Sendong: 600 feared dead in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Bukidnon, Negros

From InterAksyon.com
Photo by Erwin Mascarinas

By Cong Corrales, Erwin Mascarinas, Carlos Conde, Chichi Conde, Abigail Kwok and Lira Dalangin-Fernandez and AFP

(UPDATE 27 – 6:57 a.m. Sunday) MANILA – The death toll in the devastating flash floods in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and other parts of the Philippines has risen dramatically to 440, government and Red Cross officials.

Some of the worst affected areas included Cagayan de Oro City, which reported 215 dead, and nearby Iligan city, which lost 144 residents, Philippine National Red Cross secretary-general Gwen Pang told AFP.

Pang said 21 persons also died in Negros Oriental, five in Compostela Valley, three in Zamboanga del Norte and at least one in Surigao del Sur.

As of 9:30 p.m., 162 people were still missing, 147 of whom are in CDO.

Red Cross appealed to the public to donate food and non-food items, hygiene kit, water container and purification solution, temporary shelter and medicine.

The death toll is expected to rise as funeral parlors in both Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities are being overwhelmed by the sheer number of dead bodies coming in as a result of the flashfloods caused by typhoon “Sendong,” indicating that the number of fatalities is much higher than what is officially being reported by authorities.

A check by InterAksyon.com of at least three funeral parlors in Cagayan de Oro City indicate that more than 300 dead bodies had been brought to them since disaster struck early morning Saturday. One funeral parlor, Bollozos, said it has more than 200 bodies for processing but that they stopped counting at 200, according to Chona Soler, a staff of the parlor in charge of counting the remains.

DSWD says it has P29.31M standby funds, relief supplies for ‘Sendong’ victims

Somo Funeral Homes had 60 bodies while Cosmopolitan had only 17. Bollozos had the most number because it is the cheapest funeral homes of the three.

Ryan Somo, manager of Somo Funeral Homes, said they are having problems in embalming the dead bodies since there is still no running water. “It is difficult if we can’t embalm these dead bodies right away because these could be sources of diseases and with no running water, this task will be even more difficult for us,” Somo told InterAksyon.com Saturday.

Major Eugenio Osias, spokesman of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, said early tonight that in Cagayan de Oro alone, 133 bodies had been recovered while the number of missing continued to rise. As of its last count, the military placed the number of missing at over 100 in that city alone.

Thousands of displaced residents have camped out in schools, covered basketball courts and churches in Cagayan de Oro and some Misamis Oriental towns.

In its official report released at 6 p.m., the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) placed the official number of dead at 131 while 269 were still missing. A total of 3,398 families or 16,217 persons in Visayas and Mindanao were affected by rains from storm Sendong.

Aside from Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City, flooding also hit Sibulan; Valencia; and Dumaguete City, all in Negros Oriental, the NDRRMC said. Flooding occurred in Asuncion, Davao del Norte at 5 a.m. Saturday affecting 514 families in Brgy. Napungas.

The NDRRMC is expecting a huge amount of damage in agriculture and infrastructure due to the floods.

Sendong (international codename: Washi) raked across the southern Philippines, unleashing mammoth floods across vast area. Around 20,000 soldiers had been mobilized in a huge rescue and relief operation across the stricken north coast of the island of Mindanao, where the major ports of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan were worst hit.

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Tropical storm “Sendong” has has made another landfall in the vicinity of Puerto Princesa City, Palawan and is now heading towards the West Philippine Sea, PAGASA said Sunday morning.

In its 4 a.m. bulletin, PAGASA said Sendong was 60 kilometers west northwest of Puerto Princesa moving west at 24 kph with maximum winds of 65 kph near the center and gustiness up to 80 kph.

The weather bureau said Sendong is expected to exit the Philippine area of responsibility Sunday evening.

Public Storm Warning Signal No. 2, meaning winds of 60-100 kph are expected, remains in place over Palawan and Signal No. 1 over Cuyo Island and the Coron group of islands.

Storm signals elsewhere have been lowered.

PAGASA maintains its warning that heavy rainfall is expected in areas within the storm’s 300-kilometer diameter.

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Iligan mayor Lawrence Cruz described rampaging floodwaters from swollen rivers that swamped up to a quarter of the land area of the city of 100,000.

“It’s the worst flood in the history of our city,” Cruz told GMA television. “It happened so fast, at a time when people were fast asleep.”

The station showed dramatic pictures of a family escaping out of the window of their home in the town as the floods rose, and rescue workers in orange vests shepherding survivors to safety above chest-deep waters.

Marlyn Manos, an Iligan resident, recounted how she and her children watched in terror from their rooftop as flash floods demolished neighbors’ homes.

“All the small houses behind ours were destroyed, and many of my neighbors are missing,” she said.

Benito Ramos, the council’s executive director, suggested some residents had underestimated the threat posed by the approaching storm, in a region which is outside the country’s typhoon belt.

“Storms rarely hit this area and people probably became complacent even though they knew it was heading their way,” Ramos said.

