural disaster than survivors.

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Myth: Epidemics and plagues are inevitable after every disaster.

Reality: Epidemics do not spontaneously occur after a disaster and dead bodies will not lead to catastrophic outbreaks of exotic diseases. The key to preventing disease is to improve sanitary conditions and educate the public.

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Myth: The fastest way to dispose of bodies and avoid the spread of disease is through mass burials or cremations. This can help create a sense of relief among survivors.

Reality: Survivors will feel more at peace and manage their sense of loss better if they are allowed to follow their beliefs and religious practices and if they are able to identify and recover the remains of their loved ones.

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Myth: It is impossible to identify a large number of bodies after a tragedy.

Reality: Conditions always exist that allow for the identification of bodies or body parts.

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Myth: DNA techniques for identifying bodies is not available in most countries due to its high cost and technological requirements.

Reality: This technology is rapidly becoming accessible to all countries. Furthermore, in the case of major disasters, most countries can count on external financial and technological support including DNA technology.

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Myth: Foreign medical volunteers with any kind of medical background are needed.

Reality: The local population almost always covers immediate lifesaving needs. Only medical personnel with skills that are not available in the affected country may be needed.

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Myth: Any kind of international assistance is needed, and it's needed now!

Reality: A hasty response that is not based on an impartial evaluation only contributes to the chaos. It is better to wait until genuine needs have been assessed.

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Myth: Disasters bring out the worst in human behaviour.

Reality: Although isolated cases of antisocial behaviour exist, the majority of people respond spontaneously and generously.

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Myth: The affected population is too shocked and helpless to take responsibility for their own survival.

Reality: On the contrary, many find new strength during an emergency, as evidenced by the thousands of volunteers who spontaneously unite to sift through the rubble in search of victims after an earthquake.

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Myth: Disasters are random killers.

Reality: Disasters strike hardest at the most vulnerable group, the poor -- especially women, children and the elderly.

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Myth: Locating disaster victims in temporary settlements is the best alternative.

Reality: It should be the last alternative. Many agencies use funds normally spent for tents to purchase building materials, tools, and other construction-related support in the affected country.

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Myth: Things are back to normal within a few weeks.

Reality: The effects of a disaster last a long time. Disaster-affected countries deplete much of their financial and material resources in the immediate post-impact phase. Successful relief programs gear their operations to the fact that international interest wanes as needs and shortages become more pressing.

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Myth: Starving people can eat anything

Reality: It is widely held that people who are starving will be very hungry and eat any food that can be supplied. This attitude is inhumane and incorrect. Even if hungry initially, people often do not consume adequate quantities of unvaried and unfamiliar foods for long enough. More importantly, the starving people are often ill and may not have a good appetite. They will therefore languish in an emaciated state or get even sicker.

Even someone well-nourished would fail to thrive on the monotonous diets of three or so commodities (e.g. wheat, beans and oil) that is all that is available, month in, month out, to many refugees and displaced people. And this is aside from the micro-nutrient deficiencies that often develop. This misconception starts, in part, from a failure to agree on explict objectives for food assistance -- which should surely be to provide for health, welfare, and a reasonably decent existence and help in attaining and acceptable state of self-reliance and self-respect. Source: Lancet, Vol. 340, Nov 28, 1992

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Myth: Children with diarrhoea should not be intensively fed

Reality: A view from many years ago, and from non-emergency situations, sometimes persists -- namely, that children must be rehydrated (and diarrhoea prevented) before re-feeding. This policy is incorrect and, with severely malnourished children, it can be fatal. Any child with diarrhoea must be fed, if necessary with a liquid diet by nasogastric tube, at the same time as additional fluids are given. Even if the diarrhoea is profuse, some nutrients are absorbed and can start the recovery process. To begin feeding after rehydration will often be too late. Source: Lancet, Vol. 340, Nov 28, 1992

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Myth: Refugees can manage with less.

Reality: This misconception dehumanizes the refugee. It implies that, once uprooted, he or she no longer has the basic human rights to food, shelter and care - that these are now offered as charitable acts and that refugees can (or should) make do on much less than non-refugees. In fact they will often need more than their normal food requirement at first if they have become malnourished and sick before arrival at a camp and need rehabilitation; and may suffer exposure from inadequate shelter. If the only food source is provided by camp organizers, these rations have to be adequate in all nutrients. This requires a mixed food basket, including fruits and vegetables. If this cannot be ensured then trading may have to be encouraged if refugees are not to become undernourished and deficient in micro-nutrients. The fact that some foods may be traded, to add variety to the diet, is no grounds for reducing the ration. Source: Lancet, Vol. 340, Nov 28, 1992

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Myth: Trading foods indicates that people do not need all of the rations.

Reality: If the only food source is provided by camp organizers, these rations have to be adequate in all nutrients. This requires a mixed food basket, including fruits and vegetables. If this cannot be ensured then trading may have to be encouraged if refugees are not to become undernourished and deficient in micro-nutrients. The fact that some foods may be traded, to add variety to the diet, is no grounds for reducing the ration. Source: Lancet, Vol. 340, Nov 28, 1992

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Myth: A standard ration is suitable for all populations.

Reality: The recommended per caput calorie output for a refugee population should vary according to demographic composition, nutritional and health status of the population (allowing for an extra "catch-up" allowance where people are malnourished), the activity level the intake is intended to support, environmental temperature, and likely wastage in the chain from supply of food in a country to its consumption by individuals. In other words there is a range of requirements for dietary energy, which will depend on the circumstances, and use of a single figure is likely to lead to either deficit or wastage. The figure of 1900 kcal (commonly assumed to be of general application) often underestimates what is needed. Source: Lancet, Vol. 340, Nov 28, 1992

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Myth: Energy adequacy means nutritional adequacy.

Reality: The diet needs to be adequate in both quantity and quality, meeting requirements for calories, protein, and micro-nutrients. Where refugees are completely dependent on the ration provided -- for example, in the early stages of an emergency or in closed camps, where trading for diversity cannot be ensured -- the ration must be designed to meet the requirements of all nutrients in full. Often, a ration is designed to meet minimum energy requirements and micro-nutrients are left to look after themselves. How micro-nutrient needs are to be met must be made explicit, especially when the ration provided is calculated on the basis of fully meeting energy needs. Foods should be diverse and palatable, and the special needs of weaning children must be met.

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Myth: Disasters cause deaths at random.

Reality: Disasters tend to take a higher toll on the most vulnerable geographic areas (high-risk areas), generally those settled by the poorest people.

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Myth: It is best to limit information on the magnitude of the tragedy.

Reality: Restricting access to information creates a lack of confidence in the population, which can lead to misconduct and even violence.

Thursday 14 November 2013

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/lifestyle/11/14/13/myth-dead-bodies-pose-health-risk

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Seven killed in Karnataka bus fire

Seven passengers were burnt to death and 40 injured Thursday when a luxury bus headed to Mumbai caught fire after ramming into the railing of a bridge in Karnataka, police said.

The horrific accident took place around 2.45 a.m. on National Highway 4 near Haveri town, about 330 km from here. "The private bus, which was on its way to Mumbai from Bangalore, crashed into the railing at high speed and caught fire as its fuel tank cracked," Haveri Superintendent of Police M. Shashi Kumar told IANS.

The ghastly accident comes after the Oct 30 tragedy in Andhra Pradesh when 45 passengers perished when a private luxury bus going from Bangalore to Hyderabad burst out in flames near Mahabubnagar.

In the Thursday incident, 43 men, six women and a girl child were in the bus, operated by the Bangalore-based Nationals Travels. The bus left Bangalore late Wednesday after picking up passengers from seven points. It was scheduled to reach Mumbai Thursday afternoon. "We are yet to identify the victims as their bodies are burnt beyond recognition. An autopsy and DNA test will be conducted to identify the bodies with the help of their relatives," Kumar said.

Six of the 40 injured were admitted in a state-run hospital at Hubli, 50 km from Haveri town, as their condition was critical. The remaining injured were treated in a hospital at Haveri for burns. A spokesman for the bus operator told IANS one of the two drivers died in the accident. The other driver fled from the accident spot and is absconding.

Driver Mayas Pasha, who died, drove the bus from Bangalore up to a point from where the other driver, Mujaid, took over the wheels from him. The cleaner was injured in the incident, a spokesperson noted. Most passengers were asleep when the fire broke out suddenly. The survivors escaped by smashing the emergency exit window and jumping out of the burning bus.

Karnataka Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy blamed speeding for the tragedy. "Over-speeding appears to the cause of the accident. We are ordering a probe to ascertain the reason though the driver could be at fault," Reddy told reporters. The bus operator announced Rs.5 lakh as compensation each to the victims' kin after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah declared Rs.1 lakh ex-gratia.

Among the passengers were two foreigners, including one from South Africa. Police are scanning the passengers' list to verify the second foreigner's nationality. Zameer Ahmed Khan, a Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) lawmaker from Bangalore, is one of the partners in the bus travel company. "The brand new Volvo bus was inducted in October to operate on the Bangalore-Mumbai route with a valid permit, a fitness certificate and a third party insurance cover," Khan told reporters at Haveri.

Ever since the Oct 30 bus fire, the state transport department has intensified checks on all state-run and private buses operating on intra-state and inter-state routes to ensure the safety of the passengers. Khan blamed Volvo for the deaths, suspecting a technical flaw in the diesel tank. "It is too much of a coincidence that two luxury buses of Volvo make have gone up in flames in similar circumstances in a fortnight. We want the government to order an inquiry to ascertain the cause of the fire in its buses," Khan said.

