[Shadow_Group] Fw: 338 dead in floods and landslides in Philippines

[shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1381613,00.html<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1381613,00.html>

338 dead in floods and landslides in Philippines 

By Jenny Booth, Times Online, 11/30/04 
Landslides and flash floods have killed 338 people in the eastern Philippines, with 150 others missing and a fresh typhoon on the way.

     
     
Corazon Soliman, the Social Welfare Secretary, said that rescue efforts were being hampered by bad weather, with roads blocked by landslides and submerged in flood waters. The authorities were finding it difficult to deliver supplies and to rescue people on rooftops.

Helicopters had to drop food parcels to those stranded on roofs because there was no place to land, she said.

Ms Soliman, who returned to Manila today from an aerial survey of the area, said that 306 people were killed and 150 missing in Quezon province, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) east of Manila, the capital.

The Office of Civil Defence reported that 19 were killed in Aurora province, eight in Rizal province, and one each in the Manila suburb of Marikina and Camarines Norte province. Other officials reported that three had died in Bulacan province, north of Manila.

Ms Soliman said that the town of Real was worst hit with 114 dead, while 100 were known to have died in Infanta and 92 in General Nakar, all in Quezon province. At least 150 were reported missing in Real, she said.

Officials were arranging for a coast guard boat to reach the three Quezon towns facing the Pacific Ocean, from where a new typhoon was approaching.

Reuben Sindac, the police intelligence chief in Quezon, quoted a colleague as saying he saw up to 20 bodies floating in the floodwaters.

He said police communications equipment and vehicles in Infanta were damaged and the whole town was underwater.

Lieutenant Colonel Restituto Padilla, a spokesman for the Philippines Air Force, said that stricken towns in Quezon were inaccessible after swollen rivers washed away bridges and uprooted trees.

A coast guard helicopter flew 12 people who were injured in the Quezon landslides to Manila for treatment, most with fractures and some in critical condition.

A private helicopter used to survey the damage has crash-landed in flood waters in northern Nueva Ecija province, but the pilot and a radio reporter with him were rescued by a military helicopter.

TV footage showed residents stranded on patches of dry land, waving at rescue helicopters. Brown-colored floodwater submerged bridges, and large areas of hillsides were swept away, sending tons of dirt and debris onto roads and toppling coconut trees.

The Philippines is hit by about 20 storms and typhoons a year. A typhoon and another storm in the country's east last week killed at least 87 people and left 80 others missing.


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"The practice of discernment is part of higher consciousness. Discernment is not just a step up from judgement. In life's curriculum, it is the opposite of judgement. Through judgement a man reveals what he needs to confront and learn. Through discernment, one reveals what he has mastered."   Quote from: Love Without End, by Glenda Green
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