This developed as National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) Executive Director Benito Ramos said that rescuers are now racing against time to retrieve bodies now floating in the sea.
He said that if these floating bodies would not be retrieved immediately, they will likely sink again and be eaten by fish and other marine creatures.
Ramos said concentration of the search and retrieval operations is now at Macajalar Bay, where about 90 percent of the recovered bodies in the Cagayan de Oro City were found floating.
As of noon Wednesday, the death toll from “Sendong” was placed at 1,026, while the estimated cost of damage to property is now close to P1 billion.
Ramos said the latest number of fatalities in Cagayan de Oro City rose to 650, while Brig. Gen. Roland Amarille, commander of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division (1ID), said 299 bodies have been recovered in Iligan City as of Wednesday.
In other areas affected by “Sendong,” the NDRRMC reported 17 deaths in Bukidnon, 44 in Negros Oriental, one in Cebu, three in Zamboanga Del Norte, five in Compostela Valley, one in Surigao del Sur, and four in Lanao del Sur. The NDRRMC also included in its latest bulletin two fatalities from Camarines Sur in Bicol.
Ramos said days of continued operations are now taking its toll on soldiers and policemen, as well as members of disaster response teams from other agencies and organizations.
“Pagod na sila, kaya tumutulong na din pari mga mangingisda sa paghanap ng ga victims,” said the NDRRMC official, as he noted that three policemen have also perished when they were swept away by raging floods while doing rescue operations in Bukidnon. Ramos added that one policeman who is also part of the disaster response team remains missing as of press time.
Breeding ground for epidemics
“We may be paying so much attention to the corpses we will ignore the evacuation centers,” said Assistant Health Secretary Eric Tayag in an interview on ABS-CBN television.
“If there is any epidemic or threat to health, it will come from the evacuation centers.”
Science and Technology Secretary Mario Montejo said authorities are now looking into the possibility that the collapse of the three mini-dams aggravated the flash floods.
“It is most likely that the flash flood in Cagayan de Oro was caused not only by the high volume of rain that fell in the watershed of rivers but essentially of the collapse of dams at the upper parts of the rivers,” Montejo said during a press conference at the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) Science Garden in Quezon City last Wednesday.
In recent days, local authorities in the hard-hit port cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan have struggled to deal with the hundreds of decomposing bodies and their overpowering stench.
Iligan began on Tuesday mass burials of identified victims, while Cagayan de Oro is preparing a swimming pool-size communal tomb at the local cemetery.
Levy Villarin, health officer of Iligan, said the city’s tap water distribution facilities had been shut down to prevent possible contamination by floodwaters and fire trucks have to deliver water to 16 evacuation camps.
“The problem is we only have one or two toilets per school, and they have to cater to 3,000 or 4,000 users,” he said.
“In order to avoid epidemics we need clean water and portalets (portable toilets),” Villarin added.
Dante Pajo, a member of the Cagayan de Oro City council who is in charge of health matters, agreed there was not enough food or water for the more than 26,000 evacuees there.
“The affected areas still don’t have water or electrical services. We have to bring water to them with fire trucks,” he said.
The Department of Health (DoH) has begun its supplemental immunization against measles and flu for children to prevent the occurrence of such diseases in evacuation centers.
Due to overcrowding, Health Undersecretary Teodoro Herbosa said, health risks such as water and food-borne diseases are possible as well as upper respiratory tract infection.
Herbosa also said the DoH is monitoring 2,000 pregnant women, especially those who are due to give birth soon.
At a Cagayan de Oro gymnasium, 52-year-old grandmother Adela Campaner lined up for porridge in mid-morning to get her and her two grandchildren’s first meal for the day.
“I am ashamed that I have to beg for food,” she said, vowing to go back to their devastated riverside shantytown, called Consolacion, as soon as possible so she could resume normal life selling cooked food at a roadside restaurant.
Wearing mismatched T-shirt and pants obtained from relief workers, she said she had not taken a bath for three days and was forced to retreat from the school’s toilet earlier in the day due to the repulsive smell.
The gym was filled to the rafters with people sleeping on mats and cardboard cartons.
“I want to get out of here,” said her son Rex Campaner, a 35-year-old security guard, who said he had difficulty sleeping at night because of the noise from more than a thousand other evacuees.
“I would much prefer to live in miserable conditions in my own house,” he added.
The Office of Civil Defense said that more than 348,000 people were affected by the storm with 276,000 people receiving emergency assistance, including 44,000 at evacuation centers.
The NDRRMC said damage to infrastructure and agriculture was estimated at P999,946,415.
It includes damaged schools and classrooms in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro cities, two areas hit hardest by “Sendong.”
Among the damaged schools were: Gomburza Elementary School, Sta. Cruz Elementary School, Sta. Irene Elementary School, D. Osmeña Elementary School, Lapinigan Central Elementary School, and Bunawan Brookside Elementary School in Agusan del Sur (CARAGA); Consolacion Elementary School, Angeles Sisters National High School, Balulang West 1 Elementary School, and Bonbon North 2 Elementary School in Cagayan De Oro; Sambolawan Elementary School, Dilabayan Elementary School, Riric Elementary School, Batangan Central Elementary School, Rogero Elementary School, and Alambas School in Lanao Sur; and 12 schools in Iligan City. (With a report from Jenny F. Manongdo)
http://mb.com.ph/articles/345643/disease-stalks-survivors
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