Volvo offered to cooperate with the authorities. "Our technical experts will investigate the incident with the support of our safety experts," Volvo said late Thursday.

Thursday 14 November 2013

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-seven-killed-in-karnataka-bus-fire-1919284

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Typhoon Haiyan: Tacloban’s convoy of the dead is turned back as the bodies pile up

The rusting white truck began its grim journey shortly after 10.30am in the increasing heat of a tropical day.

Negotiating its way over a tangle of rubble, timber and fallen power cables, it passed groups of bystanders who gaped, covering their noses with T-shirts or outspread hands as they viewed its sorry cargo.

On board, guarded by rifle-toting Philippine army troops, were 34 decomposing corpses. Until last Friday they were residents of the bustling city of Tacloban, alive until the storm came.

The white truck and small entourage of vehicles formed a funeral procession for a mass burial – the first of what promises to be many.

But 15 minutes along a highway littered with the remains of a city, a gunshot rang out and the military convoy came to a sudden halt.

Petrified soldiers leapt to the road and sprinted for cover in the glass-strewn lobby of an empty building. Locals melted into the fields and shacks beyond.

The troops had no doubts as to the culprit for the suspected attack. “New People’s Army,” they muttered, referring to a shadowy communist rebel group said to operate in some corners of the Filipino countryside.

As they returned to their vehicles and raced back to the city centre, rifles and handguns trained on the blur of collapsed buildings around them, it became clear that there would be no mass burials that day.

The incident, witnessed by The Telegraph on Wednesday morning, underlined the immense challenges facing government officials and aid workers as they battle to piece Tacloban back together again.

Five days after disaster struck, the bodies continue to pile up on street corners, roundabouts and at local morgues. The security situation appears to be deteriorating, with nerves stretched among locals and military and rumours spreading of the NPA’s involvement in a spate of violent crimes in the city’s under-curfew downtown area.

The funeral procession had set out from the Tacloban City Pasalubong [Souvenir] Centre, a palm-lined compound that was once a leading local tourist attraction selling postcards and handicrafts.

Since the weekend, the seaside shopping centre has been transformed into an improvised open-air morgue where corpses are stored in advance of the mass burials. The bodies have not stopped arriving.

On Wednesday inside its gates, almost 200 bodies were splayed out beneath black “Department of Health” body bags, putrefying in the scorching heat.

On one open-topped truck, dozens more were stacked, their bodily fluids seeping down the vehicle’s bodywork before forming a potent rust-coloured puddle on the ground.

Senior Supt Emmanuel Aranas, the forensic officer co-ordinating Tacloban’s burials, said many more victims would arrive over the coming days and weeks. Thousands are believed to have died here. “We are expecting more bodies,” he said. “Right now we have 111 [over there] and 74 [here]. The 74 are Monday. The 111 are Tuesday. It’s difficult to know when it will stop. We’ve been here for two or three days already, and we are still finding cadavers.”

Mr Aranas said the health risk from so many unclaimed dead was minimal and insisted that the situation was coming under control. But a five-minute stroll through the grotesque, corpse-strewn wasteland that is now Tacloban gives the lie to that claim.

Even now, scores of bodies continue to litter the city’s streets, abandoned by desperate relatives or total strangers outside churches, government buildings or on the patio of an abandoned petrol station.

“At midnight, the people bring the bodies here,” sighed Renato Metran, the 56-year-old deacon of the Iglesia Ni Cristo church. Here dozens of bloated and often faceless corpses form what might be a protective circle around a statue of Saint Joseph, their hands, feet and bellies distorted. “There are so many dead,” said Mr Metran, staring out at the ghoulish scene.

Black body bags also line each side of the city’s main thoroughfare — the National Highway – with names or partial names scrawled on to white labels in washed-out orange ink.

“Maria Gutierez,” read one such tag. “Connie (torso),” stated another. A third, in capitals, said: “RONALYN CANETE & BABY!” Inside the office of a collapsed Shell petrol station that has become a notorious disposal site for the dead, a woman’s intricately manicured feet poked out from beneath a blue and white sheet. Beside her, the right leg of an infant, perhaps aged three or four, could also be seen.

The child’s body had been covered with a red and white windscreen shade that read: “Improve Performance. Whatever you drive.” Some are making a good business out of Tacloban’s tragedy.

At the Cebu Rolling Hills funeral parlour, bosses have given their fleet of four battered black Mercedes hatchbacks the task of cleaning up the city’s streets — something the city’s shattered government has so far failed to achieve.

Gerson Jandoc, a company security guard who has now turned his hand to corpse collecting, said demand was so great that the company was running out of materials.

“We have many, many bodies. I wanted to help,” the 29-year-old said to explain his recent career change. “The problem is we don’t have any more body bags.”

Mr Jandoc had already hauled six bodies into his hearse by 9am on Wednesday morning and taken them off to the funeral parlour. His third mission of the day was to remove the body of 70-year-old Marina Cortez from the roadside and prepare her horribly mutilated corpse for burial.

“If you have to wait for the army it will take too long. It is up to us to make our move,” said Nelson Javier, 44, the woman’s nephew, who had paid 53,000 pesos (£740) for the service. He stood and watched as Mr Jandoc and a colleague pulled Ms Cortez’s remains on to a stretcher before wrapping her in white plastic, securing her body in place with green tape and finally slotting her into the car’s rear.

But for some survivors, it is still too early to think about burials.

Handwritten signs appealing for information about missing loved ones have been pasted on to many homes beside placards warning off looters.

Five days after the disaster, Mark Philip, a local fisherman, was still scouring the wreckage of his family home for the body of his eight-year-old son, Mark Anthony. “I lost my son,” he said.

“We haven’t find him yet. “I was trying to save my son but [a piece of] timber hit my head. I lost my son to the water.”

Asked if the police or government were helping, he shook his head. “We haven’t seen any of the bodies moved yet.” Back at the tourist centre-turned-morgue, Mr Aranas reassured reporters that the mass burials would begin and Tacloban’s “stink” would soon be gone.

But that was before the white truck left and before the shooting began.

When the funeral convoy returned to the centre with its cargo intact, new bodies had appeared alongside the iron fence of the morgue – soon to be counted and added to the already terrible number.

Armando Belo Surrao, 48, whose girlfriend had lost her father to the typhoon, surveyed Tacloban’s increasingly nightmarish landscape. “It’s like being in a movie only with the smell and the taste and the [special] effects,” he said. “It is surreal.”

Thursday 14 November 2013

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/philippines/10447057/Typhoon-Haiyan-Taclobans-convoy-of-the-dead-is-turned-back-as-the-bodies-pile-up.html

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Cyclone death toll in Somalia's Puntland rises to 140

The death toll from a tropical cyclone that hit Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region at the weekend has risen to 140, and the final figure could be 300, the government said.

A state of emergency has been declared and the government appealed for international aid. It said it needed clean water, non-perishable foods, medicines, shelter materials and blankets.

"So far we have confirmed the storm killed 140 people," said Abdullahi Ahmed, Puntland's interior minister. "We are afraid the death toll may reach 300 because many people are still missing. Roads have been cut and the only access to those areas is by air."

Weather experts at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said the cyclone, which made landfall on Saturday, brought unusually heavy storms. Latest rainfall data shows the cyclone has subsided after flooding the towns of Eyl, Dangaroyo and the Puntland capital, Garowe, though heavy rains are still expected inland.

Somalia's president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, pledged to send $1m to the region. Puntland said in August it had cut ties with Mogadishu, accusing it of refusing to share power and foreign aid.

The cyclone's heavy torrential rains caused flash floods that led to the loss of about 100,000 livestock. Many fishing boats were swept into the Indian Ocean. The FAO said about 65% of Somalia's population depended on livestock.

"Knowing that livestock and fisheries are key livelihood activities in the affected regions, we anticipate the storm to heavily hurt coastal communities," said Rudi Van Aaken, the acting head of FAO in Somalia, pledging help for the survivors.

Puntland spans the north of Somalia and has largely escaped the worst of the country's upheaval over the last 20 years. Foreign powers advocating a loose federal political system for Somalia have held up Puntland as a possible model.

Wednesday 13 November 2013

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/13/puntland-cyclone-death-toll-somalia

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China reports deaths amid Typhoon Haiyan

Seven people were killed and another four were missing as of 10 a.m. Tuesday as Typhoon Haiyan continued its progress through south China, according to official figures.

The National Disaster Reduction Commission announced that more than 3 million people in China's southern provinces of Hainan and Guangdong and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region had been affected by the typhoon.

Haiyan, the strongest typhoon this year, arrived in Guangxi on Monday morning after having wreaked havoc in the Philippines and Vietnam.

Five fatalities occurred in Hainan and two in Guangxi.The typhoon toppled more than 900 houses, damaged another 8,500 and destroyed 25,500 hectares of crops.

Wednesday 13 November 2013

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-11/12/c_132882295.htm

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Foreign, local forensics experts joining NBI team in Tacloban

Foreign and local experts will be joining the forensics team of the National Bureau of Investigation that will be leaving for Tacloban City this week work to identify the bodies of victims in areas devastated by super typhoon “Yolanda.”

Wednesday afternoon, Dr. Wilfredo Tierra, head of the NBI’s medico-legal division, met with forensics experts from the International Red Cross.

The embassy of New Zealand and Interpol have also indicated that they will be joining the 15- to 20-member NBI disaster identification team.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Dr. Raquel Fortun and three other forensic Filipino forensic pathologists have also volunteered to assist with the identification of the bodies.

Reports from Tacloban and other badly hit areas indicate that many bodies remain under debris and even on the streets and many have begun to smell.

