The number of victims of storms and flooding in the southern Philippines reached more than 1,000 people and rescue workers continued to search for the bodies of victims. Local officials said they expect the numbers will continue to rise in the coming days.
President Benigno Aquino who visited the affected areas in Mindanao island Tuesday (20/12), said officials have an obligation to find out why so many victims died and why there is no coordination of disaster management. "If we want this tragedy as the last one, we need to learn from our mistakes," Aquino said in a meeting in the coastal city of Cagayan de Oro.
He instituted this great floods a national disaster so there will be a special budget allocation for the handling of post-disaster. Tens of thousands of people who lost their homes still live in temporary refugee camps. The government conducts relief operations for an estimated 300,000 people affected by floods.
The BBC in Cagayan de Oro, one of the areas most severely hit by floods, said the food aid supply is sufficient, but the flood victims are in need of clean water and medicine.
'Cemetery worthy'
Funeral mass was conducted in a number of places and many of those angry because the corpses go unpunished. Mayor of Cagayan de Oro, Vicente Emano said the bodies removed from residential areas into one place vacant while waiting for decent burial place.
However, a villager who claimed to find lost relatives who are very "concerned."
"They treat the body like an animal and let them in the hot sun without a cover."
In Iligan, another town that was flooded, the government began a burial that is not sought after by relatives.
"We moved the bodies to a safe place so it does not threaten public health," said Iligan Mayor Lawrence Cruz told Reuters news agency.
He told the AFP news agency that the DNA samples and fingerprints taken from the bodies before burial separately.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment