Classes will resume in typhoon-devastated areas by January 2013 despite the extensive loss of lives and property, according to Education Secretary Armin Luistro.
Bonifacio Adlawan, 54, admitted the difficulty of accepting that his wife, Carmelita, 48, could be among the hundreds who died during typhoon Pablo’s onslaught here last week.
The death toll from typhoon “Pablo” (international name” Bopha) that struck several provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao last week has climbed to 647 as rescue workers continued to search for 780 individuals who remained missing as of Monday, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said.
Authorities fear that the death toll due to typhoon Pablo (international codename: Bopha) could reach 1,000 as almost 600 bodies have been recovered in the two hardest-hit Mindanao provinces.
With toppled trees and debris scattered everywhere, residents of this city must have thought that the worst of Pablo had passed.
Environment and natural resources officials attributed on Thursday the high number of casualties in several Compostela Valley towns to unheeded government warnings on typhoon Pablo, emphasizing that illegal logging and illegal mining were to blame for the devastation.
A family of four, clutching each other, went over the bodies lined up outside the public gymnasium here. They started to wail when they reached a body of girl, her face covered with mud.
The sound of the wind coming from the Pacific Ocean at 3 a.m. was so horrible that residents of this coastal town thought the sky was ripping apart.
