MANILA, Philippines — More bodies washed into seas reaching as far as Bohol province by floods triggered by Tropical storm “Sendong” are still being recovered, Undersecretary Benito Ramos of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Thursday in an exclusive interview with Radyo Inquirer 990AM.
“Three additional boats of the Philippine Navy from Naval Forces Eastern Mindanao are helping to scour the waters of Macajalar bay between Cagayan de Oro and Bohol. We have recovered bodies near Bohol, bodies have drifted that far,” Ramos said.
“With the help of citizens, many pump boats and fishing boats [are] looking for missing people,” Ramos added.
Ramos said that the search operations would continue until there would be no more bodies to be found.
More than a thousand lives were lost when Sendong (international name Washi) caused flashfloods that wiped away entire villages near rivers in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan Cities in Mindanao.
Ramos said that 90 percent of the casualties came from areas near the rivers.
There has been a direct order from President Benigno Aquino III to evict all people living in those flood-prone areas, Ramos said.
Mayors are looking for relocation sites, which should be government property so that the evacuees won’t become squatters, Ramos said.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is ready to support the building of core shelters for the people, which may take up to three months, Ramos said.