650 still missing but Bicol rescue called off

16 December 2006

By Ephraim Aguilar and Delma Peyra
Inquirer Southern Luzon

LEGAZPI CITY—NELLY BERMUNDO OF BARANgay Padang had been hoping against hope that search and recovery operations would continue, and that she would find her loved ones.

But that faint hope was dashed when the 10-day operations ordered by President Macapagal-Arroyo ended yesterday, despite the hundreds of persons still missing and their next of kin desperate for their bodies to be found.

Bermundo lost six members of her family to the mudflow that buried their house in Padang when Supertyphoon “Reming” struck on Nov. 30.

Not one of her loved ones has been found.

“Even if they are dead, I still want to see them—my husband, my son, my three daughters and my granddaughter,” Bermundo said tearfully.

Chief Supt. Victor Boco, chair of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council, said authorities did not want to further expose the search and recovery team to the danger of falling ill in the course of a protracted search.

He said the immediate focus now should be on relief, recovery and the rehabilitation of the entire Bicol region.

“I think the area is already saturated. What we need now is community participation,” said Cedric Daep, head of the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office, which is under the supervision of the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC).

He said the teams have already searched in all possible areas.

“If they are alive, they should have showed up by now,” he said of the missing persons.

As of yesterday, there were still 650 persons missing in Albay and 566 bodies recovered.

Relocation sites

The local governments of Albay, the municipalities of Daraga, Camalig, Guinobatan and Sto. Domingo, and Legazpi City have identified almost all the relocation sites for close to 10,000 families living in high-risk areas around Mayon Volcano.

Albay Gov. Fernando Gonzales has directed the National Housing Authority office in Legazpi to fast-track the development of the identified relocation sites.

On Thursday, Gonzales presided over a meeting that included Ed Laguerta, resident volcanologist of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs)-Bicol, a team from the Mines and GeoSciences Bureau (MGB), and representatives of the Department of Public Works and Highways and nongovernment organizations to discuss the shelter problem.

Legazpi will relocate 1,000 families from seven barangays to an 11-hectare site owned by the city government.

According to city executives, 460 vacant lots are available in Barangay Banquerohan at the southern portion of Legazpi, as well as a resettlement site in Barangay Taysan for families displaced by Mayon’s previous eruptions.

Total, partial relocation

Residents of Padang, which recorded the biggest number of casualties among the villages in Legazpi—163 missing and 62 dead—will all be relocated.

Padang bore the brunt of mudflows induced by Reming, according to PDCC records.

Around 450 families (2,790 persons) from the barangay are being sheltered at the Gogon Elementary School, the PDCC said.

Listed for partial relocation are residents of Barangays Matanag, Mabinit, Bonga, Buyuan and Bogtong.

Officials of Daraga town, which registered 148 dead and 207 missing, will relocate a total of 5,397 families to the 8-hectare Anislag resettlement site and a 12-hectare private property in Barangay Tabon-Tabon along the national highway.

Currently sheltered in evacuation sites are 3,948 families (16,799 persons) from Daraga.

Gonzales said residents of Barangays Kilicao, Alcala, Matnog, Banadero, Malobago and Miisi were also listed for total relocation, and residents of Barangays Busay, Cullat, Banag, Binitiyan and Tagas, for partial relocation.

Around 900 families in five Guinobatan barangays (Maipon, Maninila, Tandadora, Morera and San Francisco) will be partially relocated to a site reportedly owned by the Bicol University.

In Camalig, 1,428 families from Barangays Anoling, Tumpa, Sua and Quirangay—all within the 6-kilometer danger zone—will be partially relocated to a 24-hectare site in Barangays Batawon and Baligang.

Sto. Domingo will relocate 820 families from Barangays San Isidro, Lidong, Fidel Surtida and San Antonio to an existing 174-hectare resettlement site in Barangay San Andres.

Private donors

At the meeting, Gonzales said Albay had received pledges for housing and rehabilitation from international NGOs, with one pledge amounting to P1.5 billion.

“We have groups who will help us build houses for our people, such as Care and Habitat for Humanity,” he said.

Meg Villanueva, spokesperson for the NGO sector, said they would focus on the repair of schools and day care centers and on establishing food-for-work programs.

Gonzales advised the NGOs to work directly with the Department of Education in the repair of schools and work out an agreement with the local government as part of a tripartite agreement.

Compliance with geohazard mapping

The MGB, an agency under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, cautioned Legazpi officials to avoid building houses and other structures on steep slopes in the targeted relocation site of Banquerohan, a hilly area overlooking the city’s commercial district.

Phivolcs is currently working with the MGB on the on-the-ground validation of the safety level of the identified relocation sites.

RP-UN appeal

The Agence France Presse reported that the Philippines and the United Nations would launch a joint appeal for humanitarian aid to rehabilitate large swathes of the country devastated by four typhoons.

The UN office in Manila yesterday said the cumulative effects of the typhoons, including Reming and “Seniang”—which together left more than 1,400 people dead or missing, would “require longer-term recovery efforts over the next 12 months.”

The aid appeal, to be launched on Monday, will help Manila “address immediate needs and in parallel help restore the capacity of the authorities to respond and communities to help themselves,” the UN said.