storm
Tropical storm in the Philippines: Search for missing persons remains risky
Flooded areas in Capiz and Iloilo provinces. Photo: Office of Civil Defense/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
For more than a week, rescuers in the Philippines have been struggling through mud and masses of earth. They hope to find survivors after tropical storm “Megi”. But the work is risky.
The number of dead after the first tropical storm this year in the Philippines has risen to 172, according to authorities.
At least 170 people were still missing around a week after the “Megi” storm, according to the Southeast Asian island state’s national civil protection agency. However, there were considerations to temporarily suspend the search work because of the great danger in the areas affected by landslides in the province of Leyte.
“Experts are concerned for the safety of search and rescue teams because the ground is still giving way,” said Mark Timbal, a spokesman for civil protection. Although many days have passed since the landslides, there is still hope of finding buried people alive.
According to the authorities, 156 people were killed in Baybay City and nearby Abuyog alone, about 600 kilometers southeast of the capital Manila. Tropical storm “Megi”, called “Agaton” in the Philippines, made landfall on April 10 with gusts of up to 105 kilometers per hour on the east coast.
Heavy rains had triggered landslides that fell on villages and buried dozens of houses. More than two million people in 30 provinces were affected by “Megi”, and a good 200,000 citizens sought protection in evacuation centers. The disaster control estimated the damage to houses, agriculture and public infrastructure at the weekend to be more than 4.6 million euros.
The island nation is hit by an average of around 20 typhoons each year. The worst storm to date, Haiyan, killed more than 6,300 people in November 2013.