Estimates of those who perished in Albay from the destruction wrought by typhoon Reming keep on rising. Philippine National Red Cross officials said missing persons number more than 700.
Many of them were in barangays covered by mudflows from Mayon volcano.
Some 800,000 have been “affected”, meaning those who lost their homes, whose houses have been destroyed or have lost their means of livelihood.
Those of us who were spared from typhoon “Reming” should pray for those who bore the brunt of her fury.
GMA-7 reports that some 30 barangay officials from places hardest hit by “Reming” are in Thailand on a supposed “agricultural” junket. They left before the typhoon.
I salute Conrad de Quiros.
Also prayers for the mud slide victims and their families;
what happened to the geologist’s surveys that were identifying the land slide zones where families residing in such zones were in imminent danger of such an incident.
Were these effected barangay within such an identified zone
If not why were they not identified as in imminent danger and if these barangay had been surveyed and identified as being in imminent danger why had the victims not been evacuated.
Actually, there had been reports, the same people were evacuated during the latest Mayon Volcano Eruption Threats, but having their livelihood and houses in the area, the people came back during the lull of threats or the imminent eruption subsided.
What was really needed is a permanent relocation of villages and that was contemplated in the past, but it involves enormous funds and if there were funds allocated for such purpose, you and I can only speculate what happened to those funds.
It is never too late. Too many typhoons and natural disasters visit the country each year and being prepared is better than always grieving for our victims. Some of these tragedies are unavoidable, but most are. For now, we can only pray for the victims as we did in the past and help as much as we could, and tomorrow, we still hope that the Leaders entrusted to plan and co-ordinate preparedness and national safety and emergency measures will set aside all their partisanship, all their personal interests and put their heads together and come up with something Concrete for the next “Reming”. We have said this before and always hope this will be the last time, we pray..
magpapadala ng tulong pinansiyal ang canada, japan, spain at ibang bansa para daw sa rehabilitation ng mga nasalanta. malaking halaga ito kapag pinagsama sama, sino kaya ang mas makikinabang? makarating kaya sa mga kinauukulan ang tulong na ito? magiging bida na naman ang reyna ng mga anay? ang hari ng babuyan kingdom? ang kanilang mga prinsipe, prinsesa, mga ministrong animo’y mga buwitreng walang kabusugan?
mahabaging diyos!!!
tribune headline:
Reming’ death/missing toll rises to 469
RP’s rising poverty ensures disasters’ repeat — analyst
12/03/2006
Devastation of the Philippines’ southern Bicol Region wrought by “Reming,” dubbed as a super typhoon by meteorologists, will not be the last that Filipinos will see in their lifetime.
Analysts yesterday said the country’s natural proneness to disasters is made steadily worse not only by rising poverty but also climate change.
In a country such as the Philippines where more than 50 percent of the population are living on less than two dollars a day, the analysts noted, the human cost of such disasters is enormous.
Despite repeated disasters, they said, many Filipinos are too poor to leave dangerous areas.
Philippine Sen. Richard Gordon, who also heads his country’s Red Cross, for his part, also yesterday said, unless the cycle of poverty is tackled, “these disasters will just go on repeating themselves.”
Some 30,000 residents fled areas near Mayon Volcano in the Bicol Region’s Albay province when it started rumbling in August this year only to return when the activity subsided.
But this week, typhoon-triggered mudslides swept hundreds of these people to their deaths.
Philippine authorities also yesterday said at least 469 persons were dead or missing after rivers of mud and volcanic ash triggered by Reming (international code name: “Durian”) swamped villages, mainly in the Bicol Region.
According to the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), the victims were all in the region, which bore the full brunt of the storm the other day.
All the deaths were around Mayon Volcano where mud and ash flows driven by torrential rain overran the villages last Thursday night.
The Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) earlier reported 388 confirmed dead and 96 missing but yesterday it revised the total down to 134 dead and 159 missing.
The PNRC, however, said it is investigating reports of another 200 dead in a village on the slopes of the volcano.
Roger-Mark De Souza of the Washington-based Population Reference Bureau said the danger from natural disasters in the Philippines has risen markedly in recent years.
“The risk to human life from natural disasters in the Philippines has increased dramatically over the past generation,” De Souza said in a recent report.
“From 1971 to 2000, natural disasters killed 34,000 people but from 1990 to 2000, natural disasters killed or disrupted the lives of 35 million people,” the report said.
Each year, an average of 20 tropical storms sweep in from the Pacific, hammering the central or northern islands of the country.
