Aufraeumarbeiten nach Dauerregen auf den Philippinen

Am Donnerstag haben die Aufräumarbeiten begonnen.

 

Schweres Gerät für Aufräumarbeiten.

Die Bewohner der überschwemmten Region um die Hauptstadt Manila reinigten ihre Häuser. Nach drei Tagen Dauerregen - die heftigsten Güsse seit vier Jahren - normalisierte sich die Lage langsam.

Nach Angaben des philippinischen Roten Kreuzes zog sich das Hochwasser aus dem Großteil des Stadtgebiets zurück. Nur noch zehn Prozent des Gebietes stünden unter Wasser, sagte Rotkreuz-Chefin Gwendolyn Pang. Es werde weiter Nothilfe geleistet, das Rote Kreuz konzentriere sich aber verstärkt auf die langfristigen Bedürfnisse der Flutopfer.

Nach Angaben des Sprechers der nationalen Katastrophenhilfe, Reynaldo Balido, kamen durch das Unwetter 17 Menschen ums Leben. Mehr als 500.000 Menschen seien aus ihren Häusern geflohen. 217.000 von ihnen seien in staatlichen Notunterkünften untergebracht, 346.000 weitere seien bei Freunden oder Verwandten untergekommen.

Nördlich von Manila standen 500 Dörfer weiterhin unter Wasser. In Manila gingen die Menschen wieder an ihre Arbeitsplätze in den Büros, der Börsenhandel wurde wieder aufgenommen. Die Schulen sollten dagegen noch für den Rest der Woche geschlossen bleiben. Sie mussten gereinigt werden oder wurden als Notunterkünfte gebraucht.

New Potential Storm Enters The Philippines

A potential tropical cyclone entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Friday morning, the state weather bureau reported.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astrological Services Administration (PAGASA) said that a low pressure area (LPA) was estimated at 580 kilometers Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur.

PAGASA said that new weather system will bring moderate to occasionally heavy rains over the eastern areas of Mindanao and may trigger flashfloods and landslides.

It added that eastern Visayas will also experience rainshowers and thunderstorms.

The weather bureau said that the LPA may intensify into a tropical cyclone in three days or by Monday.

The new cyclone will be named "Nando," the fourth this month and 14th to enter the country this year.

Thousands Still Homeless after Philippine Floods

An estimated 600,000 people in the Philippines remained at temporary shelters or with relatives on Friday after days of heavy rain that killed 20, officials said.

A day after floods ebbed in the capital Manila, stagnant pools of water and high tides in coastal areas prolonged the misery in the central Luzon plains to the north, civil defence official Josefina Timoteo told AFP.

"These are mainly farmers and fisher folk who still cannot return to their homes or resume work. We are still supplying their needs," said Timoteo, the civil defence chief for the region.

"These are low-lying regions and this happens every year. It is a way of life for many of them and the local governments are well-organised to provide relief."

Seasonal monsoons dumped more than a month's rain in Manila and surrounding provinces between Sunday and Wednesday, the state weather service said, submerging about half the capital in floodwaters.

The rains were worsened by Tropical Storm Trami, which hit China on Thursday after hovering off the northern Philippines earlier in the week.

The government's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said 200,000 people were still in government-run shelters Friday, with 400,000 others staying with friends or relatives and likewise receiving food rations and other emergency aid.

The council raised the death toll to 20 as receding floodwaters led to the discovery of two bodies in Cavite province, south of Manila.

Most of those who have yet to return home are from the central Luzon region, where 481 villages remain under floodwaters up to a metre (3.3 feet) deep, Timoteo said
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The weather is improving but the evacuation centres, mostly schoolbuildings, are expected to start emptying only next week, she added.

As a result, classes are still suspended in those areas, she said.

The health department has stocked up medicines at evacuation camps to prevent the spread of epidemics, she said, adding there had been no reports of widespread diseases.

The floods wreaked 97.3 billion pesos' ($2.2 billion) worth of damage to infrastructure and crops, the government says.

The Philippines endures about 20 major storms or typhoons annually, generally in the second half of the year and many of them deadly.

Disaster-weary Philippines

Disaster-weary Philippine residents mopped up Thursday after four days of torrential rain that officials said had killed 16 people and forced nearly 400,000 others from flooded homes.

Residents swept out their muddy floors as floods receded, having covered half the metropolis on Tuesday, rescue officials said.

"It's all mud and garbage, and our television set and electric fan were destroyed," shoemaker's wife Flordeliza Miranda told AFP as she returned to the family's shanty beside the San Mateo river that went under water on Tuesday.

"We have not eaten anything since last night," said the mother-of-two, who had slept in a makeshift tent atop a nearby bridge amid the deluge.
Philippine National Red Cross secretary-general Gwendolyn Pang said floods have receded in all but about 10 percent of the metropolis of 12 million people.

"We continue to give support to victims of the monsoon (rains)," she told AFP, adding the focus of the relief effort was shifting from emergency food aid to longer-term needs for the displaced.

The bad weather killed 16 people, said Reynaldo Balido, spokesman for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, which raised the death toll by one with the body of a drowned man found east of Manila.
More than 186,000 people remained at government-run shelters early Thursday, while nearly 200,000 others are staying with friends and relatives, he added.

Low-level floods however persisted in several nearby provinces.

"The floods are not that deep, mostly knee-high or thigh-high. There is no need for more rescues. However, the waters are stagnant," Balido added.
In Manila, trading resumed at the Philippine Stock Exchange and offices were getting back to work, but most schools have declared emergency holidays for the rest of the week as buildings are cleaned up or used as evacuation centres.

Since Sunday, Manila and neighbouring provinces have experienced the most intense rains in four years.

Rampaging floodwaters swept through low-lying communities, forcing thousands to crowded evacuation centres like gyms, where people were forced to sleep in close quarters on the floor with cardboard boxes for beddings.

In Cavite province near Manila, the floods dislodged concrete tombs at one cemetery, depositing them on the side of a highway, an AFP photographer saw.

State weather forecaster Bernie de Leon said 671.6 millimetres (26.4 inches) of rain fell on Manila between Sunday and Wednesday -- more than the monthly average of 504.2 millimetres for August.

The seasonal monsoon had been worsened by Tropical Storm Trami, which went on to hit Fujian province in China on Thursday.

The Southeast Asian archipelago endures about 20 major storms or typhoons annually, generally in the second half of the year and many of them deadly.

"This is the worst since (Ketsana)," de Leon told AFP, referring to a 2009 storm that killed more than 460 people and left 80 percent of Manila submerged.

"We expect the weather to gradually improve over the coming days," he added.

No Disease Outbreak in South Cotabato

With Allen V. Estabillo, MindaNews

I must confess, I feel better. Most all places in South Cotabato belong to my favourite destinations, since I am living in Mindanao for good.

Efforts to free this province of major animals diseases have continued to gain ground after the area sustained its clean record during the first six months of the year in terms of animal disease outbreaks.

Dr. Lorna Lamorena, South Cotabato provincial veterinarian , said last week they have not recorded a single animal disease outbreak from January to June this year in any part of the province's ten towns and lone city. The area was spared of disease outbreaks in the entire 2012.

Surra disease, for example, which is a parasitic disease that affects various farm animals, emerged within areas bordering South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat provinces, is a hemorrhagic disease transmitted by a bloodsucking fly and caused by a protozoan parasite. This terrible disease affects horses, dogs, cattle, caraboes and swine.

In terms of deadly rabies virus, Lamorena said they recorded just three cases of confirmed dog infections but none of them involved humans... .

Happy Kadayawan Festival in Davao City

Tight security and the last day of this great festival in Davao City.