Eric Carillo, an Iligan resident, said the rains started pouring heavily late Friday but his family, who emerged alive from the floods, were not unduly alarmed and did not seek higher ground.

“I’ve been around for 47 years and this was the worst flooding I have ever experienced,” he added.

Iligan tourism officer Pat Noel told AFP waters began rising shortly before midnight (1600 GMT Friday) as people slept, sweeping houses made of light materials and their inhabitants along the riverbanks.

“Many of them told me they sought refuge on their rooftops,” he said after joining the first wave of rescuers at daybreak.

Two of the three rivers that flow into the port of Iligan had overflowed, he added, and a popular radio commentator was among those killed.

President Benigno Aquino III rushed to Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City Saturday morning to convene the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.

“President Aquino has directed secretaries Dinky Soliman and Jesse Robredo to render all the assistance needed,” Valte said.

Suffering Children

Westmincom spokesman Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang said 11 villages in Iligan City were affected by the flashflood.

Cabangbang said a certain Mrs. Gommanggad of Sito Barinaot, Barangay Bayog said many children were suffering. “She says many children are now crying, chilling with cold atop flooded houses … they need help, rescue, food, clothing …100 of them,” Cabangbang said in a text message.

He added that the children were on the roofs of their houses since 2 a.m.

Recovered Bodies

The floods struck Cagayan de Oro without warning at around 2 a.m.

Correspondent Erwin Mascarinas, who had to flee to a hotel after floods washed away the house where he stayed, tried to cover the catastrophe but ended up having to help rescue persons stranded on rooftops.

In a post on his Facebook wall, Mascarinas reported, “I was up all night covering the flood as it hit several of the barangays all over Cagayan de Oro City. Shot several rescue scenes and evacuation in Gusa. But I almost cried when I witness(ed) a dead 2-year-old child who drowned in Zone 2 Gusa. Hitched in an army truck (that) responded to another call for help in Carmen, but as we passed by Consolacion we were shocked to find out most (of) it was already under water and a lot of people were crying out for help on the other side. I tried to shoot several shots but ending up helping pull … the rope and the people out of the water together with the rescuers and volunteers. Blisters (are) all over my hand(s) after helping out in the rescue. But I later I realized my rented room was under water and I had nothing dry to wear (for) the last 6 hours except for the blanket of the hotel where I’m staying.”

Communications and transportation were paralyzed, signals were abruptly disconnected and people were panicking to get to higher ground.

And, despite what he had just gone through, Mascarinas subsequently posted again: “I will wear my wet outfit again this morning as I go back to the flooded areas … I’m tired, sleepy & a bit traumatized by the pain and suffering that I witnessed but I need to document what is happening out there and hope that next time we would learn from all of this and be more prepared… “

Blackout, No Water

The whole city of Cagayan de Oro City was in total blackout. There is also no water in the affected barangays. Communications are down, most of the stores and establishments are closed. People are panicking tying to find food. Children who dared to swim in the river would find dead animals and dead people.

Rescuers were also hampered by the sudden emergency made worse by lack of coordination and equipment. At 9 in the evening Friday, rescue workers were concentrating in barangay Gusa, which is nearer the Macajalar Bay, but when news came at around midnight that other parts of Cagayan de Oro were also inundated, the government agencies supposedly coordinating with each other became confused. They were not communicating properly so that the number of missing increased. There was no immediate command center for the city, the police, the military, the rescue workers.

Because the flood came in the dead of night, not many noticed the rising waters, particularly on Isla de Oro, a sandbar of the Cagayan de Oro River that became a slum community. No less than 10,000 people from Isla de Oro were affected by the flood.

Two members of the police who were participating in the rescue went missing. More than 500 PNP personnel were on standby to help control the situation of panic in the city. Despite all this, however, it seemed clear to many Cagayan de Oro residents that the city was not prepared for the disaster.

According to the monitoring of the City Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMC), the Cagayan de Oro barangays affected by the flash floods are Macasandig, Balulang, Carmen, Kauswagan, Macabalan, Puntod, Gusa, Cugman, Tablon, Agusan, Bugo, Baikingon, Canitoan, Consolacion, Iponan, Balubal, Patag and barangays 13, 14, 15, 7, 6 and 10.

The same monitoring list of the CDRRMC said the hardest hit were barangays Macasandig with 24 fatalities and 36 persons missing, barangays 13 and 14 with 18 fatalities and 65 persons missing — most of whom live along Isla de Oro.

Police Regional Director Chief Superintendent Jufel Adriatico said they have deployed the city police force and at least 180 personnel from the police regional office.

Adriatico also said they are working closely with the Department of Trade and Industry to monitor and ensure that prices of basic goods such as mineral water, rice, and canned goods remain stable.

“Never take advantage by jacking up or hoarding basic goods. We will arrest those who will try to take advantage of the situation,” Adriatico said.

In an interview after their meeting, Adriatico said they will donate the 450 pails full of groceries — they were supposed to distribute to their personnel in time for their Christmas party tomorrow — to the flood victims.

