Officials stop counting the dead in Philippines

A government agency which officially tallied more than 1,000 dead, halted the counting of casualties as desperate and angry survivors continued looking for more than 1,000 missing relatives, all of them feared dead when Typhoon Washi swept away illegal settlers in five coastal towns in the southern Philippines on December 16. "Survivors continue reporting names of missing relatives, but they could be among the recovered, but still unidentified bodies," said Undersecretary Benito Ramos, head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). The NDRRMC listed about 1,080 dead, but 773 of them or more than 71 per cent have not yet been identified by relatives, said Ramos. Many of them were already interred during mass burials as local government officials tried to stop the spread of diseases in devastated areas in the south. The NDRRMC listed 1,079 missing, based on testimonies of surviving relatives, said Ramos. He did not explain how his agency could correct the numbers of the dead and the missing. Some of the missing people were washed away to the sea and their bodies might not be recovered, said Ramos. Meanwhile, local government sources told Gulf News that about 3,000 might have perished from the disaster, based on the number of unaccounted residents in the five coastal towns that were wiped out after Typhoon Washi's devastation in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City, the two worst hit places in the south. People from isolated areas have started to come out and look for missing relatives, Rosanna Kalingin in Cagayan de Oro told Gulf News in a phone interview. Local government agencies are now using census as a basis of the number of missing people, said Kalingin. Other sources said that many illegal settlers whose shanties vanished were not registered residents. "Many of the survivors are still in a state of shock, but they are moving on, and we need to assist them," said Ladi Lluch, administrator Iligan City. The survivors need money, livelihood, and psychological assistance, said Lluch, adding that the social welfare department has included psychiatrists in assistance teams that have been deployed in all affected areas. Carrying pictures Portraits of sad looking and desperate relatives who continued looking for missing loved ones have been aired on TV. All of them were carrying pictures of missing relatives. "I wonder how they were able to recover photos from mudslides and landslides," said Jose Solano, a resident of Manila. Those at the evacuation centres lamented about having to spend Christmas without their relatives. "Our homes and future are gone," said one in a TV interview. Meanwhile, assistance from local and international agencies have reached Manila and were scheduled to be flown to Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City, including other affected areas. Actress Kris Aquino, a goodwill ambassador of the UN, received the UN representatives who accompanied the arrival of aid packages in Manila. Urging member countries to send donations, the UN said, following an estimate that $28.6 million (Dh104 million) is needed for relief assistance. Huge loss Damage to infrastructure and agricultural was estimated at P 1.03 billion (Dh 86 million), NDRRMC said. The cost of rehabilitation could go higher, other sources said. Starting June, about 21 typhoons enter the Philippine every year.