“It was as if the cities were hit by an inland tsunami,” UN humanitarian coordinator Soe Nyunt-U told reporters in Manila. “Entire areas were completely flattened. Only a few sturdy buildings remain standing, and these had sustained a lot of damage.”
“Debris from houses, buildings and other structures that had been destroyed by the storm was all swept out to the sea, leaving huge areas devoid of all traces of habitation,” he said.
Aid agencies appealed on Thursday for money to ease overcrowding at evacuation centers and find housing for thousands made homeless by flash floods and mudslides which devastated parts of a Philippine island.
The United Nations has appealed to countries to provide an additional $28.6 million assistance to typhoon victims over the next three months as authorities relocate residents of high-risk areas. Nyunt-U said he was hopeful donors and foreign governments will respond to the appeal despite the global economic crisis. An appeal launched following a 2009 typhoon that killed about 500 people in Manila collected only half the funds needed.
“It’s the Christmas season and the willingness of the international community is high,” he said, adding that “no country can stand alone,” Nyunt-U said after touring flood-stricken areas.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said his office had received pledges of assistance from a long list of countries, as well as the Organization of Islamic Conference and Association of South East Asian Nations.
More than 640,000 people in 13 provinces were affected by the typhoon. About 45,000 displaced have been placed in overcrowded and ill-equipped shelters — mostly in schools, gymnasiums, churches and other public buildings — most of them in worst-hit Iligan and Cagayan de Oro cities in the southern Mindanao region. Another 266,000 are being assisted outside temporary shelters. Nearly 30,000 houses were destroyed and damaged. The two cities are home to nearly a million people.
Cagayan de Oro town, worst hit by Washi with 650 dead, has sent more medical teams to evacuation centers to prevent outbreaks of disease.
“It is way too crowded here, people are sitting or lying down like at a rally — side by side,” Aaron Neri, 59, a village chief whose house was damaged, told Reuters in one center.
Officials have told him and his neighbors that they were to be relocated permanently because their village is in a high-risk area.
“It’s smelly and dirty because there’s so much waste,” he said of the evacuation center. “We will spend Christmas and celebrate New Year here, possibly until Christmas 2013.”
Officials were jolted by the extent of damage and said the risk of water-borne disease extended far beyond the evacuation centers to all areas in the two worst-affected towns — Cagayan de Oro and Iligann.
Local authorities and grieving relatives were moving ahead with dozens of burials each day, after a handful of funeral parlors complained they were overwhelmed and could no longer accept bodies, which were still being retrieved from the sea or mud almost a week after the disaster struck.
Aid workers rushed in relief supplies, but a lack of running water was a major concern.
“Poor water, sanitation and hygiene conditions pose a health concern. We must improve this situation at the soonest possible time to avoid disease outbreaks that will further compound the hardships of the people already weakened by hunger, and grief from loss of family and friends,” Nyunt-U said.
He mentioned a cholera type virus that may occur due to problems stemming from congestion in the evacuation centers, where poor sanitation and hygiene posed a health risk.
Typhoon Washi, the worst typhoon to hit the north of Mindanao island in more than five decades, sent torrents of water, mud and logs cascading through riverside and coastal villages, killing 1,010 people. Dozens are missing.
Monsoon rain since the weekend also caused flash floods in the country’s northeast, killing three people with seven missing.
