Raging waters sweep away roads, bridges and power lines in the provinces of Compostela Valley and Davao Orientale. Communications with more remote areas are impossible. The death toll is expected to climb. Caritas and NASSA are leading the way to help the displaced.

Manila (AsiaNews) - Typhoon Bopha left a swathe of death and destruction across the provinces of Cagayan de Oro and Davao (Mindanao) with 475 confirmed deaths, hundreds of people missing and tens of thousands displaced. Fr Giovanni Re, regional superior of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME), said rescue work is having a hard time reaching the more interior areas where entire villages have been covered in mud. "Swollen streams and rivers have swept roads and bridges. Power lines and radio communications have been cut. There is no way to communicate," he said. The death toll is only partial, the missionary warns, and could rise substantially over the next few days.

In the Compostela Valley (Davao), one of the hardest hit areas, more than 200 people lost their lives. In New Bataan Town, rescue teams have pulled 126 bodies from the mud.

Many open pit mines are located in the region, and this has favoured cave-ins and landslides.

Waters overflowing their banks have created huge mudslides that swept away entire villages and towns. In New Bataan Town, rescue teams have pulled out a man, Carlos Agang, and a three-year-old child (pictured), who miraculously survived under the dirt.

"Aid is only active in the areas partially cleared of all the rubbles," Father Re explained. Caritas Philippines and the National Social Action (NASSA) are working together to bring basic items to residents, namely food, water and clothing.

US-based Catholic Relief Service (CRS) is also on the ground, with five rescue teams in Davao province where they are helping survivors.

Roads are jammed with hundreds of homeless people, said Joe Curry, CRS' country representative in the Philippines. Many centres for the displace are full; many have also been hit by landslides.

The Catholic dioceses of Mindanao orientale, Davao Oriental and Surigao del Sur have launched an appeal to help the families affected by the typhoon.

Fr Antonio Galela, head of humanitarian operations in Tandag (Surigao del Sur), said that at the moment, there are 35 centres for the displaced. "There is however an immediate need for food, medicine and drinking water."

Surigao Provincial authorities estimate that some 30,000 people have had to abandon their homes after they were destroyed by floods and wind. (S.C.)

 

• philippines
• typhoon
• bopha
• rescue
• operations
• caritas
• nassa