'PEPENG' DEATH TOLL UP 419 / ARMY ENGINEERS
REDEPLOYED TO VICTIM AREAS
MANILA, OCTOBER 17, 2009
(STAR) The death toll from typhoon “Pepeng” has reached 419, mostly
from landslides in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), the National
Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said yesterday.
In an update, the NDCC said 333 of the fatalities were in CAR, 71 in Ilocos Region, 10 in Central Luzon, four in Bicol, and one in Quezon province.
The NDCC said 184 people were injured while 51 are still missing as of press time.
More than 74,000 people are still staying in evacuation centers.
Relief and rehabilitation operations by various government agencies are continuing, the NDCC added.
Pepeng affected more than 3.1 million people and damaged more than P10.4 billion worth of crops and infrastructure, the NDCC said.
Meanwhile, the NDCC said tropical storm “Ondoy” which brought massive floods to Metro Manila and neighboring provinces has killed 354 people as of the latest count.
It has also left more than P10.8 billion in damage to agriculture and infrastructure.
NDCC spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres said they have not monitored any significant effect of the release of water from major dams in Central and Northern Luzon since Wednesday night.
“There is still flooding in some areas but the release of water from major dams has not caused any drastic effect or aggravated flooding in these areas,” he said.
However, the NDCC said hundreds of residents in the Caraballo mountain range, where an artificial dam was found, have been evacuated by the Army and the local government.
The remaining residents have been alerted for possible evacuation, the NDCC said. – James Mananghaya
Army engineers to be redeployed to landslide-stricken
provinces
By Jaime Laude (The Philippine Star) Updated October 17, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is currently pooling all available engineers assigned to conduct government developmental projects in Mindanao to be redeployed to the landslide-stricken provinces in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).
Maj. Gen. Carlos Holganza, AFP deputy chief for operations, said the redeployment of Army engineers is in line with President Arroyo’s directive to the Department of National Defense (DND) to reassign military forces from Mindanao to assist in reconstruction operations in areas affected by landslides in Luzon.
“It’s not really our fighting force that would be deployed to CAR but our military engineers,” Holganza said.
However, Holganza could not yet say how many of these Army engineers, who are also heavily involved in the ongoing development projects all over Mindanao, would be shipped to Luzon.
He said they are still in the process of identifying which military engineering unit would be pulled out from the region for deployment to Luzon.
The President, in a Cabinet meeting held in Dagupan City last Oct. 13, ordered Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro to assign fighting forces from Mindanao to assist in the retrieval and reconstruction operations.
On top of this, the President also ordered Teodoro to ensure all available vehicles of the AFP, as well as those of other government agencies, would be utilized for the ongoing relief and rehabilitation operations.
Aside from Cagayan Valley and the Ilocos Region, the provinces of Benguet, Kalinga, Mt. Province and Baguio City were hit by dozens of landslides during the onslaught of typhoon “Pepeng” last week.
As of the latest fatality count, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) reported that 333 persons were buried alive while 124 others were severely injured in the dozens of landslides that hit CAR.
Search and retrieval operations are still underway for the remaining 36 persons still missing when tons of boulders and mud buried a mountainside community in Benguet.
Pepeng also brought widespread flooding in Pangasinan and La Union as well as Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur and the Cagayan Valley.
South Korea, Brazil give donations for typhoon victims (The Philippine Star) Updated October 17, 2009 12:00 AM
[PHOTO
AT LEFT - Brazilian Ambassador Alcides G.R. Prates (left) turns over a $70,000
check to World Food Program Philippines Country Director and Representative
Stephen Anderson. MIKE AMOROSO]
MANILA, Philippines - South Korea and the government of Brazil yesterday made their respective donations to typhoon victims in the Philippines.
The South Korean government, through Ambassador Choi Jung Kwung, donated some 3,000 sacks of rice, assorted clothes, blankets, shelter materials and medicine.
Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral received the donation in behalf of the Philippine government.
The Brazilian government, on the other hand, donated $70,000 in checks, equivalent to P3.3 million, to the United Nations World Food Program in the Philippines.
Brazilian Ambassador Alcides G. R. Prates personally handed over the checks to WFP Philippines Country Director and Representative Stephen Anderson during a simple ceremony at the Brazil embassy in Makati City.
“In solidarity with the government and people of the Philippines, the government and people of Brazil have offered a humanitarian donation to the Philippines amounting to the equivalent of $70,000 to contribute to the assistance of the victims of storm ‘Ondoy’,” Prates said.
Prates said the donation was in response to the Philippine government’s request for international humanitarian aid conveyed by Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last Sept. 29.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), on the other hand, has organized a 100-vehicle relief caravan dubbed “Sama-Samang Pagtulong Relief Caravan” that will bring relief goods to areas in Northern Luzon affected by typhoon “Pepeng” on Monday.
Cabral said the relief caravan would provide truckloads of supplies to some 536,500 affected families from 19 provinces in Central and Northern Luzon.
“The relief goods are donations from various national government agencies, private and international organizations,” Cabral said.
Cabral added the relief goods will be distributed to affected families in
Pangasinan and La Union for Region I, Isabela and Cagayan for Region II, Bulacan,
Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Aurora and Tarlac for Region III, and Abra, Baguio City
and Benguet for the Cordillera Administrative Region. –
Helen Flores, Jose Rodel Clapano