MANILA, 2 December 2006 — Volcanic debris let loose by a typhoon killed up to 400 people on the slopes of Mount Mayon in the Philippines yesterday. Heavy rains and winds sent tons of mud and boulders the size of cars crashing onto villages, the head of the local Red Cross said.
Durian, which packed winds of up to 225 kph, moved into the South China Sea after lashing the Philippines since early Thursday and was expected to weaken into a tropical storm before hitting Vietnam on Monday.
Communities close to Mount Mayon, an active volcano about 320 km south of Manila, were buried after Durian dislodged mounds of debris from its slopes.
“There are a lot of conflicting reports but, looking at the trend, we could have about 300 to 400 people dead by tonight,” Richard Gordon, a senator and head of the Philippine Red Cross, told local television.
In Manila, Red Cross spokeswoman Teresa Arguelles said at least 388 people had died and 96 were still missing. Around 11,000 people were left homeless and infrastructure damaged, including power lines and phone links knocked out, bridges washed away and roads buried by landslides.
“It’s a wasteland,” said Noel Rosal, a mayor in the central region of Bicol.
Disaster reports from other provinces were sketchy.
The mudslides triggered by Durian’s rains reached as high as rooftops when they poured down from Mount Mayon, witnesses said.
President Gloria Arroyo directed troops and police to back up provincial disaster relief agencies overwhelmed by the scale of the tragedy. “Get the soldiers to help in any of the activities in the relief operations, extension of medical assistance, the cleaning of the roads, the restoration of power, and helping the stranded passengers,” she said at a briefing.
Arroyo’s office said she wanted “massive relief, rescue and rehabilitation” operations in affected areas. Some 40 military rescuers were flown out from the capital to the Mayon area by helicopter. A C-130 transport plane loaded with equipment and rescuers is due to fly out to the area at dawn today, and rescue personnel plan to bring special search dogs trained to find buried bodies.
Rescue teams were hampered by blocked roads and swollen rivers as they tried to reach many of the villages dotted around the still-active volcano.
Glenn Rabonza, the executive officer of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, said rescuers were concentrating their efforts on saving lives.
In a village close to Mayon, soldiers used their bare hands to dig bodies out of the sludge. A pregnant woman was pulled out alive and airlifted to hospital.
“The hands and legs of some of the dead were sticking out from the mud,” said Col. Robert Morales, the deputy brigade commander in Bicol.
Disaster agencies called for fresh water, medicine and body bags. Thousands of evacuees crammed into schools and churches, while some residents were marooned on roofs.
Durian, one notch below a Category 5 “supertyphoon,” caused havoc across the central and northern Philippines, affecting nearly 22,000 people, grounding planes and halting sea travel.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said farmers had suffered around 500 million pesos ($10 million) in losses after Durian swept through growing regions for coconuts, rice and hemp. Crop damage from previous typhoons cut third-quarter economic growth.
On the island of Marinduque, trees were uprooted, lamp posts wrenched out and roofs swept from most 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 Ltd halted operations at its copper and zinc mine in the central Philippines after the typhoon damaged staff housing and power lines but the company said it hoped to reopen in two weeks.
Durian skirted Manila, where offices and schools were closed for a national holiday.
— Additional input from agencies
