Mass burials at Philippine villages, death toll could reach 700 (Roundup)

Dec 3, 2006, 9:49 GMT

Manila - Mudslide-devastated villages in the eastern Philippines buried their dead Sunday as hysterical local officials pleaded for food and water, with the death toll in the tragedy expected to reach past 700.

Rescuers continued the grim search for more bodies under the black swathe of volcanic debris, boulders and mud at the foot of Mayon Volcano in Albay province, 330 kilometres south of Manila.

'Please send us even water, we have nothing to drink here,' begged Rose Realuyo, chieftain of Rawis village, one of the affected areas in Legazpi City. 'We need help. Please tell the president we need help now.'

Realuyo, whose community was struck with panic after false warnings of an incoming tsunami amid the retrieval operations, sobbed as she urged President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to send immediate aid and more relief goods.

'We need you now Mrs. President,' she wailed.

In nearby Padang village, Ramon Balderama, 28, shooked with grief as his youngest child, a two-year-old son, was buried in a local cemetery with about 40 other victims, including his 50-year-old mother.

'My wife and other child, a four-year-old daughter, are still missing,' he said, his eyes bloodshot from sleepless nights and fatigue. 'They are probably dead, but I need to find their bodies.'

Balderama said his daughter slipped from his embrace when he was hit in the chest by a boulder during the mudslides.

Despite his injuries, he dug through the rubble with his bare hands and found his son hours after the tragedy struck.

'I didn't feel anything, I didn't mind the pain, I just started digging,' he said.

Red Cross officials said that the death toll could reach up to 700, as more people reported relatives and friends missing in the mudslides.

'Six hundred to 700 people are feared dead,' Senator Richard Gordon, Red Cross chairman, said after visiting the village of Padang, one of those badly hit hit by the mudslides, in Legazpi City.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said it had confirmed at least 285 dead in Albay province, mostly due to the mudslides triggered by typhoon Durian. At least 292 more people remained missing and feared dead.

Durian, which slammed Thursday into the Philippines' eastern coast with maximum sustained winds of 195 kilometres per hour, killed another 18 people in the provinces of Camarines Sur, Catandanues, Quezon and Oriental Mindoro, the NDCC said.

A local Red Cross official in Albay said that based on projections, the number of missing could reach up to 769 people.

Similar mass burials were also planned in the nearby towns of Daraga and Guinobatan, where many of the missing were reported.

Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal said that bodies were decomposing fast and had to be buried to prevent the spread of disease.

Many of the mud-covered bodies were laid out on streets, covered only with cloth. Funeral parlours were packed, and formalin was already running out, Rosal said.

The bodies that have not yet been identified were to be buried in shallow graves for 'easier' retrieval and identification later on, officials said.

Government scientists said that Durian's heavy rains loosened volcanic debris on the upper slopes of Mayon, setting off the deadly mudflows that buried surrounding communities.

Mayon spewed lava, molten rocks, ashes and volcanic debris in July and August in a 'quiet eruption' that attracted tourists. The tons of debris were deposited at its slopes and had hardened over time.

While authorities have declared a permanent danger zone within a 6-kilometre radius of Mayon's summit, many people, especially farmers, still reside on the fertile lands in the area.

More than 455,000 people have been displaced by Durian, which destroyed some 105,000 houses. Damage to infrastructure and agriculture has been estimated at a minimum of 27.71 million pesos (565,510 dollars).

Durian was the fourth powerful typhoon to batter the Philippines since late September. In all, more than 250 people were killed in the three previous typhoons.