Death toll in Mindanao floods, landslides now 14

HAPPY TO BE RESCUED Despite the dire situation they are in, this girl still manages to smile during the rescue operation on July 14 by responders of the Bangsamoro Rapid Emergency Action on Disaster Incidence (READi) in the flooded villages of Rajamudah, Bagoinged and Buliok in Pikit, Cotabato. —Bangsamoro READi photo

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — The death toll in the floods and landslides that hit different areas in Mindanao rose to 14, twice the number previously recorded by disaster response authorities in different stricken localities, mostly in the Bangsamoro and Zamboanga Peninsula regions.

The latest fatalities included a young man who drowned in Pagalungan town of Maguindanao del Sur on Sunday, another body fished out of Kabacan River in Cotabato province, and five more bodies recovered in Zamboanga City since Saturday.

READ: Mindanao flood victims climb to over 81,000

The rise in the number of fatalities was recorded even as many localities in Mindanao continue to grapple with having to provide for thousands of displaced persons from disaster-stricken areas, where floodwater in some places remained neck deep, or about a meter high, spawned by last week’s days of rains induced by the southwest monsoon and the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ).

On Monday, in Zamboanga City, the bodies of Nica Ortega, 29, and her 6-year-old son JM, were recovered at 9 a.m., stuck in one of the fallen trees that were covered with mud and big stones in Sitio Anuling, Barangay Pamucutan, some 21.1 kilometers from the city proper.

Pamucutan Barangay Captain Roberto Carpio said the mother and son were recovered only a few meters away from the washed-out house of the Ortega family.

“It was a moving image, the mother still holding her son when we unearthed their bodies,” Carpio said.

Over the weekend, the bodies of Leonilo Moret, 48, and son Justine, 10, were recovered in separate areas in the city during the search and rescue operation. Leonilo’s body was found on Saturday in the river of Barangay Talisayan, around 4 kilometers from Pamucutan, while his son was found floating along Anuling River in Pamucutan on Sunday.

‘The earth shook’

Carmelita Moret, Leonilo’s wife, said it was their first time to experience landslides and rockslides in their area, where they have been living for more than 20 years.

“We never expected this to happen,” she lamented.

She recalled the heavy rain on Friday morning. At night, the earth shook and they took cover. Her husband ran toward the room where Justine was sleeping but it was too late because cascading soil and rocks already hit their house.

“Half of our house went down and I managed to grab my other son and we jumped out of the window,” she said.

The body of another victim in Zamboanga City, Sonnyboy Jamal, 9, was found in a swamp in Barangay Calarian on Saturday, said his cousin Prince Ivan Jorolan.

“My cousin, a person with [a] disability and a special child, was trying to cross the flood when he accidentally fell and was swept away by the current on Friday night. We recovered his body on Saturday afternoon,” Jorolan told the Inquirer.

RECOVERED A search and retrieval team recovered on Monday the bodies of Nica Ortega and her son JM in Sitio Anuling, Barangay Pamucutan, Zamboanga City. The mother and son had been missing since Friday night after landslides and rocks buried their home. —photo courtesy of Merasol Monteza

City Social Welfare Officer Maria Socorro Rojas said 32 of the 98 barangays in Zamboanga City were affected by floods, displacing 4,462 families or 15,179 individuals.

Five more houses were washed away near San Bernardino Bridge in Barangay Tetuan on Sunday night.

Relief assistance consisting of food, mats, blankets and utensils was ongoing on Monday in 37 evacuation centers in the city.

Inundated towns

Throughout Mindanao, the Department of Social Welfare and Development reported on Sunday that at least 81,000 persons were affected in flood-hit areas.

In Maguindanao del Sur, Benjamin Alip, municipal disaster officer of Pagalungan town, said a 22-year-old man tried to rescue his cow from sinking in Barangay Damalasak but got drowned as a result.

Pagalungan was among the 22 towns in Maguindanao del Sur that were submerged in floodwaters following last week’s heavy downpour also experienced in the provinces of Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao del Norte brought about by the southwest monsoon and the ITCZ.

In the Kabacan town of Cotabato province, the remains of a woman who drowned in Bukidnon’s municipality of Maramag was fished out kilometers away in the Kabacan River on Sunday.

Tim Ambolodto, Maguindanao del Sur disaster response chief, said 9,616 families were displaced by the flooding in Pagalungan, with many more in Datu Montawal and 15 other towns in the province.

The Bangsamoro Rapid Emergency Action on Disaster Incidence reported that for the whole region, the flood damaged 425 homes, of which 285 were beyond repair, while two public schools and a gym were also destroyed.

On Sunday, water at the Pagalungan municipal grounds reached neck level, or about 1 meter. A portion of the Davao-Cotabato highway in Pagalungan was also submerged in water until Sunday morning.

In Sultan Kudarat province, the two bridges that were temporarily shut down after their approaches were carried away by rampaging river water were now passable after Department of Public Works and Highways workers put gravel and sand in them to allow motor vehicles to pass through.