Sitting on the edge of the “Pacific Ring of Fire,” the Philippines, a Southeast Asian archipelago, is also vulnerable to earthquakes, at least six a day, and volcanic eruptions from its 18 active volcanoes.
It all makes for a deadly mix, according to the International Red Cross, making the Philippines one of the most disaster-prone countries on earth.
Leoncio Amadore, one of the country’s foremost meteorologists, believes that climate change is also contributing to the severity of the typhoons now hitting the Philippines.
“The combination of strong typhoons, excessive rain and landslides has caused a great deal of death and destruction in the Philippines,” Amadore said.
“If we do not act urgently, climate change will further intensify the severity of extreme weather events,” he added.
Rescuers also yesterday arrived in devastated Legazpi City, provincial capital of Albay as officials warned there would be few survivors from the giant mudslides that swept away entire villages, killing hundreds.
Military and civilian emergency workers delayed by Reming, which triggered the mudflows, flew in at first light with the toll already at 469 dead or missing.
As they made their way to Mayon olcano, where rivers of mud and ash meters high obliterated whole communities, officials were pessimistic about finding people alive and appealed for body bags and doctors.
Along the road from Legazpi City to the town of Guinobatan, a quiet procession of poor men, women and children clutching whatever they could salvage walked toward the city hoping to find shelter and food.
Cedric Daep, head of the Provincial Disaster Control Council, said it would be a case of digging bodies from the mud than rescuing survivors.
“There are possibly dozens or hundreds (of bodies) to be recovered,” Daep told Agence France-Presse.
He said floodwaters had risen so rapidly many people simply did not have time to get out of their houses.
The rescuers were greeted by appalling scenes as they arrived on a Philippine Air Force C-130 transport aircraft at dawn.
Many buildings in Legazpi City were damaged or demolished while the villages on the slopes of the volcano had been reduced to just a few sticks protruding from the mud.
Residents using shovels and makeshift equipment were digging out bodies and covering them with plastic as grieving relatives wept as they tried to identify mangled corpses.
The mudslides triggered by rain reached as high as rooftops when they poured down from the volcano, around 350 km southeast of Manila.
Daep said it was difficult to give an accurate death toll due to communication problems in the remote disaster areas.
An earlier death toll of 388 was revised to 149 dead and 294 missing but officials said they were still looking at a higher death toll in two villages that had been “totally wiped off the map.”
The head of forecasting for the government weather station, Nathaniel Cruz, said the government had fully warned the public of the danger posed by the approaching Reming three days before the storm hit.
But Cruz added he was unsure why precautionary measures were not taken in the region.
“Did the information really reach those at the grassroot level?” he asked.
Condolences began arriving from around the world, with Pope Benedict XVI saying he was “deeply saddened” by the deaths.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Spanish government expressed their sympathy to President Arroyo over the human toll of the disaster.
Canada announced that it was donating $1 billion Canadian (US$877,200) for relief efforts.
in a special message to Mrs. Arroyo, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said he is “deeply shocked to hear the sad news of the tragic loss of precious life and devastation of property” caused by Reming.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also expressed his condolences to the Philippine President over the deaths and devastation.
Tokyo has decided to send about 20 million yen (US$173,000) of emergency supplies, including tents and blankets, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Commercial flights began operating into Legazpi City while much of the region is still without power and communications.
The Philippines is also recovering from the impact of Typhoon “Milenyo (international code name: “Xangsane”), the strongest cyclone to hit the nation in more than 10 years, which left 38 dead or missing in late October.
Typhoon “Queenie” (international code name: “Chevi”) caused widespread damage and cut off electricity in many parts of Manila in September, leaving 200 persons dead across the country.
For all the stark images from the devastation wrought by Reming, the scenes were troublingly familiar.
On the eastern island of Southern Leyte in the Philippines’ Visayas Region earlier this year, 1,800 were killed when a mudslide caused by heavy rains obliterated the farming community of Guinsaugon.
The International Red Cross has estimated that some 5.9 million Filipinos were killed or injured as a result of natural or man-made calamities in the 10 years to 2001.
In its 2005 Disaster report, it said the impact of natural disasters “aggravate pre-existing poverty, creating a downward spiral of vulnerability, arresting development.” AFP and Gina Peralta-Elorde
sa donasyong tulong na ipadadala ng mga nasabing bansa, naglalaway na naman ang pamilya gahaman at mga alagad!!!!
Headline kanina(5PM Manila Time) sa BBC News/cable TV channel ang nangyaring bagyo sa rehiyon ng Bicol.
Si Oliver Conway pa ang nagbabalita.
heto ang link sa internet BBC News:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6203110.stm
Philippines buries typhoon dead
Victims of recent mudslides in the Philippines are being buried in a mass grave to prevent the spread of disease.
