Disease outbreaks feared in Camiguin

Fears of an epidemic have led Camiguin provincial officials to focus on burying bodies – not on finding survivors – to prevent an outbreak of disease after tropical storm "Nanang" left hundreds dead.

"We are now watching for epidemics and illnesses of children," said Camiguin Gov. Pedro Romualdo.

Disaster officials said the death toll from the storm has risen to 201 with at least 137 missing and feared dead. Provincial Disaster Coordinating Center chief Felicimo Gomez said Camiguin had the most casualties with 122 dead and 119 missing.

Damage to infrastructure, crops and private property was estimated to have reached at least P362 million, Gomez added.

"There is a very strong stench in the area that was hit so we are making an effort to recover bodies," the governor said, adding that officials are focusing on recovery of the dead and not search and rescue because "there is probably no more hope" for survivors.

Benito Ucat, a resident of battered Mahinog town, searched through the debris for the remains of his wife and two children.

Ucat said the flash flood struck his home and washed him a kilometer out to sea but he managed to swim back where he found the body of one child.

He had little hope of finding his wife and other child alive. "I believe they are dead. It is a deep sorrow in my heart," he said.

"I hope the relatives will understand. Probably the missing are buried. So while we are not leaving any stone unturned to satisfy the relatives, we cannot go on digging and digging," Romualdo added.

The governor said recovery operations have been speeded up because the rains had finally ceased. But he said fears of epidemics are growing because water pipes in some parts of the island had been washed out by the flash floods.

While medical teams have found only diarrhea in evacuation centers, lack of drinking water has become a major concern with the island’s sole firetruck being used to ferry water to affected areas.

"Our concern now is medicine and water because the water system has not been restored completely," Gomez said, adding that they were "anticipating a particular epidemic if the water system is not restored."

As of 4 p.m. yesterday, Gomez said relief workers had recovered 122 bodies, some already decomposed. Fifteen of the dead were fished out of the sea, he added.

Gomez said electrical power had largely been restored on the island and that floods had receded in all but one district.

The airport, which had been closed due to mud on the runway, has been partially cleared, allowing military C-130 planes and helicopters to fly in relief supplies.

President Arroyo is set to arrive on a presidential helicopter at 9 a.m. today from Cagayan de Oro City airport and will attend Mass at a local church before inspecting Mahinog, the worst hit town of the province.

The President has ordered the delivery of some 400 sacks of rice and the release of an initial P2 million in calamity funds to help operations which have been hampered over the past three days because of continuing rain.

Mrs. Arroyo said the US government has extended some $100,000, or about P5 million, worth of food and other relief goods and loaned a C-130 plane for relief operations.

The Japanese government also announced earlier that it would grant some P2 million in assistance for Camiguin’s hardest-hit area.

The President said she also expects Spain to join the growing number of donors for Camiguin because King Juan Carlos of Spain had liked the island when he visited the country.

Storm "Nanang" (international name: "Lingling") hit Camiguin late Tuesday and battered the Visayas and Palawan until it left on Friday when it intensified into a typhoon with sustained winds of 120 kph and gusts of up to 150 kph, gaining strength over the open waters of the South China Sea.

At 10 a.m. yesterday, it was located about 560 kilometers west southwest of Manila and moving westward toward Vietnam at 15 kph. - Reports from AFP, AP, Marichu Villanueva, Perseus Echeminada, Lino dela Cruz and Ben Serrano