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Red Cross sends urgent plea for aid

Villagers on a motorcycle pass through an arch and a buried waiting shed in the village of Maipon, Guinobatan, in eastern Bicon region, the Philippines, yesterday. The village was obliterated by a torrent of mud and volcanic debris that cascaded down the slopes of the Mayon volcano. Local rescue teams have been trying to reach isolated villages and towns in the worst affected parts of the Bicol region, which bore the full impact of Typhoon Durian. PHOTO: AFP

The Red Cross sent out an urgent plea for water, food and medicine yesterday as Philippine officials said more than 1,000 people were dead or missing after mudslides swallowed whole villages.

The government's National Disaster Coordinating Center (NDCC) confirmed 425 dead from the mudslides around Mayon volcano triggered by typhoon rains. It listed a further 599 people as missing in the rest of the Bicol region.

Executive officer Glenn Rabonza said more than one million people had been affected by the disaster with damage to property alone estimated at about 274 million pesos (US$5.48 million).

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has declared a "state of national calamity" and authorized the immediate release of a billion pesos (US$20 million) to rehabilitate affected areas.

"We are receiving donations from international organizations at this point as we continue to estimate the cost of this disaster," Benjamin Delfin, a local Red Cross official, said.

"What we need now are medicines, food and items such as blankets, water and plastic sheeting for those who lost their homes," he said.

Philippine military aircraft have been ferrying supplies from Manila to the provincial capital Legazpi.

The NDCC said humanitarian aid is expected from Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia while cash is being sent from the UN and the governments of Canada and Australia.

In the village of Maipon, men returned to dig out valuables from their homes.

Like so many towns and villages around Mayon, it was reduced to rubble by the torrent of mud -- estimated to be 3.7 meters thick -- that crashed into the town carrying with it boulders as big as cars.

As of yesterday morning there were no rescue teams or heavy earth moving equipment. A stream marked where the main road used to be.

All that was left was the village's welcome arch over its main street.

"There is nothing left here, there are no neighbors left," said Josefina Olander, 66, who saved some 50 people after she told them to clamber up the roof of her two-storey concrete home.

"Those lucky to be alive are either injured or grieving," she said.

All 10 members of her family are alive, but the bottom half of the house is now underground.

"Mayon gave us fertile land to till. It took it back in an instant," she added.

Canine search team leader Marvy Umali, who conducted a sweep of one section of Maipon two days ago, said 16 bodies were recovered.

"The dogs had a hard time because the site is contaminated. There are dead animals as well as humans," he said.

Richard Gordon, the National Red Cross president, said on Sunday that he expected the death toll could pass 1,000 as hopes faded of finding further survivors.

"It is important we recover as much as we can ... but at some point we have to declare closure and declare a mass grave over the area," he said in radio interviews.

Many villages have not yet reported how many residents have died. In some cases, whole families have been buried.

In various parts of the Bicol region, southeast of Manila, communities have resorted to mass burials to deal with the scores of unclaimed bodies that were starting to decompose.

Power, communications and water remained out of service across most of the region, further hampering the efforts of relief teams, as more tales of tragedy and loss came in.
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