PHILIPPINES: PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO VISITS SITE OF FLOODS AND LANDSLIDE AS PHILIPPINES DECLARES A STATE OF CALAMITY
Record ID:
443008
PHILIPPINES: PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO VISITS SITE OF FLOODS AND LANDSLIDE AS PHILIPPINES DECLARES A STATE OF CALAMITY
- Title: PHILIPPINES: PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO VISITS SITE OF FLOODS AND LANDSLIDE AS PHILIPPINES DECLARES A STATE OF CALAMITY
- Date: 23rd December 2003
- Summary: SAN FRANCISCO TOWN, LEYTE PROVINCE, PHILIPPINES (DECEMBER 23, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV VARIOUS OF PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO AND US AMBASSADOR FRANCIS RICCIARDONE WALKING 0.06 2. SV/CU ARROYO TALKING TO A SURVIVOR WHILE SURROUNDED BY COFFINS (2 SHOTS) 0.22 3. SV ARROYO TALKING TO SURVIVORS 0.28 4. SV/MCU ARROYO GREETING AND EXCHANGING HANDSHAKES WITH SURVIVORS (2 SHOTS) 0.50 5. MCU ARROYO TALKING TO A GRIEVING SURVIVOR 1.13 6. SV CIVILIAN AND SOLDIERS CARRYING MEALS READY TO EAT BOXES 1.32 7. CLOSEUP OF "MEALS READY TO EAT" (MRE) BOXES 1.39 8. SV MEALS READY TO EAT (MRE) BOXES (2 SHOTS) 1.56 9. PAN/CU/LV OF AREA OF MUDSLIDE (3 SHOTS) 2.18 10. SLV OF DEAD BODIES LIFTED FROM MUD 2.25 11. MCU OF WORKERS IN MASK 2.30 12. SLV/CU BODIES/ BULLDOZER LIFTING BODY (3 SHOTS) 2.48 13. MCU (Filipino) VOLUNTEER RESCUE WORKER SAYING: "82 bodies have already been recovered, we are still digging for more bodies, 5 persons, in that area where the bulldozer is, and on this site we expect 7 more bodies." 3.02 14. SV SURVIVOR BEING CARRIED ON BED 3.12 15. SLV/LV COFFINS (2 SHOTS) 3.23 16. SLV/MCU/SV PEOPLE IN EVACUATION CENTRE (3 SHOTS) 3.39 MANILA, PHILIPPINES (DECEMBER 23, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 17. MCU (English) US AMBASSADOR TO THE PHILIPPINES FRANCIS RICCIARDONE SAYING: "We are helping to provide some lift by using airplanes for Philippine Red Cross. There is a truckload of equipment ready to go. We are also sending air transport to be fully engaged in bringing in supplies down there. I guess what we are doing is providing the airlift as President Arroyo has requested." 4.01 18. SV RICCIARDONE TALKING TO MEDIA 4.04 19. SLV U.S. DONATED RELIEF GOODS BEING LOADED VARIOUS 4.10 20. CU/SV/SLV CHRISTMAS PACKAGES INTENDED FOR FILIPINO SOLDIERS DONATED TO LANDSLIDE VICTIMS (5 SHOTS) 4.34 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 7th January 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: MANILA AND SAN FRANCISCO TOWN, PHILIPPINES
- Country: Philippines
- Reuters ID: LVA7MQJWD45DDE0VCUJH4AWNQ0MZ
- Story Text: Arroyo visits site of floods and landslides as
Philippines declares a state of calamity.
The Philippines declared a state of calamity in a
southern province on Tuesday (December 23) after floods and
landslides killed up to 209 people, with a ferry disaster
compounding the nation's misery just before Christmas.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo surveyed the damage
in the worst-hit areas of Southern Leyte province as
transport planes flew in food, medicine, rescue equipment
and other supplies to thousands of families made homeless
by avalanches of mud and torrents of water.
Three areas on a narrow peninsula in the province bore
the brunt of the onslaught, blamed on erosion caused by
illegal logging. The governor of the province, Rosette
Lerias, declared the state of calamity late on Monday.
Four days after the first landslides, rescuers finally
reached remote mountainous areas where the mud cut a trail
of devastation, sweeping flimsy houses into the sea,
burying scores of people alive and cutting supply routes.
"82 bodies have already been recovered, we are still
digging for more bodies, 5 persons, in that area where the
bulldozer is, and on this site we expect 7 more bodies,"
said one rescue worker.
"The stench is too much," Rico Maitim, a resident of
the town of San Francisco, told Reuters as teams of
soldiers and local volunteers pulled twisted bodies from
the muck. "We hope they can send us equipment so we can
finish this operation."
The disaster zones are near where 5,000 people died in
1991 when a typhoon unleashed massive floods around the
city of Ormoc.
After the latest deadly landslides, questions were
being asked about why authorities apparently failed to stop
rampant illegal logging in the surrounding hills.
"A total of 133 persons were confirmed dead and numbers
of fatalities are expected to increase as recovery
operations continue," said the National Disaster
Coordinating Council.
It said 106 people were confirmed dead with 103 missing
in southern Leyte. Another 27 were killed on the northern
tip of Mindanao island, which is adjacent to Leyte.
Defence Secretary Eduardo Ermita, who is also chairman
of the disaster agency, said he was considering calling off
search operations and declaring those missing as dead.
The foul weather appeared to have claimed more victims
when a ferry carrying 68 passengers and seven crew between
islands in the southwestern Philippines went missing for
more than a day after sending a distress call.
A Panamanian-registered cargo ship plucked at least 20
people from the sea late on Sunday, the navy said on
Tuesday. The fate of the others on the wooden-hulled ship
was still unknown.
Officials blame overcrowded and obsolete ships, as well
as lax safety standards, for large numbers of people killed
in boat and ship accidents in the Philippines.
In the world's worst peacetime sea disaster, more than
3,000 people drowned in December 1987 when a ferry collided
with a small tanker in the central Philippines.
In Leyte, about 10,000 people were evacuated to
temporary shelters as heavy rains continued to fall.
Disaster agency officials said a ship carrying supplies
was expected to arrive in southern Leyte on Tuesday but
that rescue operations had been painfully slow, partly due
to a lack of helicopters able to fly in rain.
Only one of the country's 10 C-130 cargo planes was
helping relief efforts because the others were unfit to
fly.
The United States has stepped in, promising to send a
C-130 with ready-to-eat meals, clothing and medicine. U.S.
Ambassador Francis Ricciardone flew with Arroyo to the
disaster zone.
"We are helping to provide some lift by using airplanes
for Philippine Red Cross. There is a truckload of equipment
ready to go. We are also sending air transport to be fully
engaged in bringing in supplies down there. I guess what we
are doing is providing the airlift as President Arroyo has
requested," Ricciardone said, adding U.S. President George
W. Bush had sent American condolences to the Philippines.
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