I grieve for the victims of the many disasters that befall on us. What costly lessons! Hopefully, more thorough surveys and more professional approaches are needed to assess the dangers of loose sediments on the populations. What next? The Cha-cha Disaster! OMG!
Life ain’t fair! Why them, the innocent victims of this devastating calamity? The terrible loss of lives and properties of the ordinaries when they have none to begin with were unjust. In the moment like this I can only offer my heart felt sympathy to those that has been affected by this unexplainable catastrophe. I wish that they soon find peace and consolation despite of this human tragedy. God bless!
A precious human life is nothing to Glueria, as long as it not hers and the Pidals!
****
ETERNAL PEACE FOR ALL THE VICTIMS OF NATURAL CALAMITIES IN THE PHILIPPINES!
God, grant eternal rest unto the victims whose lives were lost due to Typhoon “Reming”. Have mercy, too, Lord, on pon those who have been displaced and who have lost their livelihood because of the Typhoon “Reming”. Amen.
In connection to the above topic, here’s Mr. Laurel’s column that’s very interesting:
Primitive Philippines.
(Herman Tiu Laurel/ DieHard III/ Tribune column for 12-4-2006)
El Niño brings water and electricity shortage, La Niña deluge. With both alternating we get landslide and drought killing scores. While we can not say that anyone can totally cancel out the impact of powerful natural forces that turn into calamities, we can say that the Philippines today is retrogressing in using modern science and engineering to control devastation from such natural forces and turn them into useful resources. More water impounding structures should catch rainfall to thwart droughts and provided cheap water and power spurring modern protected communities.
The problem, according to a news item Sunday morning, is that “poverty ensures disasters’ repeat” according to analysts the report quotes, including Dick Gordon who does seem to have a head for publicity but not for real solutions. The question, stupid, is why is poverty still haunting this country after centuries of production of goods from export – from the time of the Spaniards, through the American colonial and neo-colonial period (which is up to the present) when everything from gold, copper and human slaves are being exported. Well, so much for the “export economy” – proof enough its crap.
The report adds that “climate change” also ensures the country’s disasters will get worse – as if climate change is a 21st century phenomenon. Climate change is believed by some theorists to have wiped out the dinosaurs but modern homo sapiens who’ve been around the planet for the past hundred thousand years has seen quite a number o major climactic shifts in that period but they haven’t been wiped out – that’s because their brains are bigger than dinosaurs and they have been using it to beat the mindless forces of nature. Now let me see the “analysts” find solutions better than dinosaurs.
Poverty is cited as the reason for all the problems of the country, but why is the country in poverty? When we see the top twenty corporations in the country, most of them controlled directly or indirectly by foreign corporate behemoths, earning net profit to the tune of P 300-B or so a year a year and debt payments to the IMF and local bank oligarchs running to P 850-B, then maybe we will understand the dire straits that the country continue to sink into. What is left to lift the Filipino up and out of poverty and into the modern, prosperous and secure world of civilized human beings?
The report says in the Philippines “more than 50% of the population are living on less than two dollars a day … Despite the repeated disasters… many Filipinos are too poor to leave dangerous areas”. They suggest a return to the nomadic life for Filipinos? To their tents as nature dictates? In my few travels to Europe, U.S., China, Southeast Asia, I have seen concreted mountains to keep communities around them safe, barriers to stop snow avalanches, etc. and all because they simply can afford; but then they are not caught in a debt trap nor is their economy being plundered like ours’.
Many Filipino families today live as primitive man did 60,000 years ago when fire was just discovered by some grunting homo sapien and his cousins first walked into Australia. Electric or gas stoves are already relics from the past in many urban poor communities around Metro-Manila, and they’ve traveled back into the future (with apologies to Michael J. Fox) and returning to life around the cave fires for lighting and cooking. But privileged Filipinos like congressmen have ultra modern lifestyles – limousine, coat and tie, even if like Nograles they look Neantherthal.
From Internet sources I counted seven climate changes in the last 100,000 years caused by climactic cycles or natural events like the major eruption 75,000 years ago of Sumatra’s Mt. Toba which changes the earth’s climate for hundreds of years. Homo sapiens survived all of these. The greatest danger to man is not nature and climate change but man himself, it is still a valid question to ask if we will all survive Bush and Cheney’s expected last ditch attempt at creating global war by nuking Iran. For the Philippines the question is, will we survive Gloria before her liver takes her away?
