At least 388 people are confirmed dead and 96 missing after rivers of mud and volcanic ash triggered by Typhoon Durian swamped villages in the Philippines, the Red Cross said on Friday.
All the dead are in the eastern province of Albay, said Philippines Red Cross spokesperson Teresa Arguelles.
She also said the figure is expected to go higher as rescuers reach places that were isolated by heavy rains and winds brought on by the typhoon.
Villages close to Mount Mayon, about 320km south of Manila, were covered in mud and rocks after Durian dislodged mounds of volcanic debris from its slopes.
In the central Bicol region, power and communication blackouts as well as impassable roads were hampering rescue efforts.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered the military to assist medical teams in reaching submerged villages, and disaster agencies called for water supplies, medicines and body bags.
One of the Philippines’ most active volcanoes, Mayon raised fears of a major eruption in August after months of spewing lava and boulders.
The area around the mountain was bathed in sunshine on Friday, just hours after torrential rain and winds of up to 225kph tore through the area. ”That’s the only thing beautiful today that we’ve been able to experience,” Albay Governor Fernando Gonzales said, referring to the sunny weather.
Destruction
Durian left a trail of destruction across the central and northern Philippines, affecting nearly 22 000 people as flooding and storm winds damaged homes, grounded planes and halted sea travel. Scores were injured.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said farmers had suffered about 500-million pesos ($10-million) in losses after Durian swept through the coconut, rice and hemp-growing region. Crop damage from previous typhoons dragged down third-quarter economic growth.
Durian, which was one notch below a category-five ”super typhoon” when it crashed into the South-East Asian archipelago on Thursday, has now moved into the South China Sea and is expected to weaken into a tropical storm over the next few days as it approaches Vietnam.
On the island of Marinduque, trees were uprooted, lamp posts wrenched out and roofs swept from homes. ”It’s the worst in our history. Almost all houses were damaged by the typhoon in the province,” congressman Edmund Reyes said on local radio.
Australia’s Lafayette Mining said operations at its gold mine in Albay province had been interrupted by the typhoon and requested a halt in the trading of its shares to give it time to assess the damage. It will give an update on December 4.
The typhoon skirted Manila, where offices and schools were closed for a national holiday.
Named after a pungent and spiky Asian fruit, Durian is the fourth typhoon to hit the Philippines in three months. Forecasters expect there will be one more typhoon before year-end.
In September, 213 people were killed when Typhoon Xangsane battered the north and centre of the country, leaving millions without electricity or running water for days. Xangsane also killed dozens in Vietnam.
Illegal logging and mining raise the risk of mudslides during the Philippine typhoon season. In the worst disaster in recent years, more than 5 000 people died on the central island of Leyte in 1991 in floods triggered by a typhoon. — Reuters, AFP