Sendong death toll now 1,080; number of missing unreliable

MANILA, Philippines—The death toll from Tropical Storm Sendong continued to climb a week after it struck with deadly fury, with the authorities confirming that at least 1,080 people, mostly in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City, perished in the flashfloods and landslides it spawned.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Friday that 1,080 bodies had been retrieved, mostly from the sea. But there was some confusion about the  number of people missing, which was put down as 1,979.

NDRRMC Executive Director Benito Ramos said, however, that  the figure could be misleading as more than two-thirds of the bodies recovered have not been identified and many of them may well be among those listed as missing.

“We have stopped estimating how many are still missing so that it will not be misleading. We do not know if some of those missing are among the remains that have been recovered,” Ramos said in a phone interview from Cagayan De Oro City.

He said he ordered the NDRRMC Operations Center to stop releasing figures on the missing to avoid confusion.

Ramos said the newly recovered bodies were found near Camiguin Island, which is 77 kilometers from Cagayan De Oro City.

The death toll in Cagayan De Oro City went up from 666 on Thursday to 674, of which 445 have not been identified.

The death toll in Iligan City also went up from 283 to 312, all of whom have not been identified.

The death toll also went up in Bukidnon to 41 from 17 the other day.

Elsewhere it remained the same: 37 in Negros Oriental and one in Cebu (Region VII); three in Zamboanga Del Norte (Region IX); five in Compostela Valley (Region XI); four in Lanao Del Sur (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao); and one in Surigao Del Sur (CARAGA Region).

Two deaths attributed to Sendong were also reported in Camarines Sur (Region V)

Ramos said earlier that 33,000 people in Cagayan De Oro and Iligan City had been left completely homeless.

Ramos said they have not begun the construction of temporary shelters since they are still heavily into relief operations.

Originally posted: 6:10 pm | Friday, December 23rd, 2011