I am not gloating over the problems Gloria has with her health, that’s where we are all going any way; but hopefully later than Gloria so we can see the rise of a revitalize Philippines. Health, by the way, is one area where going primitive is better than going modern. I also have fatty liver and I suspect it’s from too much tetracycline prescribed me by my most well-intentioned doctors from the 70’s (tetracylcine was hugely popular when bacteria and viruses started eating penicillin for breakfast), my best way to reverse the condition is take green leafy vegetable all the time.
If you note that some humor has returned to my column today it is because my liver is happy as I have leaves of mustasa, kamote, sayote, kangkong and a few others I cannot recall for my breakfast and lunch, and as I am writing this. I chase down the leaves with tomato juice now, at breakfast it was chocolate soya milk. Gloria could treat the Filipino people a little nicer if she change her diet of cognac to these primitive foods. Have a happy December.
a cut from a tribune article:
Reintegration center set up to help returning OFWs
12/03/2006
The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) is setting up a reintegration center in Makati City to help returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) go back to the mainstream and address better their socio-economic concerns should they decide to stay for good.
For the economic reintegration, the government will continue to improve the remittance channels for the OFWs and encourage, as well as assist, those so intending to invest soundly and productively from their remittances with government assistance while a seminar for OFWs who wanted to become entrepreneur would also be conducted.
DoLE is expecting remittances from OFWs to hit the $12 billion mark this year after the government breached the One million target deployment for 2006.
************************************************************
ito na lamang ba ang kayang ipagmalaki ng pekeng administrasyong walang kayang gawin kundi ululin ang paniniwala ng taong bayan? isa bang napakagandang accomplishment ang pangingibang lupain ng mga manggagawa dahil walang maibigay na trabaho ang namumunong walang sawa sa pangangako, panlilinlang, paglilimayon at pagpapasarap kasama ang buong pamilya at mga galamay samantalang ang mga magdarahop nating kababayan ay nakikipag-agawan sa mga hayop sa pagbubungkal sa basurahan upang merong maipalaman sa tiyan?
“GMA-7 repors that some 30 barangay officials from places hardest hit by “Reming” are in Thailand on a supposed “agricultural” junket. They left before the typhoon.”
The report goes on to say that “the 30 barangay chairmen of Legazpi City left last week…The officials, reportedly allies of Rep. Carlos Imperial (Lakas-CMD), defied a ruling from the interior department against going abroad…According to the report, the officials who went abroad included barangay officials of Padang village, one of the areas hardest hit by mudslides from Mayon Volcano…In Daraga, residents reportedly sought help from Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal after failing to get help from their own mayor, Gerry Jaucian.”
WHAT ARE THE PRIORITIES OF THESE BARANGAY OFFICIALS? What is it to go back to their provinces right away and help their people who need them most? After all, they were on a “junket” which is merely a trip for their own pleasure. FILE A CASE ON THESE NO-CONSCIENCE BARANGAY OFFICIALS!!
Press release from the office of Rep. Joseph Santiago:
Supertyphoon “Reming,” whose nasty center winds thrashed Catanduanes for more than five hours, killed 11 people, injured 90 others and devastated hundreds of millions of pesos worth of crop, property and infrastructure in the island-province, Rep. Joseph Santiago said.
Santiago, who represents Catanduanes’ lone congressional district, said “90 percent of all homes as well as non-residential structures in five towns — the provincial capital of Virac, Baras, Bato, San Andres and San Miguel — sustained considerable damage.”
“The superhowler’s eyed battered the five towns for more than five hours,” he said, adding five people were killed in Virac and three each in San Andres and San Miguel.
Santiago said classes in all public schools in the five towns have been suspended for the coming week.
“Like most homes, schools have no roofs. Supervisors are trying to find temporary cover, and will likely hold classes two days at best per week due to the limited usable rooms,” he said.
Luckily, Santiago said the province’s six other towns suffered “tolerable damage,” mostly to crops.
“Right now, the province is totally without electricity since virtually all poles were toppled. We still have generating capacity, but there is no distribution capacity to speak of,” he said.
Santiago also said all cellular mobile telephone system sites of service providers in the province are still down.
As of Sunday, he said only one of the usual four boats was servicing passengers and shipments between Virac and Tabaco, Albay. The three other vessels got tangled in the harbors where they sought refuge at the height of the typhoon.
“We are appealing for massive help. What the people need most are food first, because even our rice and other produce stocks were ruined, and roofing materials second, so residents can begin living safely in their homes,” Santiago said.
“Next to food and roofing materials, we desperately need help in promptly restoring the toppled electric poles so the province can be energized again,” he added.
