Yolanda death toll hits 5,786

MANILA, Philippines - The death toll from Super Typhoon Yolanda in the Visayas is approaching 6,000, with more than a thousand people still missing, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

As of yesterday, 5,786 people were reported dead, 26,233 injured and 1,779 missing, NDRRMC executive director Eduardo del Rosario said.

The number of confirmed dead is 27 more than last Thursday’s 5,759, while the number of injured and missing remains unchanged.

A total of 2,379,887 families or more than 11 million people were affected by the monster storm that ravaged 12,118 barangays in nine regions in the Visayas, Southern Tagalog and parts of Mindanao, the NDRRMC report said.

Of the affected families, 872,727 or more than four million people were displaced and are now staying at 385 evacuation centers set up by foreign volunteer groups and the national government.

Damage to infrastructure and agriculture has been estimated at P35.2 billion including the 1,212,100 houses that were destroyed, partially or totally by Yolanda, mostly in Samar, Leyte, Bantayan, Cebu; Antique, Iloilo, Capiz, Aklan and in northern Palawan.

Bodies retrieved daily

Local officials, as well as the devastated residents in Guiuan, Eastern Samar and Burauen and Tanauan towns in Leyte, said they expect more bodies to be recovered.

“We are still retrieving bodies daily. The other day, we recovered 15 and yesterday (Thursday) we recovered 30 more. We retrieve bodies everyday,” said a local volunteer who joined the retrieval operations in coastal towns of Palo and Tanauan.

Another local official confirmed their list of deaths, mostly unidentified, has been increasing daily.

“Here in Tanauan alone, the number of recovered cadavers is already close to 2,000. Of this number, only around 600 have been identified to be from here. The rest, we don’t know. Maybe they came from other areas,” the official said.

As the recovered bodies were already in the advanced state of decomposition, the local government in Tanauan buried them in a mass grave located near the town plaza, as they could no longer be accommodated in the town cemetery.

Officials had to bury the bodies immediately to prevent outbreak of diseases. 

The Department of Health (DOH) reminded residents from typhoon-affected areas to take the necessary precautions against possible spread of diarrhea and other water-borne diseases.

Health Secretary Enrique Ona said Leyte and Samar residents should either boil or chlorinate their drinking water so they could avoid water-borne diseases.

Ona noted that water samples from typhoon-affected areas were found positive for fecal coliforms or E coli indicating that water supplies in those places are contaminated.

He said a team composed of representatives from the DOH, Local Water Utilities Administration, Maynilad Water Services, Inc., and Manila Water Co. conducted the water testing for drinking water potability in Sta. Fe, Tacloban, Tanauan and Eastern Samar, with 10 municipalities including Hernani and Guiuan from Nov. 27-30.

Ona urged local water districts to continue monitoring water safety for fecal contamination and residual chlorine.

“It is also important that broken pipes should be fixed and that residents should not tamper with these pipes as this will only increase risk of contaminating the water supply and those who source out water of unknown quality (shallow wells) should also disinfect their water,” Ona said.

Ona further urged residents from Leyte and Samar to boil their drinking water from one to two minutes and then let cool before putting it in clean containers.

Health experts said food and water are common sources of pathogens that could easily spread diseases and outbreaks.

On the other hand, the Department of Education (DepEd) said the repair and reconstruction of classrooms destroyed by Yolanda would start next year.

DepEd said at least 4, 498 classrooms from Regions IV-B, 6, 7, and 8, were severely damaged by the typhoon.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said the 2014 budget for classrooms might be realigned for the replacement and rehabilitation of classrooms.

He said DepEd could also request replenishment of budget using the Quick Release Fund (QRF), which usually amounts to P500 million a year. –Mayen Jaymalin, Helen Flores