‘Frank’ death toll 17 in Mindanao
Mindanao Bureau
First Posted 18:35:00 06/21/2008
COTABATO CITY, Philippines -- At least 17 people died and several others were reported missing as typhoon “Frank” (international codename: Fengshen) brought floods and landslides to Cotabato City, Maguindanao, Shariff Kabunsuan, Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato and Sarangani starting Friday, officials said Saturday.
In South Upi, Maguindanao alone, 10 people drowned when the Rifao River in Barangay Kuya swelled during a heavy downpour, according to village councilor Joy Veles.
She said of the 10 fatalities, three were children.
The bodies of Anne Daraf, 8, and her siblings, Em-Em, 4, and Gie-Gie, 3, were found two kilometers from where their house once stood.
“The fatalities belonged to two families living near the river,” Veles told Radio dxMS here.
She said five others were still missing but she could not say if they too have drowned.
In Cotabato City, Mayor Muslimin Sema said a 50-year-old man and his grandson died when a landslide buried their shanty in Barangay Malagapas, near the city’s old dumpsite.
In Alamada, North Cotabato, three persons were reported missing Friday evening after the Alamada River burst its banks and the body of one of them was fished out of the river on Saturday, according to Mayor Ernesto Concepcion.
In Guindulungan, Maguindanao, although three persons three persons were reported missing after the Talayan River overflowed, four bodies were fished out of the river on Saturday, Mayor Midpantao Midtimbang said. He said he was not certain if the fourth body was that of a local resident.
The Talayan River’s raging waters damaged the Tambunan Bridge and slowed down traffic on the Cotabato-General Santos highway.
Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao, police director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said at least 300 families were evacuated from Barangay Bulalo in nearby Sultan Kudarat in Shariff Kabunsuan province after the Simuay River overflowed at 5 a.m. Friday.
The heavy downpour also forced Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific to cancel flights to and from this city.
Hundreds of villagers in Sultan Kudarat province were also forced to evacuate because of rising waters according to Representative Pax Mangudadatu.
But while the rains played a heavy role in the floods, Mangudadatu said he was faulting the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for the calamity.
Mangudadatu said the DPWH had failed to carry out effective drainage projects and the de-clogging of heavily silted waterways.
Abusama Alid, agriculture director for Central Mindanao, said reports of damages to crops and livestock were being assessed.
“We will have the official figures in a few days,” Alid said.
In Sarangani province, floodwaters also submerged villages in the towns of Alabel, Maitum, Kiamba and Maasim.
Hermelo Latoja, provincial disaster coordinator, said at least 450 families were displaced and were being assisted by the province’s quick-response teams.
Latoja said no casualty had been reported so far as heavy rains continue to batter the province.
Meanwhile, in Davao Oriental, the bodies of two more victims, who were among a group of pupils swept by floods in Manay town earlier in the week, have been recovered, raising the death toll there to four.
“Rescuers recovered the bodies of Cherry Tupiasan and Jinggoy Quibo at around 10 a.m. Wednesday, about 22 hours after they were carried away by rising floodwaters while trying to cross the Mambusao River near New Madsayap Primary School in Barangay Taocanga,” said Insp. Ariel Nueva, officer-in-charge of the Manay police station.
Nueva said Tupiasan’s body was fished out by residents under the hanging footbridge at Kilometer 26 along Mambusao River while Quibo’s body was found floating near the banks of Lapinigan River in Purok Buslotan, also in Sitio Mambusao.
Reports from Edwin O. Fernandez, Charlie C. Señase, Aquiles Zonio, Frinston Lim and Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao
|