The highest recorded wind speed of “Reming” — 295 kilometers per hour (kph) — was even more powerful than the 275 kph top wind speed of “Sening,” which ravaged Catanduanes 36 years ago, Santiago noted.
Without counting “Reming” and “Sening,” which struck in October 1970, Santiago said 230 kph was the average top recorded wind speed of the five strongest typhoons to whip Catanduanes, known as the “Land of the Howling Wind” thrust into the Pacific Ocean, from 1946 to 2006.
Ellen’s report: GMA-7 reports that some 30 barangay officials from places hardest hit by “Reming” are in Thailand on a supposed “agricultural” junket. They left before the typhoon.
*****
So what are Filipinos going to do with the 30 barangay officials on a trip on government junket? Over in Japan, this will mean a disciplinary action and a mass resignation of this kind of neglectful officials, for the truth is a lot many of these barangay officials especially in the rural areas are related somehow the members of their respective barangays and more reason for them to have more concern but they don’t seem to bother nor care.
Kawawang bansa! Puro inutil!!! PATALSIKIN NA, NOW NA!
Mrivera:
Nawili ang mga animal sa totoo lang. Tuwing may salanta na lang ang Pilipinas, walang ginawa si Pandak kundi mamalimos pero iyong pera ibinubulsa na lang kasi tapos na ang unos kung dumating ang tulong. Nakakadala sa totoo lang.
Kawawa naman iyong mga mahirap na lalong naghihirap dahil sa mga salot na ito.
Fast offering namin sa simbahan sa charity pumupunta. Alam ko na magbibigay ang simbahan namin pero siguro diretso na sa simbahan namin para siguradong madi-distribute sa mga nangangailangan. Pero alam mo ang dami raw talagang raket.
What I see now is, corrupt and immoral officials would rather advance their own selfish interest than deal with the typhoon victims. This is the kind of perverted behavior people display in times of crisis. Joe DV and other immoral officials of the House want to save themselves first, as local leaders prefer to go on a junket, while they let the people suffer with their own miseries. If that is not perversion to the highest degree, I don’t know what is.
And they talk about changing the system? Better change this people, for tomorrow we may wake up and see our country lost forever. Oust Gloria now and her evil cohorts!
Kaya naman pala ang daming namatay dahil ang mga barangay officials ay nasa junket trip sa Thailand! Iyan ba ang ibinusal sa kanila ni Dado?
Right, from Glueria the fake president to the bottom of the philippine political heirarchy, the BARANGAY OFFICIALS…are all corrupt and corrupted already! Whom will the ordinary citizens turn to, if even their barrio officials are vacationing together overseas? Iyan ang Fantasy Republic ni Glueria Encantada!
Ang dapat sa mga ordinaryong pinoy ay huwag nang umasa kahit kaninong public officials. Tayo-tayo, sama-sama, bayanihan approach ang gawin kapag may nalalapit na kalamidad at ng maiwasan ang napakaraming nasasawi. DIOS NA MAHABAGIN!
****
Ellen,
Nasa Am Red Cross ang donasyon naming mag-asawa. At least dito ay sigurado kami na pupunta sa mga nasalanta ang kaunti naming nakayanan. Meron na kaagad na ARC e-mail notice na naipadala sa amin gaya ng sa tsunami sa Indo and Katrina sa New O. Thanks for this blog, we are always updated with the events in the country, especially like this one.
On the other hand, those living close to Mayon Volcano were partly if not mainly to blame for this tragedy. Months ago, they were already told to evacuate or move out of their residences in anticipation of eruption and landslides. And it has happened. Excuse saying they have no other place to go and don’t want to leave their properties is a valid reason; and much to blame is this fake government. While the evil couple was undergoing expensive medical check up at St. Luke’s, the strong typhoon attacked the Bicol region. What does this tell us?
True, natural calamities aggravate the misery and poverty of the Filipinos. But have we carefully looked into why such calamities inflict the heavy damage that they do on our lives? Corrupt leaders are a party to this destruction. Just look at the people running DENR. For the money that goes into their pockets, they allow greedy concessionaires to rape our forests.
Of course, this problem antedates Gloria’s folly. But she is not exonerated from it either. Appointing incompetent people to this sensitive agency in the likes of Reyes or even Defensor exaggerates the already bad practice in govt, while the ailing ecosystem is left unattended. Truth is, our leaders have never learned from the mistakes of the past as far as environmental protection is concerned.
If there is one single thing that they know best, that is to PROTECT themselves.
Npongco, “What does this tell us?”
It only tells us this: A corrupt regime is only concerned about its own welfare.
