The past weekend marked one of the darkest dates in the Philippines' natural
disaster-battering history, with reports of floods, landslides, flooded streets
and a sunken ship with over 700 passengers on board.
The country's Red Cross and disaster relief authorities last night announced
that at least 229 people have been killed, 700 others missing as typhoon
"Fengshen" ripped through the archipelago since Friday afternoon.
More people, officials said, are feared dead as the hope of survival is
fading for the 700 people on ferry "M/V Princess of the Star" which completely
sank off the coasts of central Philippine province of Romblon on Sunday.
So far, only four survivors have reached shores and the rest are "still
unaccounted for," Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Armand Balilo said.
The 23,000-ton ship of the Sulpicio Lines, carrying more than 700 people on
board, left Manila for central Philippine hub of Cebu on Friday. It met rough
weather at sea on Saturday noon before the caption ordered to abandon the ship,
whose engine had been seriously damaged in high waves and strong winds.
PCG rescuers reaching the scene on Sunday reported that they had failed to
"see any survivors or bodies around the upturned ship, or even any life jackets
or other flotation devices," the national news network INQUIRER.NET reported.
"The rescuers will also be scouring the other coastal areas to check for the
passengers," PCG Commandant Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo told INQUIRER.NET.
"I hope and I pray that many are alright," he said.
Meanwhile, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) on Sunday
morning reported that floods, storm surge, and landslides have affected 366,444
people, of which, 70,717 are in evacuation centers.
According to the disaster relief agency, 229 people were confirmed dead in
typhoon-caused accidents.
Senator Richard Gordon, head of the national Red Cross, said the death toll
could also jump dramatically because the casualties reports from places such as
Central Luzon are yet to reach Manila.
Heavy rains and strong winds totally destroyed 127 houses and partially
damaged 16 others, the NDCC said.
Floodwaters in many parts of the Philippines surged so swiftly that many
roads were rendered useless while large number of residents in central
Philippines reportedly fled their damaged houses to take refuge on rooftops or
in the branches of tall trees.
Electricity, telephone lines and mobile phone signals were cut off in many
parts of the archipelagic state, including capital Metro Manila.
The storm has stranded 5,095 passengers, 288 rolling cargo, 90 trucks, 59
passenger buses, 48 small vehicles, and eight sea vessels, the NDCC said.
Packing sustained winds of 120 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 150
kilometers per hour, the typhoon entered the Philippines from the eastern Samar
island on Friday. It shifted course Sunday to the northwest and battered Manila
at dawn, dumping heavy rain on the capital.
Moving northwest at 15 kilometers per hour, the storm is expected to exit
through the western coast of Central Luzon by Sunday evening, the reports said.
The military has also readied its troops and vehicles to assist in rescue and
relief operations, the military authorities said Sunday.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who left for the United States over the
weekend, ordered an all-out effort to rescue the victims, especially those on
the capsized ferry.
She blamed the coast guard officials for allowing the ferry to leave Manila
late Friday despite foreseeable unfavorable weather.
Ferries are the common form of transportation in the Philippines with
stretching 7,000 islands. The archipelago is also the site of the world's worst
peacetime maritime disaster when ferry MV Dona Paz hit an oil tanker and sank,
killing more than 4,000 people in December 1987.