In some towns, officials said bodies found along highways had to be buried by the roadside to speed up the clearing of debris and allow the delivery of relief.

De Lima also explained that identifying the dead is important, “para ‘yung mga kaanak na gusto ng maayos-ayos na libing ay magawa ‘yon (so those who want to give them a decent burial can do so) … we have to account for each and everybody … living or dead, kailangan ma-account (they need to be accounted for).”

Five days after Yolanda struck, the experts acknowledged that the task would be difficult and their numbers were few.

They cited the work of identifying victims of the deadly Northern Mindanao flashfloods triggered by storm “Pablo” last year, which is still continuing.

The NBI team will try to work with dental records and, where possible, cadavers’ fingerprints.

However, when this is no longer feasible, they will have to turn to DNA tests, which cost at least P15,000-20,000 each.

A four-man NBI team is already in Tacloban undertaking preparatory work, including finding a place to work, ensuring transportation and determining which areas they will be to undertake an ocular inspection and determine the areas to visit.

The NBI said they would include in their work victims already buried in mass graves, which they will exhume as long as these are contained in individual cadaver bags.

Wednesday 13 November 2013

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/74731/foreign-local-forensics-experts-joining-nbi-team-in-tacloban

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Typhoon Haiyan: Mass burials begin

Mass burials are beginning Wednesday in the typhoon-stricken city of Tacloban, with the mayor saying he is crossing his fingers and hoping no more than 1,000 bodies will eventually fill the freshly dug pit.

Alfred Romualdez said dozens of trucks will roam the city to pick up bodies over the coming days. Many bodies have already been placed at the roadside for retrieval, he said.

Mr. Romualdez said it may take another week to assess the number of lives lost in the city. In the meantime, asked about President Benigno Aquino III‘s statement Tuesday that the death toll in the Philippines from the typhoon would likely mount to 2,000 to 2,500–compared with the 10,000 figure cited by other officials—Mr. Romualdez said it was premature to make any estimates.

“To be very realistic, whoever comes up with a number is not realistic,” he said. Many communities, he notes, haven’t yet been reached to assess their losses.

Meanwhile, the number of fatalities is becoming more evident over time, he said, as the smell from the deceased buried beneath the debris grows. “Some [neighborhood] officials say there’s no dead, it’s OK,” he said. “After three days, they smell something in the rubble, and they know there’s something here.”

Even next to his own house, he said, while he and his family originally believed there were no corpses, as time passed and a stench arose, they found six floating nearby in the water.

Part of the reason Tacloban’s fatality count is so high, the mayor said, is because many people came seeking refuge. “You have to understand Tacloban is the regional center. Every time there’s bad weather or severe storms, people come here for shelter. And the irony is they came here for shelter and we were one of the hardest hit,” he said.

About 10% of bodies in Tacloban so far, he estimates, have been retrieved and disposed of by family members. The number of the missing, meanwhile, he says is in the “high hundreds,” but adds that such a figure may be an understatement, as some families were completely wiped out with no one left to report them gone.

Yesterday, he noted, one barangay—or neighborhood—retrieved 60 dead. Another is reporting 30 lives lost. There are 130 barangays in Tacloban, he said.

According to Philippine law, he said, bodies shouldn’t be buried without being properly processed—namely, that the government will do everything they can to identify, photograph and document them before placing them into the ground.

Mr. Romualdez said that diggers finished the mass grave Tuesday, and that bodies will begin to be laid to rest there Wednesday.

Standing outside City Hall on a morning that dawned sunny and blue, Mr. Romualdez heard reports from staffer Gloria Enriquez-Fabrigas, who said that she needed tarpaulin to help bury corpses two levels deep. She also said families would have the chance to have a prayer be read at the grave. “Catholic, whatever prayer, there’s a Muslim prayer, a Christian prayer—the family can decide,” he said.

Meanwhile Wednesday, some signs of normalcy were returning to the city’s streets, the mayor said, with limited public transport beginning to resume.

Wednesday 13 November 2013

http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2013/11/13/diary-of-a-disaster-mass-burials-begin/

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Philippines typhoon: President lowers death toll estimate

Philippine President Benigno Aquino says the death toll from Typhoon Haiyan may be lower than first thought.

Speaking to CNN, he said the number of 10,000 killed was "too high" and the figure was more likely up to 2,500.

The UN says more than 11 million people are believed to have been affected and some 673,000 displaced.

The relief operation is being stepped up, but many are still without aid. On Wednesday, eight people died as a rice warehouse was looted, officials said.

The earlier figure of 10,000 feared killed came from a police officer and local official and may have arisen from the "emotional trauma" of being at the centre of the disaster, Mr Aquino said.

He said 29 municipalities had yet to be contacted to establish the number of victims there.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) has put the official death toll at 1,833, as of 06:00 local time (22:00 GMT) on Wednesday. The number of injured stands at 2,623 with 84 listed as missing. Angry residents

Despite the increased aid effort, many survivors still badly need food, water and shelter, aid officials say.

There has been criticism of relief efforts, as the damage to transport links and bad weather are hindering distribution of relief supplies.

However, Philippine Interior Minister Mar Roxas told the BBC that relief efforts were on track.

"Our first priorities were, number one, to establish law and order; number two, to bring food and water to the people; and, number three, to recover the cadaver bags," he said.

"[Now] law and order has been stabilised, the supply of food and water is beginning - I'm not saying that we're anywhere near it - [but it] is beginning to be stabilised... and now we are concentrating on recovery of cadavers as well as on the distribution of the food and the relief that is coming in."

But Philippine armed forces spokesman Ramon Zagala told the BBC teams were struggling to reach isolated places.

"The area is very vast and the number of helicopters, although we have a lot of helicopters at the moment, it's really a challenge for us to bring [aid] to all the places and [bring] the number of goods that are needed." 'Hopelessness and desperation'

Tacloban - a city of 220,000 on Leyte island - is particularly badly affected.

The BBC's Jonathan Head says the main road from the airport to the city is clogged with refugees and debris, with residents becoming angry at the lack of progress and increasing breakdown in security.

Bodies remain uncollected, local government has been wiped out and central government, which is meant to have taken over, is almost invisible, our correspondent adds.

Leyte congressman Martin Romualdez said there was a sense of "hopelessness and desperation" amongst many survivors.

"We are seeing a lot of relief goods, medicines, equipment coming in, but it's not reaching the people affected," he told the BBC.

"The destruction is so massive in scale and so extensive in our areas that we literally would have to rebuild from scratch," he added. "We just imagine it, our area, as a ground zero, as if a nuclear bomb had exploded above us."

On Tuesday the UN launched an appeal for $301m (£190m) to help survivors. It has already released $25m to meet immediate needs.

UK charities launch typhoon appeal

The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs says 11.3 million people are in need of vital goods and services, because of factors such as lack of food, healthcare and access to education and livelihoods. Security fears

Aid agencies have warned that the security situation is worsening. There are reports of food warehouses and grocery shops being ransacked and people starting to fear for their safety.

Eight people died on Tuesday as survivors mobbed a government rice warehouse in Alangalang, Leyte, officials said.

"One wall of our warehouses collapsed and eight people were crushed and killed instantly," Rex Estoperez, spokesman for the National Food Authority, said.

The police and soldiers were unable to stop the looters, who took more than 100,000 sacks of rice, Mr Estoperez added.

John Cordell, from disaster relief charity ShelterBox, told the BBC: "I think [the reports of attacks on food convoys] are deterring a lot of aid agencies from getting in there."

On Tuesday, an aid convoy travelling to Tacloban was reported to have been attacked and two of the assailants shot dead by troops.

The Philippine air force has been flying transport planes in and out of Tacloban airport, carrying relief supplies and evacuating hundreds of residents.

The US is sending its aircraft carrier USS George Washington and other navy ships to help with the relief work. The carrier is expected to arrive within the next few days. The UK's Royal Navy destroyer HMS Daring is also making its way from Singapore.

US Marine Corps Brig Gen Paul Kennedy said his troops would install equipment at Tacloban airport, enabling planes to land at night.

"You are not just going to see marines and a few planes and some helicopters," he said. "You will see the entire Pacific Command respond to this crisis."

Other countries have also pledged millions of dollars in assistance.

'Like 2004 tsunami'

Typhoon Haiyan - named "Yolanda" by Philippine authorities - struck the coastal provinces of Leyte and Samar on Friday. It was one of the most powerful storms on record to make landfall.

It swept through six central Philippine islands before travelling through Vietnam and southern China.

Several people in both countries were killed, according to state media reports.

In the UK, the Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) group of 14 charities launched its own appeal to help the typhoon victims on Tuesday.

DEC chairman Salah Saeed compared the destruction in the city of Tacloban to that seen after the devastating tsunami of 2004.

"There is currently no food, water or electricity. We can only imagine how much worse the situation will be for families living in towns and remote villages," he said.

Wednesday 13 November 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24920250

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Philippine forensic workers begin identifying typhoon victims (with video)

The heartbreaking task of identifying the victims of Typhoon Haiyan begins.

More than 100 body bags line this city hall in Tacloban in the central Philippines, which bore the brunt of Friday's super typhoon.

These forensic investigators say they need fingerprints, dental records and DNA.

"We will try our best to maximize the DVI (Disaster Victim Identification) but we know that the task could be overwhelming because of the sheer number. And we are running out of time," said Emanuel Aranas, deputy director for operations at Philippine National Police Crime Lab.

Decomposing flesh may make fingerprint identification more difficult and many dental records have been lost in the devastation.

All the bodies that have not been identified will be buried in mass graves.

The Philippines has been overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster and 10,000 are estimated to have died in Tacloban alone.



