Flash flood victims face threat of epidemic outbreak

SURVIVORS of devastating Philippines flash floods face a growing threat of disease, including cholera and typhoid, officials warned as the death toll rose above 1,000.

About 44,000 people who fled as huge torrents swept away shanty towns in the nation’s south are packed in evacuation camps without proper sanitation, and officials fear the sites are potential breeding grounds for epidemics.

Tropical storm Washi struck the southern island of Mindanao over the weekend, bringing heavy rains, flash floods and overflowing rivers that swept whole coastal villages away.

Civil defence chief Benito Ramos put the death toll at 1,010 and warned it could climb further as victims swept out to sea began washing ashore.

“They are washing up on the beaches. I expect that (the toll) will go up because there are still many missing.”

Ramos said he expects the toll to reach about 1,100 but warned that many people were swept to sea would never be found.

“In our experience, after three days, [a body] will emerge but after another three to five days, it will submerge again,” he said.

His office put the number of missing at 46.

Eighteen unclaimed corpses were buried in individual tombs in Iligan, after 38 were interred a day earlier, city official Teresita Herrera said.

Officials said hundreds of decaying bodies and their overpowering stench had to be dealt with but attention should now focus on protecting the living, particularly in the shelters.

Assistant health secretary Eric Tayag warned the crowded conditions could lead to outbreaks of leptospirosis, diarrhoea, cholera, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, and dysentery, with children and pregnant women the most vulnerable.