Ellen,
Typhoon Reming’s arrival was forecast and flashed all over the world for as many as 72 hourse before it hit Manila. I remember CNN and BBC had been flashing the news as early as Monday evening my time or early morning Tuesday morning your time.
There has been an approximation of wind speed and typhoon strength as early as Tuesday afternoon your time. By Tuesday evening weather forecasts all over the world were definite about the direction of Reming.
Given the warnings, I am appalled that the Philippine government, Malacanang officials, AFP, Philippine Coast Guard, National Disaster Commission of the Philippines (chaired normally by DND) should have AT LEAST made a minimum of preparations in the areas that are usually the weakest spots in the direction of Reming.
It is NOT enough to warn the population of the pending disaster – the government should have put a minimum of logistics in those areas to evacuate those people or as many as they can.
What the hell did this government think? Gloria in her speech here in Europe when she visited BOASTED that she has hundreds of millions in state cofferes which she can spend on infrastructures – given the urgency, she could have dipped into those funds to save a minimum number of those lives as well as to spend for basic necessities for the families of evenutual victims after the typhoon struck.
The bottom line is this corrupt, shameless, greedy government SHOULD HAVE PREPARED ALL THOSE AND NOT WAITED TILL THE TYPHOON STRUCK TO SAVE WHOEVER WERE GONNA BE LEFT in the storm’s wake!
What kind of wh*re is Gloria?
Ellen, there should be a POST MORTEM… Prayers are not enough – The Philippines should demand BLOOD!
Anna,
“What the hell Gloria’s govt is thinking and doing?”
An inept govt whose mind is preoccupied with its own survival cannot, and will never, do something for the public good. Possessed by power, the only thing it knows and wants is, how to keep it.
Those millions in the coffers she mentioned are not for the public, NOT AT ALL. They are reserved for the “private” (Gloria and her minions’ already swelling pockets). The exigency of public service is only a political rhetoric of a corrupt, or corrupting regime. Isn’t it that the motto of such politicians is, “FOR OFFICIAL USE ALSO”?
I can agree with you no more that blood is needed. The best thing to do now is OUST Gloria. The sooner she goes, the better for the Philippines.
Anna de Brux,
It’s as if the ramification of the recent Typhoon, “Reming” (international code name Durian) was not enough to JOLT and WAKE-UP these “corrupt, shameless, greedy government”!!! Kung hindi naman nakakapikon! Asdide from declaring “A State of National Calamity”, The Philippine Star reports that Gloria “ordered the release of P1 billion initially for relief and rehabilitation efforts in areas affected by “Reming””
I can only speculate that the VULTURES in government are out to get their take from the P1-B! It’s the same thing over and over and over again! This behavior of theirs-the LATE REACTION, I mean-tells me that that they view calamities as occasions to make money and NOT as an opportunity to help their people! I can only agree with you when you say that “The Philippines should demand BLOOD!”
Pardon my ignorance, but is the international community coursing their financial assistance through NGOs? I hope they’re not coursing them through government agencies!
May God guide the hands of the rescuers and save more lives!
Rep. Prospero Nograles and your shameless colleagues please eat your own pork. The minority members are asking a “ceasefire” on your unlawful con-ass. SHAME ON YOU PIGS!
Excerpts from Daily Tribune 12/04/2006
“There is hardly anything we can do about disasters except help. We may all request our congressmen to shell out P100, 000 each from pork barrel to contribute to victims. We have done this before. But postpone Cha-cha may not directly help victims.” House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles
You said it Anna! “Ellen, there should be a POST MORTEM… Prayers are not enough – The Philippines should demand BLOOD!”
But how? I will support any movement, bloody or not, just to remove the Bansot and her cohorts!
Hindi pa nga naantig ang walanghiya doon sa nangyayari sa asawa as when the news reports state that she is not at all worried about him. Baka pa nga ipinagdarasal niyang mawala na rin para masolo niya ang mga nanakaw na nila. Heaven forbid!
I heard this DENR national hazard mapping program after the 02/17/2006 Guinsaugon, Leyte landslide that buried about 1,800 farming community alive. As usual, Mrs. Gloria Gloria is like a broken record. She is just doing lip service and there‘s no concrete steps done to prevent or minimize the lost of lives. It’s not a surprise why she got a negative-29 trust rating on the latest Pulse Asia survey. In 1991, about 6,000 people were killed on Leyte in floods and landslides triggered by a tropical storm. Another 133 people died in floods and mudslides in 2003. YES, the Philippines should demand BLOOD for her incompetence.
