In Guinobatan town, rescuers race against time to find two people buried in a landslide at Sitio Libas, Barangay Maguiron. BUREAU OF FIRE PROTECTION-GUINOBATAN
LEGAZPI CITY—Several days of heavy rain from Severe Tropical Storm Kristine (international name: Trami) caused massive floods and landslides that killed at least 21 people in the Bicol region, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and the police said on Thursday.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Kristine affected 431,738 families, or 2,077,643 people, in 12 regions—from the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao to the Ilocos region. (See related stories on Pages A4 and A6).
Even before Kristine made landfall in Divilacan town in Isabela province at 12:30 a.m. on Thursday, Bicol already bore the brunt of the storm, which affected 345,548 families, or 1.7 million people, in the region, according to the OCD.
The storm was blowing westward across the Cordillera mountains toward the South China Sea with maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 115 kph.
More than 700 villages in 15 towns were flooded or had been hit by landslides in six Bicol provinces. The OCD reported six people were missing.
Aid funding assured
President Marcos assured the affected provinces that the government would allocate funds for relief and recovery in the areas badly hit by Kristine.
“We direct all agencies and offices of the government, as well as our partners in the private and non-government sector, to pitch in, strengthen and reinforce the bulwark which we have built against this raging tempest,” he said on his various social media platforms on Thursday.
He said he and other officials “have been tirelessly and urgently working towards the immediate deployment of relief, recovery, and rehabilitation” in the Bicol region, even as he acknowledged the dangers on the path of the storm as it headed westward.
“Our priority there is to mitigate the damage it may cause, evacuate those living in hazardous areas, and to preposition necessary goods and personnel to ensure the continuous availability of essential supplies once the typhoon arrives,” Mr. Marcos said.
One of the badly inundated Bicol provinces was Camarines Sur, particularly the towns of Baao, Bula, Nabua, Canaman, Camaligan, Gainza, Milaor, Minalabac and the capital, Naga City.
Trapped on rooftops
Many residents were still seeking shelter and waiting for rescue on the roofs of their houses and on higher ground where they had escaped from fast-rising floodwaters, as of Thursday morning.
People affected by severe flooding in Camarines Sur and Albay were pleading for food and drinking water, especially those trapped in their houses.
Camarines Sur Gov. Vincenzo Renato Luigi Villafuerte said they had rescued 301 people from the towns of Nabua, Bula, Bato, Pili and Ocampo early Wednesday morning.
Former Vice President Leni Robredo was seen in waist-deep water on the streets of Naga alongside volunteers, pushing a small orange plastic boat loaded with relief supplies for distribution.
Police Lt. Col. Maria Luisa Calubaquib, spokesperson for the Bicol police, said landslides killed four people in Albay and five in Catanduanes. One died after slipping off a roof also in Catanduanes and another after he was hit by a falling tree in Masbate.
She said eight people drowned in Naga, and one each in Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur and Sorsogon. Landslides injured six people in Camarines Norte and three in Albay.
Calubaquib said these reports would still have to be validated and confirmed by the local disaster management offices.
Gremil Alexis Naz, spokesperson for OCD Bicol, said among the fatalities were an 8-year-old girl whose body was recovered near the Yabu River in Naga’s Barangay Concepcion Grande at 6:45 a.m. on Wednesday and an 11-year-old boy who fell from a canal on Tuesday in Barangay San Nicolas, Iriga City.
In Albay, Libon Mayor Wilfredo Maronilla reported that a woman was among the missing and believed to be buried under a landslide that struck at least 20 houses on Wednesday afternoon.
Margarita Jamer and 16 others, who have been trapped on the second floor of their house in Naga’s Barangay Sta. Cruz since Tuesday, said they were running out of supplies.
“We have no supplies of food and clean water here and no rescue teams in the area. The emergency hotlines are also unresponsive,” Jamer said in a private message on Thursday.
Angat Buhay initiative
She said their neighbors were also waiting to be rescued from the rising floodwaters.
Rescuers reached Ajay Caño, 30, his wife, child and elderly parents on a makeshift raft in Barangay Del Rosario in Canaman town in Camarines Sur at around 3 p.m. on Thursday.
They had moved to the second floor of their house after floodwaters rose neck-deep on Tuesday.
“We asked for immediate rescue because we only have a little supply of canned goods and we’re afraid we can’t cook anymore here as the flood is rising,” he told the Inquirer in a phone interview on Thursday.
Robredo, chair of Angat Buhay Foundation, raised P7.3 million worth of cash donations as of Thursday afternoon through Kaya Natin! Movement for Good Governance and Ethical Leadership.
She personally mobilized the nongovernment organization’s volunteers to distribute hot meals in the affected villages in Naga City.
They partnered with local restaurants and business owners with kitchens to cook food for the families inside and outside evacuation centers.
She had been personally responding to requests for rescue through Facebook’s comment section since Tuesday.
The foundation’s office in Quezon City was still accepting easy-to-eat food items and other basic needs to support their relief efforts.
Righters.ph, a nongovernmental organization based in Legazpi City, Albay, launched the “Tabang kay Tugang” (Help for Brother/Sister) campaign to feed some stranded families and other affected communities.
Rice, eggs, water
Howard Tuanqui, the head of the organization, said they already distributed hot meals to about 1,000 students in Legazpi and residents in Barangay Bagumbayan in Ligao City, also in Albay.
He said they still needed rice, eggs and water to serve more people.
The Bicol office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development distributed about P20 million worth of food packs in various towns in the region.
About 160,016 people were sheltered in evacuation facilities, while about 32,529 were in private houses.
Evacuees in some areas in Albay decamped on Thursday as the weather improved and floodwaters receded.
According to the NDRRMC, 163,184 individuals were staying in 4,567 evacuation centers in the affected provinces from Mindanao to Luzon.
Officials of at least 18 cities and municipalities placed their localities under a state of calamity. Albay, Camarines Sur and Catanduanes also separately declared a state of calamity.
The Philippine Coast Guard reported that as of noon on Thursday, 6,850 passengers, truck drivers and cargo helpers had been stranded while 2,145 rolling cargoes, 107 vessels and 39 motor bancas remained at various ports in the country due to the storm.
The civil aviation regulator said on Thursday that at least a dozen flights across the country had been canceled due to the storm.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas canceled foreign exchange trading and monetary operations for a second straight day. —WITH REPORTS FROM JULIE M. AURELIO, NESTOR CORRALES, FRANCES MANGOSING AND REUTERS