Tuesday 12 November 2013

http://www.trust.org/item/20131112101707-9h7du/

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Why typhoon Haiyan caused so much damage

The deadly typhoon that swept through the Philippines was one of the strongest ever recorded. But storms nearly this powerful are actually common in the eastern Pacific. Typhoon Haiyan's devastation can be chalked up to a series of bad coincidences.

Typhoons — known in our part of the world as hurricanes — gain their strength by drawing heat out of the ocean. Tropical oceans are especially warm, which is why the biggest storms, Category 4 and Category 5, emerge there. These storms also intensify when there's cool air over that hot ocean.

"The Pacific at this time of year is very ripe and juicy for big typhoons," says Kerry Emanuel, a climate scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Once or twice a year we get a Category 5 typhoon out there."

"But it's a great rarity, fortunately, that a storm just happens to reach peak intensity when it's making landfall. And that's what happened in this case."

As it approached one large island in the Philippines, the storm pushed up into a broad bay. That created a 13-foot storm surge that caused widespread devastation at the head of that bay, in the city of Tacloban. Typhoon Haiyan struck the Leyte Gulf, in the Philippines, nearly dead-on, creating a 13-foot storm surge that funneled water into Tacloban city.

Typhoon Haiyan struck the Leyte Gulf, in the Philippines, nearly dead-on, creating a 13-foot storm surge that funneled water into Tacloban city.

Mountains also wring rainwater out of storms like these. And then there's the wind.

"So we had a triple whammy, of surge, very high winds and strong rainfall," Emanuel says.

Super Typhoon Haiyan could be the strongest on record, but scientists can't say for sure because they don't have direct measurements of the wind speed. Hurricane scientists usually fly into storms heading toward the United States to measure wind speed and barometric pressure. And the U.S. Navy used to do that for storms in the western Pacific. But Emanuel says budget cuts ended that practice decades ago.

"Since then, we've had to rely on satellites, mostly, to estimate typhoon intensity," he says. "And satellites are very good at detecting the presence of typhoons but they're not so great when it comes to estimating how strong they are."

Scientists at the U.S. Navy/Air Force's Joint Typhoon Warning Center infer that Haiyan produced sustained wind speeds of around 190 or 195 mph at its peak. John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas state climatologist at Texas A&M University, says gusts blew up to 230 mph, which is as fast as a speeding race car.

YouTube "Imagine instead of having just one car, imagine millions of raindrops and debris moving at the same speed past you, and you're trying to stand in the middle of it," Nielsen-Gammon says. "That's the kind of force such a hurricane can generate."

The strongest hurricane or typhoon winds on record were from Camille, which struck the U.S. Gulf Coast in 1969. But its 190 mph winds don't tell the whole story. The diameter of the storm matters as well.

"Camille was a very small storm, maybe about one-fifth the size of Haiyan," he says. "So it caused a lot of devastation but over a relatively limited area."

To find out whether Haiyan had record-breaking winds, scientists may turn to amateurs for information.

"Any major storm will attract storm chasers, and Haiyan was no different," Nielsen-Gammon says. "So there were people who traveled to Tacloban specifically to get footage of the storm, and they took along some instruments. So we'll probably get some data out of that."

Of course, that number is only one way to measure the overall severity of a typhoon. The mounting death toll will be another.

And climate scientists like Nielsen-Gammon and Emanuel say that as the planet continues to heat up, so will the oceans. And that means there will be more energy available for storms — and likely more Class 4 and 5 typhoons.

Tuesday 12 November 2013

http://www.npr.org/2013/11/11/244572227/why-typhoon-haiyan-caused-so-much-damage

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Typhoon Haiyan: Removing dead bodies 'not a priority'

The World Health Organisation has said that the bodies of victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines do not pose a public health risk.

WHO said that removing the dead was important after a natural disaster, especially for the psychological recovery of survivors, but that spending vital time and resources on removing and disinfecting the dead should not be a priority yet.

Haiyan was reckoned to be the worst storm in recorded history, with an estimated 10,000 people dead and the toll expected to grow as more victims are discovered. Large parts of the country have been devastated and relief efforts were hampered by wrecked or blocked roads and bridges.

WHO said it is working with the Department of Health in the Philippines to organise aid for survivors.

Getting aid to survivors was the main priority, said WHO. Julie Hall, Philippines representative, said: "We are working closely with the Philippine government and local authorities to assess and rapidly address the life-saving needs of the people affected by this typhoon.

"WHO has an assessment team on the ground in Bohol, and we are sending teams to Cebu and Tacloban with the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination teams in support of national response efforts. WHO is flying in more than two dozen health emergency relief experts and emergency health kits for the initial response."

Medical supplies to cover the basic health needs of 120,000 people for a month have been shipped in and there are enough equipment and medicines to perform 400 surgeries, she said. Supplies to treat 3,000 cases of acute diarrhoea have also been sent.

WHO has re-emphasised the findings from a report it produced in 2006 - that relief efforts should be focused first on helping the living rather than the dead.

"Governments are frequently overwhelmed by large numbers of dead and may order mass burials in the interests of protecting public health," the report said. "Initial media focus is often on the dead and graphic images of dead bodies among the debris creates pressure on governments to 'do something'.

"There is a widespread and erroneous belief, even among some health professionals, that dead bodies are a source of disease and therefore a threat to public health. This is untrue. There has never been a documented case of an epidemic occurring after a natural disaster that could be traced to exposure to dead bodies."

WHO said misconceptions about corpses often led to the "unnecessary diversion of staff and resources at a critical time".

"Pressure from misinformed journalists and media organisations can cause governments to behave inappropriately, for example, spraying the area around dead bodies with disinfectant or covering dead bodies with lime. These operations are costly, time-consuming, require complicated logistics and coordination, take staff away from caring for survivors and are totally unnecessary.

"Care of the dead and missing is an important area of work after a disaster and is clearly a major social responsibility of government. It is very important for the psychological recovery of survivors to have their dead relatives returned to them for culturally appropriate rites and disposal.

"A well-organised system for the retrieval, storage, identification and disposal of the dead is an essential part of a national disaster management structure, but like other parts of that structure, it must be properly planned and resourced."

Tuesday 12 November 2013

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/521600/20131112/typhoon-haiyan-world-health-organisation-removing-dead.htm

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Single morgue copes with Karachi's death toll

As Ghulam Hussain prepares for another day at work as manager of the Edhi Morgue, the only functioning morgue in Karachi -- a city of more than 18 million and the explosive nerve center of Pakistan -- on the other side of town a large bundle wrapped in a white shroud is loaded by two men into an ambulance.

The red-stained shroud does a poor job of hiding the bloodied corpse inside.

On arrival at the morgue, the bundle is gingerly carried inside. On a good day, this would be the first of five bodies Hussain receives.

"Sometimes, there are as many as 10 bodies in a day and other times even more," he told UPI Next.

As the police officer rattles off details about the corpse -- where it was picked up, the clothes it was wearing, bullet wounds, any identifying features -- Hussain jots them down in the register in front of him.

He writes the number 138,289 on a piece of paper and pulls it under the string holding the shroud in place. The body is then sent to cold storage, where other wrapped corpses lie side by side on steel bunks.

"If we wash the body at once it changes the way they look and families have a hard time recognizing their loved ones," explains Hussain.

The port city of Karachi accounts for about 40 percent of the country's gross domestic product, 73 percent of its income tax and 64 percent of sales tax revenues.

Hardly a day goes by when someone is not robbed or killed, or a trussed-up body is not found by the side of the road. City newspapers carry stories of such violence daily.

Through June of this year, 1,726 killings were recorded by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. About eight people have died each day this year, on average.

Last year -- the deadliest in two decades, with 2,000 fatalities, according to the commission -- it took nine months to reach 1,800 bodies. Of the total killed this year, more than half were killed by robbers or bomb blasts.

The morgue has certainly been busier this year, Hussain said.

In March, a deadly bomb attack ripped through the city's Abbas Town area, killing 48 people.

"Even the morgue's floor was covered with charred bodies," another morgue worker, Mohammad Siddique, recalled. Siddique bathes bodies before they are sent for burial.

Hussain says of every five victims of violence, two are claimed by their families, while the rest are buried in the Edhi graveyard. The morgue charges about $10 for keeping a body in its cold storage, $6 for pre-burial bathing and $23 for an austere wooden coffin.

The fee is hardly enough to cover the cost of the electricity bill, which amounts to about $4,700 a month. Maintenance of air conditioners alone costs up to $187 per month.

The morgue was set up in 1984 by the Edhi Foundation, Pakistan's largest charity organization, after founder Abdul Sattar Edhi saw the need for somewhere unclaimed dead could be buried with customary religious honor.

The foundation was provided with 10 acres of land in Mawach Goth, an area on the outskirts of the city by Mayor Abdul Sattar Aghani, burial site administrator Anwar Kazmi told UPI Next.

The land soon filled up and the government gave the foundation 20 more acres.

Now, at least six unclaimed bodies are buried there each day.

In the first six months of the year, the foundation buried 828 unclaimed bodies. Last year, it buried more than 1,500; the previous year, more than 1,700.

"Since 1985 we have buried at least 217,000 bodies here," Kazmi said.

Two government hospitals in Karachi also have cold storage facilities, but they are seldom used, the city's chief medical examiner, Jalil Qadir, said.

"Often when bodies, including those of high-profile criminals, are kept in the hospital morgues, their relatives often come and wreck the facilities and injure doctors on duty. This is perhaps why the hospital authorities are not interested in keeping their morgues functional," the chief of forensics at Karachi's Sindh Jinnah Medical University, Dr. Muhammad Ali Mondhra, told UPI Next.