“I am directing the DENR to step up the national hazard mapping program to forewarn vulnerable communities and help increase the capability of local governments for early warning and action.” Gloria Arroyo. INQ7.net 12/04/2006
What mapping program? If they couldn’t do it before, how much more now under Gloria’s watch? If “high” boss doesn’t know what she is doing, those in the lower ranks will only reproduce the gross incompetence that becomes the hallmark of Philippine bureaucracy. And what would you expect of a guy like Defensor or Reyes running DENR? A guy who knows how to manage soldiers is not necessarily one who can understand trees or animals, or the more complicated interaction between humans and nature.
Yet, you will hear from them this common alibi: I just inherited this problem. As if they can’t do anything to alter its course, or diminish its effect.
hayup din talaga itong nognograles na ito! pinepeste na ang mga kababayan niya sa bicol, hanggang barya lamang ang iniisip na iabuloy sa mga nasalanta at ang laman ng utak ay palaging chachang walang maibibigay na buti sa sambayanan kundi ang pananatili nilang mga ganid sa pwesto. buwisit na mga animal na sipsip kay gloria! mga walang budhi! salapi lamang ang katapat ng kanilang mga pagkatao!
mrivera..o e di lumabas ang natural ng mga tarantadong iyan!…mga naka magagarang sasakyan, at kung anu-anong karangyaan..will he ever shell out anything frm his own pocket as a show of personal advocacy?!! NO! NEVER nyang gagawin yan, same as Villabuwitre et al…does anybody knw where no-brainless live here? Villabuwitre lives where? Salceda? saan mga village sila nakatira? dapat ay mag rally at magpicket sa mga bahay nila!
ang gusto kong mabalita ay sinunog, pinasabog o nakarnap ang magagarang sasakyan ng mga bwitreng ‘yan at ng makita nating maglupasay sa kalye! and then isunod ang pagsunog sa kanilang mga mansion! tingnan natin kung matutuloy pa ang conass. kung hindi nila inaalintana ang bicol tragedy at tuloy pa rin ang usapang conass, malamang ay mahihinto ang tongreso kung ang mga pansariling interes ang apektado.
Soleil, masama ang salitang “tarantado” lalo na sa babaeng tulad mo. Sana “gunggong” o “tsap tsieng” na lang ang sinabi mo.
chi, soleil, sa halip nga na bisitahin ng mga ulol na ‘yan ang kani kanilang distrito, pananatili sa pwesto ang pinag-uusapan. mga wala talagang budhi at kaluluwa!
magbangon sana ang mga namatay at isama nila sa hukay ang mga masisibang alaga ni glutonia, pati na rin ang lahat ng kanilang mga bayarang kaalyado pati ang pamilya makapal aso-yo.
rumagasa din ang bagyong Reming sa Katimugang Vietnam, mula sa BBC News:
Vietnam lashed by tropical storm
Last Updated: Tuesday, 5 December 2006, 04:49 GMT
At least 37 people have died as Tropical Storm Durian lashed Vietnam, sweeping away fishing boats, destroying houses and downing power lines.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6207178.stm
tribune news:
“‘Reming” toll up as aid arrives for Bicol mudslide survivors
12/06/2006
Almost a week after the tragedy, the first foreign aid flights of food and medicines arrived yesterday in the Bicol region, where devastating mudslides had left at least 1,266 persons dead or missing.
At first light, two C-130 transport aircraft from Indonesia touched down in Legaspi City, Albay where disaster relief operations are being coordinated, carrying more than 12 tons of food and medicine.
A small team of Spanish firemen set up a field hospital nearby for injured survivors.
The devastating torrents of mud and volcanic ash triggered by rains from typhoon “Reming,” one of the strongest cyclones to hit the country, swallowed more than 700 villages near Mayon volcano on Thursday.
Survivors desperately picked through the thick deposits trying to find loved ones, but rescuers said the search was hopeless.
Daniel Fernandez, of the Spanish search and rescue team BUSF, said “the search for life is over.”
President Arroyo flew to the region yesterday to commiserate with the survivors and ordered local officials to speed up relief work.
“Government at all levels must cooperate and consolidate resources to bear upon this tragedy,” she said in a statement that thanked foreign donors.
“The search for victims must continue as we tend to the sick and hungry in the evacuation centers, but we must now also push on the search for permanent solutions bearing upon the root cause of these grave calamities,” she added.
Mrs. Arroyo expressed gratitude for the outpouring of humanitarian support from many countries around the globe.
“As the sympathy and humanitarian contributions of the world are focused on this tragedy, we extol the theme of a caring and sharing community that lives in Asean and beyond, bringing aid and comfort to those mostly in need…we are grateful to the world but we must also face the challenges of the future,” she said.