InterAksyon editor Carlos Conde, who contacted his family in Cagayan de Oro, quoted his brother as saying “the city’s main tributary, the Cagayan de Oro River, became so swelled that it reached our house in Carmen Ilaya — and that house and that area was never flooded.”

“Based on my brother’s description, the water must have risen so high that it also submerged the main bridge adjacent to the city hall,” Conde added. “This is the worst flooding in that city, based on his description. And both sides of the river, at least in the city proper, have thousands of households, much of it urban-poor families.”

Correspondent Chichi Conde managed to contact an aunt in Iligan. “She told me their house was the only one left standing in their neighborhood. All the neighboring houses had been washed away and that there were many dead,” she said.

No House to Live in

Jeaneth Conde-Caballero, who is based in Vietnam, is scheduled to go home to Cagayan de Oro next week for the holidays.

“Going back to the Philippines without a house to live in because the flood washed it away, all three houses in the Caballero property,” she posted on her Facebook wall Friday morning.

She said that their family compound is beside the Cagayan de Oro River and although there had been instances of flooding in the past — the worst was in 2009, when water entered their houses — the scale of the devastation was nothing like this one because it completely destroyed their houses and washed away everything in them.

As early as 8 in the evening on Friday, her mother-in-law had feared that the strong and consistent rain might swell the river.

“They decided to move to higher ground, in a church not far from the compound. They rushed to the church’s rooftop because they now could see the water rising up,” Caballero told InterAksyon.com.

Several of Caballero’s relatives also called up in the wee hours of the morning to report to her what was happening.

Still, Caballero said they had to go back to Cagayan de Oro as scheduled but this time not so much to enjoy the holidays but to help her family pick up the pieces.

“The old has gone (literally washed away), the new has come! (Thank you Lord),” Caballero’s husband Jinggoy said in his Facebook update. “I’m still looking forward to go home!” he added.

Meanwhile, Misamis Oriental Provincial Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council head Teodoro Sabuga-a said in a phone interview that in the Municipality of Naawan, there were 77 houses damages and one totally washed out by the flash floods.

“Also damaged were one government bridge amounting to Php 8 million, one poultry house totally damaged. Initially, we peg the damages at Php 900 million,” Sabuga-a said.

He also said they were able to rescue 33 persons and recovered two dead bodies in Molugan, El Salvador whom they identified to be residents of Cala-cala, Burgos St., Isla de Oro and Tibasak, this city.

“We were also able to rescue 54 persons of the coast of Luyong Baybayon, Opol town,” he said.

Complacent?

Ramos, the OCD chief, said in Manila that while Cagayan de Oro is known as a flashflood-prone area, residents there had become “complacent” since storms rarely pass through there.

Ramos said 25 millimeters (one inch) of rain had fallen over the past 24 hours, swelling rivers and swiftly inundating low-lying areas.

“Storms rarely hit this area and people probably became complacent even though they knew it was heading their way,” he said.

Social Welfare Secretar Corazon Juliano Soliman gave assurances government assistance is in place for the flood victims.

Interviewed on radio, Soliman said each family whose home was damaged or lost can avail of P5,000 in shelter assistance.

In Cagayan de Oro, she said 10 evacuation centers able to accommodate 20,000 persons are ready.

Food packs are also available for the displaced families.

Six domestic flights of Cebu Pacific were canceled due to the rain and near-zero visibility in the southern and central Philippines. Ferry services were also halted, stranding hundreds of people.

Heavily Silted

The Cagayan de Oro River is the city’s main tributary, cutting through the heart of the city. On its banks are urban poor communities, government buildings including City Hall, and the city’s main Catholic church, St. Augustine Cathedral.

Sandbars have formed in the middle of the heavily silted river and these, too, subsequently became slum areas.

The river empties into Macajalar Bay and much of its water is fed from the mountains of Bukidnon, which have been denuded by decades of logging, both commercial and illegal.

For years in the 1970s and 1980s, the main highway from Talakag, Bukidnon, was literally clogged with logging trucks headed for the docks of Macajalar Bay.

For years, communities along the highway had made a living stripping off the bark of these logs, chopping and drying this up beside the highway to be sold as firewood. The logging was so bad upstream residents said clear water rarely streamed through the river.

The Cagayan de Oro River swells every now and then. The last flooding in 2009 was serious enough to displace hundreds of people from their homes.

But the fact that communities continue to sprout along its banks underscores the realities –poverty, poor urban planning, to name two — in a growing city like Cagayan de Oro.

The city is a melting pot of people from the various provinces that surround it, mainly because of its ports’ strategic location. There have been efforts to expand the city, to ease the congestion downtown — the city’s traffic can be horrendous — but this has had little success.

Cagayan de Oro City and Iligan are in Mindanao, which is a largely agricultural area that is considered the country’s breadbasket.

The Philippines is struck by about 20 major storms annually, with most hitting Luzon, the largest and most populous island in the Southeast Asian archipelago.

Two typhoons, Nesat and Nalgae, hit the country within days of each other from late September, leaving more than 100 people dead, while tropical storm Banyan killed another eight people in October.