Meanwhile, corpse No. 138,289 lies on the cold steel bunk in the morgue. No. 138,281 lies beside it.

People come and go. Some have brought their late loved ones in for final burial rites. Others come searching for their loved ones.

Though Hussain's job is to guard the dead, he said it gives him a deeper appreciation of life and its fluidity.

"Once we received the body of a girl who had been raped. Her body had been found lying on the street. But her father refused to own his daughter and take her body home because he was angry at his daughter for running away," Hussain said.

"I kept the body for 11 days thinking that the father would change his mind and come back to claim it. But when it started to turn blue and decompose I had to send it for burial."

Meanwhile, two men arrive at the morgue. The younger man is looking for his older brother, missing for the past three days. He is taken inside the cold storage room to see if he can recognize someone. He does.

Corpse No. 138,281 has been identified as the victim of a shooting in the troubled south zone of Karachi.

Three days after arriving at dawn, corpse No. 138,289 is taken out of cold storage with five others. A photo is taken of the face, with the body number placed below.

Night shift workers give him his final ablution. The stained shroud is replaced. He is loaded back into an ambulance and taken to his final resting place in Mawach Goth, in the graveyard for the unknown.

Tuesday 12 November 2013

http://www.upi.com/UPI-Next/2013/11/11/Single-morgue-copes-with-Karachis-death-toll/91375451955667/

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BAHID conference programme and registration form now ONLINE

The conference of the British Association for Human Identification (BAHID) will take place on Saturday 30 November & Sunday 1 December at Chancellors Hotel and Conference Centre in Manchester (UK).

We are pleased to announce that the conference programme and registration form for the BAHID conference are now ONLINE. The conference will take place on Saturday 30th November at Chancellors Hotel and Conference Centre in Manchester (UK). The British Association for Forensic Anthropologists (BAFA) will jointly organise a meeting and workshop on Sunday 1st December.

The usual 'welcome reception' will take place on Friday evening 29 November. The theme of the conference will be centred around ‘Preparing for Disasters’ with invited talks from forensic experts and disaster planners. BAFA will hold a meeting and a workshop on Sunday 1 December.

The registration form can be found here: http://www.bahid.org/conference/conference-registration/

The conference programme can be viewed here: http://www.bahid.org/conference/programme/

Details of the conference venue, travel directions and accommodation bookings can be found here: http://www.bahid.org/conference/venue/

Accommodation is still available at the venue. Please note that a limited number of pre-reserved rooms are available so book at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment. To access the discounted BAHID room booking rates, delegates must quote BAHID and Booking Reference 147800 and reserve with their own debit or credit card. Twin room availability is limited, so booking early is advisable.

Single room - £50/night (incl VAT and full English breakfast)
Double room (single occupancy) - £60/night (incl VAT and FEB)
Twin room (double occupancy) - £75/night per room (incl VAT and FEB)
To book a room, delegates need to telephone Chancellors directly on 0161 306 7578 Monday - Friday between 9.00 am. and 5.00 pm., or 0161 306 7414 (main reception) outside those times.

Please note that the deadline for conference registration is Wednesday 27th November 2013.

If you have any questions, please contact j.bikker@dundee.ac.uk (BAHID Membership Secretary & conference organiser) or info@bahid.org

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DOH rejects mass burial for 'Yolanda' typhoon victims, bodies should be properly documented and identified

The fatalities in last week's onslaught of Typhoon Yolanda should be properly identified and their loved ones notified before their remains are buried in a common grave, Health Secretary Enrique Ona said Monday.

Ona said there is no need to rush the burial of the victims because dead bodies do not pose immediate health risk.

“Those are cadavers and when you die, you are no longer infected. The bacteria dies with you,” he said.

It was estimated that as many as 10,000 people may have died in Tac-loban City alone when Yolanda’s strong winds triggered a storm surge that inundated the city.

A mass burial for Philippines Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) victims, local officials planned one mass grave of between 300 to 500 bodies in one area of Tacloban.

“They can bury the dead in a mass grave only after they have been identified by the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation). It is important for the bereaved families to know where they can find their dead relatives,” he added.

Health Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag said being able to retrieve and give proper burial to the remains of their loved ones would greatly ease the anguish of survivors in the tragedy.

“It is not just about burying the dead. It is tormenting if you do not know whether your loved one is just missing or dead. So it is very important for them to be able to give the last rites for their dead relatives,” Tayag said.

Tayag said the department is set to release guidelines for mass burial to concerned local government units.

The guidelines include setting up of a “collection point” for dead bodies.

“While the dead are being documented and identified, mass grave should be prepared. Authorities in charge should know how many bodies will be placed in a grave,” he added.

More grimly, the airport has been turned into a makeshift morgue for the growing number of bodies, found stacked in churches, snagged on tree branches or underneath rubble. Mass graves have been dug to accommodate the corpses, with police chief Elmer Soria reckoning that most victims either drowned or were crushed to death by crumbling buildings.

Tuesday 12 November 2013

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/11/11/13/doh-rejects-mass-burial-yolanda-victims

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Typhoon reaches Vietnam; 13 killed, 600K displaced

Tropical Storm Haiyan, which killed thousands as a typhoon in the Philippines, has made landfall in north Vietnam, near the border with China.

It still carried gusts of up to 157km/h (98 mph) as it arrived close to the Ha Long Bay tourist destination.

Nearly 900,000 people have been evacuated from regions at risk. Reports say at least 13 people have been killed and 81 injured.

China issued a typhoon alert for Hainan island and other southern provinces.

Chinese rescuers found two bodies off Hainan on Monday, the state-run Xinhua agency reported. They are believed to be sailors from a cargo vessel missing in the South China Sea since Sunday.

Another five crew members are still unaccounted for.

'Intense rain'

Vietnamese state media said that although at least 13 people had died, the fatalities appeared to have taken place during preparations for the storm, before it made landfall.

One of those killed was a journalist who died in an accident on her way to cover the storm, reports said.

The typhoon has decreased markedly in strength from the Category Five storm that swept through the Philippines in a day, causing mass destruction.

It is now classified as a severe tropical storm.

By 21:00 GMT on Monday, as it heads into China, it will have become a tropical depression.

Rainfall will be the main hazard. A 48-hour accumulation of 100mm to 200mm is expected, with up to 400mm over high ground.

Widespread flooding is a possibility, including in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi.

Oxfam's Vietnam director, Andy Baker, told the BBC: "We've had fairly intense rain across much of northern Vietnam, including here in Hanoi where I'm based, and there are concerns about flooding... there's been something of a storm surge of perhaps 3-4m (13ft) higher than usual."

International Federation of Red Cross representative Francis Markus, who is in Hanoi, told the BBC: "We need to be thankful that this storm system has weakened as it's hit Vietnam.

"But at the same time we also can't be complacent because having travelled over such a wide expanse of sea, it's picked up a huge amount of moisture and so we can expect very heavy rainfall with potential flooding and landslides and other dangers."

A resident of Hanoi, Nguyen Thi Uyen, told AFP he had dashed to the supermarket to stock up.

"There was not much left on the shelves... people are worried, buying food to last them for a few days."

There are reports of rising prices in the capital.

Haiyan makes landfall

Haiyan earlier swept over Vietnam's Con Co island, 30km (18 miles) off the coast of central Quang Tri province.

"All 250 people on the island, including residents and soldiers, were evacuated to underground shelters where there is enough food for several days," the Tuoi Tre newspaper said.

Boats have been ordered back to port along many coastal regions. Several hundred domestic and international flights have been cancelled. Schools have been closed for Monday in many parts of the north.

The authorities have moved 883,000 people in 11 central provinces to safe zones, according to Reuters.

Some people have complained that the warnings have come too late.

In China, Xinhua reported that the National Meteorological Center had issued a red typhoon warning - the highest alert in its four-colour typhoon warning system.

More than 13,000 people were evacuated from the major tourist resort of Sanya on Hainan.

More than 200 flights at Hainan's airports have been cancelled or delayed.

The typhoon passed by the south-western tip of Hainan as it headed for landfall on the Vietnam coast close to the China border, the Hong Kong Observatory's typhoon tracker showed.

Xinhua also said that eight people had died after being swept out to sea in northern Taiwan by waves attributed to Haiyan.

The typhoon killed up to 10,000 people in one area of the Philippines alone, with rescuers as yet unable to reach many other cut-off regions.

It brought sustained winds of 235km/h (147mph), with gusts of 275 km/h (170 mph), with waves as high as 15m (45ft), bringing up to 400mm (15.75 inches) of rain in places.

Deadly typhoons

Sept 1937 Hong Kong typhoon - 11,000 dead

Sept 1959 Typhoon Vera - deadliest to hit Japan, killing 5,238 people

Aug 1975 Typhoon Nina - about 229,000 die in China after collapse of Banqiao dam

Nov 1991 Typhoon Thelma - deadliest in the Philippines to date, killing 5-8,000

Tuesday 12 November 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24890114

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29 killed in South Africa bus accident

A bus collision in South Africa killed 29 people and severely injured 11 others, on a road notorious for deadly accidents, a government spokesman said.

"The number is now 29," said Mpumalanga province safety department spokesman Joseph Mabuza, updating an earlier tally of 26 dead in yesterday's accident.

The bus collided with a truck near the town Kwaggafontein 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of the capital Pretoria.

Three of the injured had died in hospital, while eight others were still critical and another 12 slightly hurt.

The bus was traveling from Pretoria when it collided with a truck which had swerved out of its lane, said Mabuza.

"The truck driver was trying to avoid a stationary vehicle and collided with the oncoming bus," he told AFP.