The President on Sunday declared a state of national calamity and ordered the release of P1 billion for the relief and rehabilitation of the areas ravaged by the typhoon.
As this developed, the Chinese government pledged to donate $200,000 to the Philippines to help with the aid efforts, foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters in Beijing yesterday. The Chinese Red Cross has also given $50,000.
Typhoon Reming, now downgraded to a tropical storm, lashed the coast of southern Vietnam overnight, where officials said at least 23 persons had died and more were missing.
Civil Defense officials confirmed 526 dead, mostly around Mayon volcano and another 740 missing.
Teams from the Health department were making their way to villages to help deal with the dead.
Many unclaimed bodies have been buried in shallow graves but many more are still lying unrecovered.
Damage to infrastructure was estimated at P700 million to P1 billion, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) yesterday reported.
DPWH Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane said an inspection showed that majority of the main roads are passable except for Madella Road, Km. 301+000-Km.
311+000, Barangay Caloocan, Dipaculao; and the Bongabon Road in Baler, Aurora due to landslides and a swollen river at Villa 2.
The estimated cost of damages in Region 3, he said, was pegged at P6 million.
In Region 4 A, all roads are passable except for intermittent sections of about three kilometers of the Batangas-Tabangao-Lobo Road due to seaside scouring. The estimated cost of damage in the area, including schoolbuildings was placed at P35 million.
While in Region IV-B, the East Coast Road, Km. 190-Km. 205 in Southern Mindoro remain impassable due to landslides. The Dr. Damian Reyes Memorial Road Marinduque has also been damaged by landslides.
All roads in Region V, which was the hardest hit by Reming, are passable except for the Legaspi-Tabaco-Tiwi Road, Daang Maharlika, Km 521, and Camalig-Comun-Gapo secondary road. The estimated cost of damage to infrastructure in the area was placed around P700 million.
Ebdane said he has mobilized regional teams to deploy dump trucks, bulldozers, and other heavy equipment for use in road clearing operations to ensure better access to areas heavily-damaged by mudslide.
“We understand the need to provide the residents with relief goods in those areas,” he added.
The DPWH chief also denied reports that they are being blamed by residents in some areas for conducting dredging operations near the base of Mayon volcano.
“When we went there and we were briefed by local officials, they were not blaming the public works office. Rather, in some areas, they were thankful that we installed sabo dams which helped filter the amount of boulders coming from Mayon. We noticed that based on reports, those heavily hit were areas with no infrastructure support such the sabo dams,” Ebdane explained.
He said sabo dams control large amounts of sediment flow such as debris flow without causing damage downstream. They also protect the population from pyroclastic, debris and lava flows.
He pointed out that local officials admitted that it was not the DPWH’s fault that no preventive infrastructure measures were installed in the area as private landowners previously refused to let the public works office build on their land.
Aside from mobilizing teams, Ebdane said contractors with existing contracts with the DPWH were also dispatched to affected areas to use their water tankers to bring water to Legaspi City after the disaster cut off its water supply.
“As of yesterday, supplies of gasoline were also brought to the area, but only on a limited supply,” he said.
“Restoraton of power lines, are closely being cordinated with local provider Transco,” Ebdane said.
He revealed that he will recommend to the National Disaster Coordnating Council a review of existing strategic plans and integrate data gathered from years before to update contingecy measures being employed by the government during emergency situations. Marie Surbano and Sherwin C. Olaes with AFP
It’s too early for political campaign. As usual,traditional politicians are exploiting the victims of Mt. Mayon mudslides. SHAME ON YOU Krisel Lagman !
Priest stops distribution of goods marked with ex-solon’s name
A parish priest said Friday that he stopped the distribution of relief goods in Tabaco City in Albay province after learning that the goods were marked with a former congresswoman’s name, ABS-CBN’s Bandila reported.
Monsignor Ramon Tronqued, who just went through an appendix operation, said former Albay congresswoman Krisel Lagman marked relief goods from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) with her name.
“We were asking help from other sectors. [Goods from] DSWD came. When the rice came it was marked with the name of a certain person. I said no! We cannot use this for political reason. This is the Church. Please respect the Church,” he said.
Tronqued said the incident happened during the initial distribution of relief goods for residents of typhoon-hit areas in Albay.
Lagman said she had no political agenda in placing her name on the sacks of relief goods. She said the relief goods came from her personal funds.
“I don’t know where the news came from, that the relief goods came from DSWD,” she said, adding that Tronqued’s reaction was uncalled for.
She, however, said that she will not ask for a public apology from the priest. She clarified that her only intention was to help affected families in Tabaco City.
ABS-CBN NEWS 12/09/2006