Typhoon-hit Philippines seeks foreign help

Philippine officials are seeking international help to rebuild villages devastated by back-to-back storms that left more than 1,100 people either dead or missing and devastated mostly poor northern agricultural regions.

Last week’s storms left at least 566 people dead and 546 missing and set off flash floods and landslides that destroyed hundreds of houses, farms, roads and bridges. Damaged infrastructure has hampered rescue efforts and the flow of relief goods to far-flung villages, officials said.

Last night social welfare secretary Dinky Soliman appealed to foreign governments for help.

“The appeal we’re now making is in rehabilitation,” Soliman said. “That really means rebuilding water systems, toilets, livelihood in agriculture for people whose farmlands were buried in mud.”

US ambassador Francis Ricciardone, who flew by helicopter to villages in the hard-hit eastern province of Quezon, said roads and bridges needed to be repaired immediately to allow relief goods to flow to isolated areas.

“The devastation was worse than I had imagined,” Ricciardone said. “It was quite distressing - logs everywhere, mud everywhere, roads were cut off in many places and bridges were down.”

Most of the destruction was wrought by a tropical storm that blew through north-eastern provinces on November 29, killing at least 529 people and leaving 508 missing. Typhoon Nanmadol struck the same region on Thursday night, leaving 37 dead and 38 missing, according to revised figures by the Office of Civil Defence.

Washington offered to dispatch troops for humanitarian help, including at least one helicopter for transport and a team of experts in assessing damage. It also donated €159,000, 500 body bags and plastic shelter materials to the Philippine Red Cross.

International Red Cross spokeswoman Marie North said the group had launched an international appeal for €1.4m to buy emergency supplies.

Deforestation has stripped hillsides of vegetation that could have held mud and other debris in place during last week’s storms, and many believe years of illegal logging set off the landslides.

On Saturday President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo suspended all logging and said illegal loggers would be prosecuted like terrorists, kidnappers, drug traffickers and other hardened criminals. Arroyo also urged Congress to stiffen penalties against illegal loggers.

The Philippines is hit by about 20 storms and typhoons a year. A typhoon and another storm the previous week killed at least 91 people and left 84 others missing in the east.