"We are not sure if the truck driver and the bus driver survived the accident," he added.

The injured were taken to hospital in nearby KwaMhlangu.

The bus company's name was not immediately available.

Known as the Moloto road for one of the towns along its way, the route is notorious for deadly collisions.

Around 50,000 people commute to work in Pretoria daily along the narrow and potholed route, using 635 buses.

Transport vehicles using the road are often overloaded and unroadworthy while drivers are prone to speeding.

Last month 18 people were injured in a collision on the route, while news reports about deadly accidents are frequent.

Last year religious leaders held a prayer service for the safety of the road. A radio station also dedicated a day to profile its dangers during which a provincial minister committed to improve conditions.

In September 27 people died when a heavy-duty truck crashed into traffic near eastern city Durban, while 24 were killed when a double-decker bus crashed into a mountainous pass near Cape Town in March.

Tuesday 12 November 2013

http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/29-killed-in-south-africa-bus-accident-government-113111200053_1.html

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Two dead, five missing from cargoship hit by typhoon Haiyan

Two seafarers are dead, and five are missing after Chinese cargo vessel disappeared in typhoon Haiyan when it struck the southern Chinese island of Hainan.

Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that a Guangxi-registered cargo vessel had broken free from its mooring on 9 November in the port of Sanya and vanished at sea after the typhoon struck the port.

Rescuers found two bodies suspected to be seafarers from the missing in the vessel. Search and rescue operations were underway for five seafarers still missing.

The typhoon Haiyan has left more than 10,000 feared dead in the central Philippines, and pictures show vessels driven ashore flattening homes in in Anibong town near Bacolod city which bore the worst of the impact of the super tyhoon when it made landfall.

Tuesday 12 November 2013

http://www.seatrade-global.com/news/asia/two-dead-five-missing-from-cargoship-hit-by-typhoon-haiyan.html

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Worst plane crash in RCAF history frozen in time

Seventy years later, it is still the worst accident in the history of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

On Oct. 19, 1943, an Ottawa-bound B-24 bomber crashed into a mountain just north of Montreal, killing 24 military men who were headed for some well-deserved time off.

The wreckage of the B-24 Liberator that crashed during a snowstorm still rests near the summit of Black Mountain, outside of St. Donat.

After the plane disappeared during the flight from Gander, Newfoundland, the RCAF sent more than 700 search flights to locate the wreckage.

Friends and family of those on board waited for news of survivors, but as time passed and the plane was not found, hope began to fade.

The RCAF eventually had to call off the search.

Nearly three years later, a pilot noticed a flicker of light coming from a forest, far north of where the original search had taken place, and the wreckage was discovered on the remote mountain top.

For families of the deceased, the agony of never knowing what happened had finally ended and personal belongings recovered from the crash site were sent back to grieving next of kin.

As Canadians mark Remembrance Day, the family of one of the deceased airmen, Corporal Ronald Douglas Marr, is recalling their own tragic story of loss.

“To think family didn’t know anything for 32 months about where the crash was, where his remains were… that’s a long time,” said Karen Valley, Marr’s grandniece.

It took several days for officials to make the trek to the crash site. Some family members, including Marr’s father, travelled there to hold a funeral and bury the remains of the men on the mountain.

Marr’s nephew, Graham Ingram, said although officials debated sending bodies back to families, there was no way to individually identify the remains because the wreckage was so badly burned.

“These are people who lived together, who worked together… for eternity, let them be together. I think it was a good decision,” Ingram said.

Marr was a wireless operator and armourer with the RCAF and his family still has precious personal items of his, including a helmet, photos and letters that depict some of the horrors of war.

“We’ve had a very busy three weeks, mom. The squadron is credited with nine kills on submarines and we alone made two attacks with one confirmed kill. It was pretty grim. Ships all over the ocean basically and all over the Atlantic, but one night alone we saw five ships on fire. Sickening is no word for this sight,” Marr wrote to his mother.

The family has also kept letters from the RCAF and one from King George Vl.

On this Remembrance Day, sharing their story is a way for Marr’s family to honour his sacrifice and the contributions of others who defended the freedom of all Canadians.

Tuesday 12 November 2013

http://globalnews.ca/news/960017/worst-plane-crash-in-rcaf-history-frozen-in-time/

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Family tracing services activated following deadly typhoon

The American Red Cross is providing support to the Philippine Red Cross for its response to Typhoon Haiyan, which caused significant damage and a rising death toll.At this time the American Red Cross can accept tracing inquiries for missing loved ones in relation to Typhoon Haiyan.

Inquiries that will be accepted that meet the following criteria:

** Sought persons living in the affected area who were in regular contact with their relatives in the United States before the event occurred.

** For family members who are not U.S. citizens.

Inquiries concerning U.S. citizens should be referred to the U.S. Department of State, Office of Overseas Citizens Services, at 1-888-407-4747.

Those concerned about a missing family member in the Philippines should remember that many phones lines are down. As a result they should continue trying to reach their loved one. If, after several attempts, persons cannot be reached, contact the local chapter of the American Red Cross to initiate a tracing case.

People who want to donate to the American Red Cross to support the response for this typhoon can go to redcross.org or call 1-800-REDCROSS. 


The Northeast Ohio Region of the American Red Cross is comprised of 13 community chapters. Together, the organization serves 22 counties and their 4.5 million residents by preventing, preparing for and responding to emergencies 24 hours per day, seven days a week.

With the vast scale of death and destruction slowly coming into focus, international relief teams rushed toward the central Philippines, where one of the strongest storms on record left bereft survivors looting food and water or scrambling for a way out.

Aid agencies said they were hurrying supplies to the area hit early Friday by the typhoon. U.S. Marines were en route from bases in Okinawa, Japan, and U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel directed the Pacific Command to deploy helicopters, logistics officers and cargo planes to assist the effort.

Initial reports suggested that the Philippines had escaped widespread loss of life from fast-moving Typhoon Haiyan, called Yolanda by Filipinos. But as reports trickled in Sunday from areas that had been cut off from the rest of the country, it became increasingly clear that the country had suffered a major natural disaster.

The storm weakened over the South China Sea after leaving the Philippines.

In the Philippines, police superintendent Elmer Soria told reporters that officials on the island of Leyte had estimated 10,000 deaths. The U.S. Agency for International Development said that in some parts of the central Philippines, 90 percent of the housing had been destroyed.

“There was death everywhere,” said Danny Larsen, a 35-year-old Dane, who arrived Sunday at a military airbase in Manila from Leyte’s main city, Tacloban.

With few if any cars around and no gas available, Larsen said he walked about 10 miles to the airport from a village where he had ridden out the typhoon in a basement. The road was like “death row,” he said. Multi-story buildings had been reduced to heaps of broken concrete rubble, and bodies were strewn about.

“There were people — babies, children, old people — lying out on the street, with blisters over their bodies ... hundreds of them,” said Larsen.

Television footage showed wooden houses in splinters, cars floating on their sides through floodwaters, upended trees and telephone polls and houses with their roofs blown off.

Many of the most desperate remained trapped in remote, mud-choked coastal towns without power, transportation or telephones.

In Tacloban, a city of 220,000, officials said that more than 100 bodies had been found on the airport grounds alone. The homeless and injured crowded around the airport hoping to escape, or at least to find food or fresh water.

Larsen, who had moved to Tacloban two weeks earlier with his girlfriend, said he had waited eight hours with about 1,000 people to get on a cargo plane back to Manila. Their main concern was not the typhoon damage but the lawlessness.

“Everything is being looted. ... There is no law enforcement — it’s a free-for-all,” he said. “Hotels, everything, cash registers, even McDonald’s. ... It is World War III.”

As reports trickled in from more far-flung areas, there were more tales of death and destruction.

“We just made a mass grave for 57 people,” Mayor Edgar Boco from the small coastal town of Hernani told reporters.

While survivors tried to escape, dozens of others in Manila were hoping to catch a ride on a transport plane from Manila’s Villamor Air Base to the scene of the disaster in hopes of finding out what happened to loved ones.

Philippines President Benigno Aquino III toured the area by helicopter Sunday, landing in Tacloban. Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said the storm destroyed everything in its path.

“From a helicopter, you can see the extent of devastation. From the shore and moving a kilometer inland, there are no structures standing,” Reuters news agency quoted him as saying. “I don’t know how to describe what I saw. It’s horrific.”

An initial USAID survey said the cities of Tacloban and Ormoc were “wiped out,” Jeremy Konyndyk, the agency’s director of foreign disaster assistance, said in a statement.

UNICEF said it was sending supplies for 3,000 families from stocks already in the Philippines, and that its warehouse in Copenhagen was airlifting $1.3 million worth of water purification tablets, soap, medical kits, tarpaulins and nutritional supplements for an additional 10,000 families. The World Food Program said it was preparing to send 40 metric tons of high-energy biscuits from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Mammoth Medical Missions, a nonprofit based in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., that provides health services to underserved communities, said a 16-member team had arrived in Tacloban after being diverted from a mission in Chiapas, Mexico.

As part of their mutual defense treaty, the U.S. and Philippines conduct multiple training exercises to prepare for scenarios including disaster response.

The U.S. Navy was flying two P-3 Orion surveillance planes above the islands to help rescuers locate the most severely damaged areas and find survivors.

On Sunday, about 80 Marines from the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade stationed in Okinawa boarded two KC-130 cargo planes bound for the Philippines, Col. Brad Bartelt, a Marine Corps spokesman, said in a statement. They brought supplies and communications equipment.

