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Philippines struggles as flood deaths rise to 246
Associated Press in Manila
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 September 2009 19.53 BST
A man and his daughter struggle though floodwater in San Pedro, south of Manila. A second storm is threatening the country. Photograph: Dennis M. Sabangan/EPA
Victims of floods in the Philippines trudged through ankle-deep sludge to crowded relief centres in search of scarce food and clean water today, as the government strained to distribute supplies, dig out the sprawling capital and prevent looting.
The toll from tropical storm Ketsana and the ensuing floods, the south-east Asian country's worst in four decades, climbed to 246 dead, with 38 still missing.
Ketsana, which hit the Philippines on Saturday, strengthened further and crashed into central Vietnam today.At least 23 people died – drowned, caught in mudslides or hit by falling trees, officials said. Some 170,000 people were evacuated from the path of the storm.
"The rivers are rising, and many homes are flooded, and several mountainous districts have been isolated by mudslides," said Nguyen Minh Tuan, a provincial disaster official in Vietnam.
More bad weather may be headed for the Philippines, forecasters said, prompting the government to consider evacuating some regions where people have only just started returning.
In Marikina, a district of Manila, police used forklifts to remove m&d-caked cars stalled along the road. Elsewhere, people used shovels and brooms to clear m&d from homes and businesses.
Victims clutching bags of belongings lined up for hours at relief centres for bottled water, boiled eggs and packets of instant noodles.
In the Bagong Silangan area of the capital, about 150 people sheltered on a covered basketball court that had been turned into an evacuation centre. Seventeen white wooden coffins, some of them child-sized, lined one part of the court. A woman wept quietly beside one coffin.
Sensitive to criticism that her administration was unprepared to respond to the disaster, the president, Gloria Macapagl Arroyo, launched a public relations offensive to show her administration was doing all it could – even while conceding the country needed international aid. She opened part of the presidential palace as a relief centre, and hundreds of people received food and made free phone calls to friends and relatives.
A presidential aide said up to 500 victims would be given blankets and other supplies and allowed to stay in the palace grounds, after they had undergone security checks. At another centre, Arroyo's chef cooked gourmet food for victims.
"We're responding to the extent we can to this once in a lifetime typhoon emergency," Arroyo said in a statement.
The homes of almost 2 million people were inundated, the government said. Nearly 380,000 have sought shelter in relief centres. The government has declared a state of calamity in Manila and 25 storm-hit provinces and estimated the damage at more than £60m.
Tropical storm Parma was about 800 miles south-east of the Philippines , bringing the threat of more heavy rain. "There is a sense of extreme urgency that we prepare," said the chairman of the national disaster co-ordinating council, Gilberto Teodoro.
Washington had pledged $100,000 for the relief efforts, and US navy personnel were helping with search and rescue, the Foreign Affairs Department said. China, Japan, Singapore and Australia have also pledged extra aid, and the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, sent a message that help would come from the world body, too.
Earlier, at a meeting of top officials to address the crisis, Arroyo said more police should be deployed to respond to reports of looting.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009
Associated Press in Manila
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 September 2009 19.53 BST
A man and his daughter struggle though floodwater in San Pedro, south of Manila. A second storm is threatening the country. Photograph: Dennis M. Sabangan/EPA
Victims of floods in the Philippines trudged through ankle-deep sludge to crowded relief centres in search of scarce food and clean water today, as the government strained to distribute supplies, dig out the sprawling capital and prevent looting.
The toll from tropical storm Ketsana and the ensuing floods, the south-east Asian country's worst in four decades, climbed to 246 dead, with 38 still missing.
Ketsana, which hit the Philippines on Saturday, strengthened further and crashed into central Vietnam today.At least 23 people died – drowned, caught in mudslides or hit by falling trees, officials said. Some 170,000 people were evacuated from the path of the storm.
"The rivers are rising, and many homes are flooded, and several mountainous districts have been isolated by mudslides," said Nguyen Minh Tuan, a provincial disaster official in Vietnam.
More bad weather may be headed for the Philippines, forecasters said, prompting the government to consider evacuating some regions where people have only just started returning.
In Marikina, a district of Manila, police used forklifts to remove m&d-caked cars stalled along the road. Elsewhere, people used shovels and brooms to clear m&d from homes and businesses.
Victims clutching bags of belongings lined up for hours at relief centres for bottled water, boiled eggs and packets of instant noodles.
In the Bagong Silangan area of the capital, about 150 people sheltered on a covered basketball court that had been turned into an evacuation centre. Seventeen white wooden coffins, some of them child-sized, lined one part of the court. A woman wept quietly beside one coffin.
Sensitive to criticism that her administration was unprepared to respond to the disaster, the president, Gloria Macapagl Arroyo, launched a public relations offensive to show her administration was doing all it could – even while conceding the country needed international aid. She opened part of the presidential palace as a relief centre, and hundreds of people received food and made free phone calls to friends and relatives.
A presidential aide said up to 500 victims would be given blankets and other supplies and allowed to stay in the palace grounds, after they had undergone security checks. At another centre, Arroyo's chef cooked gourmet food for victims.
"We're responding to the extent we can to this once in a lifetime typhoon emergency," Arroyo said in a statement.
The homes of almost 2 million people were inundated, the government said. Nearly 380,000 have sought shelter in relief centres. The government has declared a state of calamity in Manila and 25 storm-hit provinces and estimated the damage at more than £60m.
Tropical storm Parma was about 800 miles south-east of the Philippines , bringing the threat of more heavy rain. "There is a sense of extreme urgency that we prepare," said the chairman of the national disaster co-ordinating council, Gilberto Teodoro.
Washington had pledged $100,000 for the relief efforts, and US navy personnel were helping with search and rescue, the Foreign Affairs Department said. China, Japan, Singapore and Australia have also pledged extra aid, and the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, sent a message that help would come from the world body, too.
Earlier, at a meeting of top officials to address the crisis, Arroyo said more police should be deployed to respond to reports of looting.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009
