MANILA, 19 May 2004 — Thousands of people have been rendered homeless by floods and landslides caused by Typhoon Nida in the eastern Philippines, officials said yesterday.
Hardest hit was Gigmoto town in the island province of Catanduanes, where about 700 houses have been buried or damaged by landslides in three farming villages since Sunday, reports from the Office of Civil Defense said.
Gigmoto, about 380 kilometers southeast of Manila, was isolated and rescuers were still waiting for the weather to clear to airlift food and relief teams.
“Some relief teams with food packages were trying to reach the area by foot and boat,” said Chief Supt. Jaime Lasar, the regional police of Bicol.
One radio station said three fishermen died when their boat capsized off the coast of Camarines Norte and two people drowned while trying to cross swollen rivers in Camarines Sur. Another eight fishermen were missing in Panay Island.
Three others who had been listed as missing Monday were found alive off Leyte province, where they took shelter from the storm, coast guard chief Vice Admiral Arturo Gosingan said.
Citing initial reports from its field offices, Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. said 7,420 hectares planted to rice and some 1,675 hectares of corn had been destroyed in Bicol, with Camarines Sur as the worst hit among the region’ s provinces with crop damage placed at P12.7 million.
The central island of Samar also sustained substantial damage to crops, infrastructure and private property, the civil defense office said.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo placed Catanduanes and seven other provinces under a state of calamity, enabling local officials to draw money for relief efforts from emergency funds.
Government rescuers said more than 11,000 people have been displaced from their homes, while about 15,000 others were stranded as ferry services between the main island of Luzon and the central islands were suspended since Sunday.
“It is my fervent prayer that damage to lives and properties will be mitigated through our concerted effort,” Arroyo said in a statement.
“Other areas are continually being assessed and appropriate action will be taken as soon as we have a clearer picture of the damage.”
Nida (local name: Dindo) is the fourth typhoon to hit the archipelago this year and has stranded more than 15,000 people after authorities halted sea travel to prevent accidents. As the weather improved in some areas later yesterday, some ferries were allowed to sail, easing the commuters’ long wait, officials said.
Forecasters tracked Nida’s eye 120 kilometers (70 miles) east of northern Aurora province early yesterday.
It was moving northwest at 13 kph (8 mph), after lashing eastern regions with winds and pounding rain, toppling trees and power lines and damaging farms.
Nearly 2,000 people were evacuated in three provinces where the typhoon passed, the government’s disaster response agency said.
In central Sorsogon province, a boat with a beer cargo ran aground, and villagers rescued its 13 crewmen, officials said. In nearby Albay province, a heavy downpour pushed ash and dirt down the Mayon Volcano’s slope, briefly blocking a road, police said. About 20 storms and typhoons hit the Philippines annually. (Additional input from agencies)
