CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines -- An official has warned of a food shortage in evacuation centers for people displaced by floods and storm surges in Northern Mindanao.

"What the city government can provide is not enough despite the donations coming in from private groups or individuals since every hour, the number of affected families increases," Erwin Culanag, city information officer, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).

Mayor Constantino Jaraula said the food supply in the evacuation centers can last for four days only.

Jaraula said aside from food, the evacuees also need mats and blankets.

The Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) in the region said at least 115,000 people had fled to safety as of Wednesday from floods and big waves that battered coastal villages here and in the cities of Gingoog and Iligan.

Eighteen towns in Misamis Oriental are also flooded due to torrential rains that the Philippine Atmospheric and Geophysical Services Administration (PAGASA) could last for days.

In this city alone, where 46 villages remain underwater, officials said funds for food assistance were running out.

Bishop Felixberto Calang of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (Philippine Independent Church, Aglipayan) called for donations.

"There is not enough food...whenever we cook for a meal, it has to be equally divided so everyone will have a meal even if it is not a full one for as long as it could fill their hungry stomachs," Calang said.

Cagayan Archbishop Antonio Ledesma said while the immediate needs of the people have been provided for, the city government should also look into the root cause of the floods.

"Let us not forget the root cause of this disaster, which are the massive logging activities in the upland barangay [villages] in the city and nearby provinces and the mining operations especially the ones using hydraulic flushing that caused the shallowness of the Iponan River. We need to look back," Ledesma said.

Armen Cuenca, head of the Oro Alert Rescue Group, said even if the rains had weakened, they remain worried about the possibility of more landslides occurring in hinterland areas.

"The soil has loosened and we are asking residents in landslide-prone areas to leave temporarily or bring to safer grounds the women, children, the elderly and the sick," Cuenca said.

On Wednesday, a major landslide occurred in sitio (sub-village) Kabula in Barangay Lumbia, an upland village near the airport.

The Department of Public Works and Highways immediately responded and cleaned up the debris for traffic.

Landslides also took place in the villages of Lapasan, Upper Carmen and Pagatpat.

In Davao City, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte suspended classes in the elementary and secondary levels as rains continued to pour on Thursday.

City Administrator Wendell Avisado said the suspension was a precautionary measure.

But Avisado clarified that college classes had not been suspended and that government offices continued to function.

In Davao del Sur, the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council said three houses were destroyed in Sta. Cruz town because of strong winds.

In Malita, residents living along coastal areas were asked to leave as big waves battered their homes.

Mayor Franklin Bautista said fishermen were also ordered not to head out to sea.

In Cotabato City, which had been hit by flooding in recent months, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo directed the Department of Public Works and Highways on Wednesday to fast track the rehabilitation and dredging of the Rio Grande de Mindanao to ease the suffering of residents in low-lying areas.

The President issued the directive after meeting with Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo and Governor Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, chair and vice chair respectively, of the Mindanao River Basin Task Force.

"The President gave more power to the task force to implement the project to prevent flooding in the region, a long time clamor of Central Mindanao and ARMM residents," Ampatuan told the Inquirer in an interview after meeting.

Quevedo said Arroyo ordered Pubic Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane to hasten the execution of contracts between parties involved in the release of funds.

Public Works Undersecretary Romeo Momo said his office requested the release of P50 million to complete the flood control and dredging projects along Allah River in Sultan Kudarat.

The Allah River connects to the Liguasan marshland in Maguindanao and the Rio Grande de Mindanao that empties into Cotabato City.

The President also ordered the release of P50 million more for the dredging of the seven-kilometer stretch of the Rio Grande fronting Cotabato City, which is heavily silted and has caused the river to overflow.

Massive dredging starts in February, Quevedo said.