The Marine Corps will also be sending MV-22 Osprey aircraft. The Osprey is shaped like a cargo plane, but can rotate its propellers vertically like a helicopter to land and take off without a long runway.

In a statement released Sunday, President Barack Obama said that he and first lady Michelle “are deeply saddened by the loss of life and extensive damage done by Super Typhoon Yolanda.”

“I know the incredible resiliency of the Philippine people, and I am confident that the spirit of Bayanihan will see you though this tragedy,” Obama said, adopting a term commonly used in the Philippines that means communal cooperation.

Tuesday 12 November 2013

http://www.norwalkreflector.com/article/3769341

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Typhoon Haiyan: reports of mass graves in Iloilo, difficulty coping with the number of deaths

There is no functioning morgue here, so people have been collecting the dead from Typhoon Haiyan and storing them where they can — in this case, St. Michael The Archangel Chapel.

Ten bodies have been placed on wooden pews and across a pale white floor slick with blood, debris and water. One appears to have foamed at the mouth. One has been wrapped in a white sheet, tied to a thick green bamboo pole so that people could carry it, and placed on the floor.

One body is small, and entirely covered in a red blanket.

"This is my son," says Nestor Librando, a red-eyed, 31-year-old carpenter. "He drowned."

Librando had taken refuge in a military compound nearby by the time the typhoon's storm surge poured in Friday morning. For two hours, the water rose around him. He held his 2-year-old son in one arm, his 3-year-old son in the other.

But the torrent proved too strong, and swept the family out of the building. The water rose above Librando's head and he struggled to swim. His younger son slipped from his hands and was immediately pulled under the water.

"I found his body later, behind the house" in the courtyard, sunken in the mud, he says.

"This is the worst thing I've ever seen in my life, the worst thing I could imagine," Librando says. "I brought him to this chapel because there was nowhere else to take him. I wanted Jesus Christ to bless him."

The chapel is close to the Tacloban airport, in an area where the storm felled and shredded a vast bank of trees. The water moved with such force that light poles beside a dirt road are bent to the ground at right angles.



The airport partially reopened on Monday 11 November, three days after the typhoon, but only for flights carrying relief supplies and equipment. The airport has also become a makeshift morgue for the growing number of bodies.

At a lakeshore west of the airport terminal, three bodies lay among the rocks. A man, wearing blue shorts and lying face down. A child with yellowed arms grasping skyward. A tiny baby, sprawled on its back.

More bodies lay along a muddy beach nearby. A dead man in jeans leans forward, his head in the water, his back feet somehow perched frozen above the sand and mud behind. Beside him, a child in a diaper lays partially covered by a palm frond, beside wood, debris and a green crate labeled San Miguel Brewery.

There are survivors here, too, including 22-year-old Junick de la Rea. He says the water swept him and five of his relatives off a rooftop where they had fled, but they all survived by grabbing a bunch of plastic and metal containers that happened to float by.

"Please, can you help me?" de la Rea asks a reporter. "I want you to send a message to a friend of mine," a friend who works for the German Red Cross Union.

His message: "We survived. I want to say we survived. ... We lost everything. But we are still alive — and we need help."

Bodies recovered in Iloilo buried in mass graves

“I just want to find my husband and bring him home,” said Margie Molina.

But she was also hoping that her search would not end at the morgue of Crisme Funeral Services where 20 unclaimed cadavers of victims of “supertyphoon Yolanda” (international name Haiyan) have been brought since Friday.

Margie failed to find her husband Eliseo Molina Jr. and was told to look for him at the municipal cemetery where mass graves were being dug for the decomposing bodies.

She rushed to the cemetery along with Edgie Francisco who was also looking for his father Eduardo Francisco. She feared the worst for her husband and worried how she would cope with such a loss, with three children aged 8, 7, and 4 years old to raise.

Eliseo Molina and Eduardo Francisco were crew members of the fishing boat “Segundo Wheeler,” which capsized near Apad Bay in Estancia at the height of the onslaught of the typhoon last Friday.

The crew had sought refuge at the bay but the strong winds threw the boat up three times before it was slammed upside down, according to Margie, quoting accounts of surviving colleagues of her husband.

Estancia, 153 kilometers northeast of Iloilo City, was among the worst hit towns in Iloilo.

Municipal officials have reported the recovery of 71 bodies as of Monday morning, more than half of the 133 fatalities reported for the entire Iloilo province.

The unclaimed bodies, including about 25 fishermen believed to be from Masbate, were buried in mass graves on Sunday. The fishermen died after their boats anchored at the port of Estancia were thrown up and slammed against the port by a storm surge.

“We are still picking dead bodies from the sea,” said Erol Acosta, municipal budget officer.

At the coastline, the smell of decomposing bodies mingled with diesel fuel odor. A hand stuck out from the debris.

The storm surge broke moorings of a power barge of the National Power Corp. (Napocor) and slammed the barge against the coastline, crushing several houses. Residents said bodies were still pinned under the barge.

The barge leaked diesel fuel, which coated the coastline and has been threatening the health of residents and marine life.

The barge has a maximum capacity of 1.2 million liters of diesel fuel, according to James Abayon, Napocor maintenance officer.

Coast Guard personnel were rushing the putting up of more oil spill booms to prevent the spread of the oil spill.

Estancia Mayor Cordero said they did not know where to evacuate the residents affected by the oil spill because even schools and other buildings, which were supposed to be evacuation centers were destroyed.

The town, known as the “Alaska of the Philippines” because of its seafood industry and popularity as a fish trading center, has been paralyzed after the typhoon cut off electricity and communications.

The first relief assistance started to arrive only late Sunday afternoon, two days after the supertyphoon, because roads were blocked by uprooted trees and electric posts.

Only a few roads have been cleared of debris, fallen trees and electric posts even in the town center as town officials grappled with the overwhelming destruction and the number of residents seeking assistance. Many villages were still inaccessible from the town center.

Residents were dependent on two water refilling stations for potable water and rice and food was running out.

“At least 99 percent of houses and other structures were destroyed or damaged,” Cordero said.

Several other northern towns of Iloilo have been devastated and are desperate for food, water and other relief assistance. Most of the province was still without electricity and access to communication.

The delivery of relief assistance has also been hampered by impassable roads, with many portions of the national highway from Iloilo City littered with fallen trees.

Many electric posts were toppled and thrown from one side of the highway to the other. Electric lines were being used to hang clothes by residents who lost their homes and were staying along the road.

Government agencies have sent initial food assistance to island-barangays by helicopter and by Navy boats because thousands of motorboats were destroyed, cutting off the island-barangays from the mainland.

Monday 11 November 2013

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/nov/11/in-wrecked-chapel-10-bodies-and-a-fathers-pain/

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/525393/71-dead-in-iloilo-buried-in-mass-graves

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APFSL sets record with relentless work

The Andhra Pradesh Forensic Science Laboratory (APFSL) had a point to prove in the aftermath of the horrendous Mahbubnagar bus inferno that charred 45 bodies beyond recognition.

Sharada, the in-charge director of the laboratory which will become four decades old the next year, proudly claims, “We had to do the tests under a lot of pressure and we did it in a record time of seven days.”

The government had said the process of DNA testing would take as many as 15 days.

According to the director, her team worked day and night to solve one of the most challenging tasks. “No one had any Deepavali leave or even the weekly offs. We worked relentlessly. In fact, some of us fell ill too but the work did not halt. We were relieved only after all the bodies were identified,” said the in-charge director.

APFSL which mostly investigates crime cases, had to divide its resources into five teams in for this case-collection of clues and samples from the mishap scene, a team working from the lab, one for results and interpretation, one for preparation of DNA report and for dispatch. “In previous cases that we had handled, we could gather clues like clothes, ornaments, etc. Here, we were strictly directed only to consider DNA and not any preconceived notions,” she pointed out.

The lab had to collect as many as 500 to 600 samples and sub-samples from the 42 charred bodies in order to establish their identities. “We could have finished the task much earlier. But, in one case, only one kin had submitted his samples. Hence, once we identified the DNA, we sent it to CDFD for cross checking to do away with any ambiguity,” she stated.

Funds crunch, which almost every government department complains of, according to her was not a major issue with the state government’s timely response. She said that her technicians efficiently utilised available DNA kits and the government also showed no slackness in supplying them adequate resources.

Speaking about the pressure they underwent while investigating one of the gravest accidents, she opined that the initial chaos among families and their pain also served as the impetus for the technicians to speed up the process.

She said the process of collecting the DNA involved breaking the cell wall, then the nuclear membrane, followed by collecting suitable tissues from skin, bones and muscles. This, she said was the only tedious task as most of the bodies were totally charred. “It was a relentless task of 72 hours without breaks for extracting the DNAs. Rest of the things just followed. With this, we have proved that we are prepared to face any such situations,” she stated.

Monday 11 November 2013

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Zimbabwe: Ethanol tanker fire DNA samples taken

Samples for 13 victims of the Chisumbanje ethanol tanker inferno were transferred to Harare from Mutare last Thursday where the DNA profiling is to be conducted by a team of medical experts.

The team, which is being led by Africa Institute of Biomedical Science Technology (AiBST) founder Professor Collen Masimirembwa, took tissues and blood samples from 19 relatives of the victims.

The team requires six weeks to carry out tests and then release the results.

Acting Manicaland police traffic co-ordinator Chief Inspector Cyprian Mukahanana confirmed that the team had left Mutare.

"They left here (Mutare) this morning for Harare where the tests will be conducted," Chief Insp Mukahanana said.

"The experts said they need six weeks to conduct the process before releasing the results."

Chief Insp Mukahanana said the relatives would be advised when the results were out or if there was need for them to assist during the process.

