Tragic aftermath: 7 dead, 1 still missing in Zamboanga del Norte due to LPA

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

ILIGAN CITY — Rescue crews in Zamboanga del Norte are still looking for a resident of Sindangan town who went missing after a deadly landslide on January 2.

The relentless downpour spawned by the low-pressure area brought floods and landslides to 16 towns and two cities in the province, claiming seven lives, a report by Dennis Tenorio, provincial disaster risk reduction and management officer, said.

Apart from the two fatalities in Sindangan, two more died from a landslide in Manukan town, and one each in Siocon town and Dipolog City due to drowning. Another person was injured in Piñan town.

On Monday morning, residents in Sibuco town found a dead child washed ashore. The child was later identified as Ridel Solis Siarot, 9, of Barangay Malayal.

Citing the accounts of relatives, Capt. Roy Malayo, Sibuco police chief, said Siarot’s family crossed a river to evacuate when the strong current of the flood water carried him off.

Dr. Derileen D. Edding, Sibuco municipal health officer, said Siarot died from drowning.

Up to 14,866 families or 65,229 individuals were affected by the disaster, which hit hardest in Sirawai town, where all its 34 villages were under water, displacing 6,603 families or 44 percent of the total affected families in the province.

As of Friday, reports from local disaster response offices counted 113 houses destroyed (97 in Sibuco town) and another 504 damaged. Four bridges in Sibuco were also damaged.

Many concrete roads in Sirawai and Sibuco towns were either washed away by raging flood waters or damaged by landslides.

Sirawai and Sibuco towns had been placed in a state of calamity by their respective local governments.

Sibuco Mayor Joel Ventura said the devastation of the town’s infrastructure “will make economic recovery much tougher.”

“The recent flooding in our special municipality has damaged roads, bridges, houses, and agricultural lands. It would require millions of pesos to restore damaged infrastructure and other facilities. All this will be an enormous burden on our economy,” Ventura said in a statement.

READ: Landslide destroys 9 houses in Isabela

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