Police in Mutare said two families, the Muyambos and Mariyas, managed to identify the four victims, bringing the total number of those who have been identified to 12.

Chief Inspector Mukahanana said a post-mortem was conducted on the four bodies and the relatives ferried them to Chipinge for burial.

The Muyambo family identified three of its relatives, while the Mariya family managed to identify one.

Twenty four people were burnt, some beyond recognition, when the ethanol tanker collided head-on with a Mazda T35 truck carrying mourners, resulting in a huge inferno.

There has been confusion in the identification of the charred remains of some of the victims, with their relatives at one stage suggesting mass burial after they failed to identify them.

They later opted for DNA tests, prompting Government to engage the team of experts.

Monday 11 November 2013

http://allafrica.com/stories/201311111031.html

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Two weeks to identify bodies of Indonesian Army copter crash victims

It will take the Indonesian authorities about two weeks to identify the bodies of 13 passengers of an Indonesian Army (TNI-AD) helicopter which crashed in Malinau, North Kalimantan near the Indonesian-Malaysian border on Saturday.

The process to identify the victims involved forensic examination and matching their DNA with that of their next-of-kin, said TNI-AD Flight Centre Commandant, Brig-Jen M. Afifuddin on Monday.

Meanwhile, TNI-AD Chief of Staff General Budiman said the helicopter which was ferrying 19 passengers crashed into a 10-metre deep ravine amidst strong wind.

The dead comprised eight civilians and five military personnel.

The six survivors comprised two Army personnel and four civilians.

“The survivors, who suffered burn injuries, have been evacuated to the Tarakan Naval Hospital,” he said when contacted from Samarinda.

Regarding the removal of the bodies of the dead victims, Legowo said it could not be done on Saturday due to a limited number of helicopters and the fading light. The operation to remove the bodies will resume on Sunday.

Legowo said the helicopter crashed in thick jungle amid strong winds.

The East Kalimantan Police chief spokesman, Sr. Comr. Fajar Setiawan said the ill-fated helicopter took off from Tarakan city at about 10 a.m. local time, initially with six passengers of whom three were civilians.

“The helicopter then landed at Apauping village to take another 10 residents who were to help in the construction of the Malinau-Sarawak border guard post”. Fajar told Antara from Samarinda.

The helicopter left the village at about 10:20 a.m local time carrying 19 people on board, including three crew, and logistics heading to the Malinau-Serawak border.

“The distance between the village and the post is very far and could only be reached in three days if attempted overland,” said Fajar. “Therefore, logistics supply has to be carried out by air.”

The helicopter crashed near the post’s soccer field as it was about to land.

Earlier, Indonesian Military (TNI) chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Iskandar Sitompul confirmed the helicopter had crashed and, based on initial investigations, it was suspected the helicopter had suffered a power loss.

“The helicopter was heading to its destination when it suffered a sudden power loss causing it to crash and burst into flames,” he told Antara in Jakarta.

Iskandar said the helicopter was relatively new, being between two and three years old. There have already been two serious incidents involving Mi-17s this year.

Monday 11 November 2013

http://www.nst.com.my/latest/two-weeks-to-identify-bodies-of-indonesian-army-copter-crash-victims-1.398212

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/11/10/chopper-crashes-13-dead.html

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Rescuers race to reach cut-off communities with many missing from Typhoon Haiyan

Rescue workers in the Philippines were on Monday engaged in a desperate struggle to reach areas devastated by 'Super' Typhoon Haiyan, amid fears the estimated death toll of 10,000 people could rise even further.

Even in a country inured to natural disasters, the sheer scale of the destruction wrought by ‘Super’ Typhoon Haiyan has left everyone from the estimated 9.5 million people affected by the storm, to the government and aid agencies, reeling in shock.

“Absolute bedlam” is how the Chairman of the Philippines Red Cross Richard Gordon described the situation in Tacloban City. The worst-hit area so far reached, Tacloban is where the majority of the 10,000 people believed killed are thought to have perished.

“There are an awful lot of dead people all over the place,” said Mr Gordon.

Three days after Haiyan sent tsunami-like, five metre-high waves crashing into Tacloban, destroying virtually every building in the city, corpses of both people and animals litter the streets.

Food, water and medicine are in desperately short supply and shocked survivors wander the city begging for food and water from anyone who might have it.

As the stench of rotting, bloated bodies floats through the air, the chances of disease spreading through the city’s surviving population increase by the hour.

The International Red Cross said the figure of 10,000 deaths is “realistic”. Now, the Philippines media is calling Haiyan the worst disaster to have ever hit their country of more than seven thousand separate islands.

Widespread looting and disorder in Tacloban, as starving and homeless people search for food and water, has only added to the difficulties being experienced by the authorities and aid agencies.

“The unstable security situation is a clear indication of the desperation on the ground,” Marie Madamba-Nunez, Oxfam’s spokesperson in Manila, told the Telegraph. “There have been reports of people attacking relief convoys and even helicopters are not being spared.”

With so many remote communities still cut-off from the outside world, there are real fears that the final death toll will be far higher.

Only now are the first relief teams arriving in eastern Samar province, the first place in the central Philippines to experience the full force of Haiyan’s fearsome winds and raging floods.

Estimates of the dead on Samar are already in the hundreds and thousands more are missing.

“Access has been very difficult and it’s only today that we have managed to get a team into Borongan in eastern Samar. A helicopter was able to land them,” said Mrs Madamba-Nunez.

But the coastal town of Guiuan, where Haiyan first made landfall on Friday, remains completely isolated.

Aerial footage has revealed that much of the town of 40,000 people has been flattened, raising the grim prospect that the number of dead there may match that of the destroyed city of Tacloban.

“The roads are completely impassable and there is no contact with the town, so I believe the navy will have to try and reach Guiuan,” said Mrs Madamba-Nunez.

Other severely-affected areas in the Visayas island group to the west of Tacloban and Samar are also still unreached.

“We’re still unable to get through to Roxas City. The water on the roads is hip-high and electrical posts and trees are across all the roads,” Kendra Clegg, one of a four-person UN disaster and assessment team on Panay Island in the Visayas, told the Telegraph.

The mood of the survivors too, is becoming darker. “Some people are complaining about the lack of supplies,” said Ms Clegg. “People are definitely more sullen than they were yesterday.”

Over 630,000 people have been displaced by Haiyan, and are camping out in makeshift evacuation centres, or simply sleeping in the open.

“98 per cent of the houses are destroyed in parts of northern Cebu Island, but the main problem is the lack of water,” said Tata Abella, an Oxfam worker in the town of Daanbantayan on Cebu’s far northern tip.

“People are drinking from secondary sources like wells, but these are not really safe so there’s a real risk of people falling ill.”

More than anything, the huge calamity in Tacloban means that far fewer resources are reaching the other regions devastated by Haiyan.

“The destruction in Tacloban is appalling,” said the UN’s Ms Clegg, “but it’s overshadowing the other places that were hit by the typhoon.”

Monday 11 November 2013

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/philippines/10440265/Rescuers-race-to-reach-cut-off-communities-with-tens-of-thousands-still-missing-from-Typhoon-Haiyan.html

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Storms kills 100 in Somalia's Puntland, more missing

At least 100 people were killed over the weekend when a tropical cyclone hit Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region, President Abdirahman Mohamud Farole said on Monday, appealing for help from aid agencies.

"A heavy storm hit Bandarbeyle and Eyl towns on Saturday and Sunday. About a hundred people died. Hundreds of houses and livestock were swept by the floods into the ocean," Farole told reporters in the capital Garowe.

"We urge United Nations aid agencies to assist the victims. As Puntland, we have established a committee to investigate the loss and damage. Electricity, communication and fishing boats were all destroyed."

The government of Puntland said in a statement that hundreds of people remained unaccounted for and declared a natural disaster emergency.

Puntland spans the relatively calm north of Somalia and has largely escaped the worst of Somalia's upheaval of the last 20 years. Foreign powers advocating a loose federal political system in Somalia have held it up as a possible model.

The area is rich in energy resources and is being sized up by oil explorers. However, Puntland's authorities have said insecurity is growing, and blame the Islamist al Shabaab militia, which has been driven out of many regions that it used to control in the remainder of Somalia.

Monday 11 November 2013

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/11/11/uk-somalia-storm-puntland-idUKBRE9AA0KD20131111

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Bodies of trapped miners found in NCotabato

Rescuers recovered on Sunday the cadavers of six missing illegal gold miners buried alive in a tunnel in Magpet, North Cotabato that collapsed due to heavy rains over the weekend.

The victims were digging for gold inside a tunnel along a mountainside in Sitio Kaumpig in Barangay Temporan, whose entrance was blocked by soil and rocks that fell from its canopy, loosened by heavy rains.

The six miners were identified as siblings Jeneto and Jeyrold Flores, Frigel and Romnel, both surnamed Senados, Marion Catubay and his wife, Aileen.

Police investigators found out that the victims did not have any valid permit for their mining activities, which they kept secret from their local government unit.

The chairperson of Barangay Temporan, Yolly Bernabero, said they learned of the victims’ plight from their companion, Jefrey Flores, who managed to dig his way out of the tunnel.

Flores later died in a hospital while undergoing medication for his injuries.

Bernabero said rescuers had to dig through the tunnel first using farm tools to reach the location of the trapped miners.

The local government unit of Magpet has ordered the immediate closure of illegal mining sites in Barangay Temporan to prevent a repeat of the incident.

Monday 11 November 2013

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/philippines/10440265/Rescuers-race-to-reach-cut-off-communities-with-tens-of-thousands-still-missing-from-Typhoon-Haiyan.html

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