Over a dozen rescued from mountain rubble
NATONIN, Mountain Province – Rescuers yesterday pulled out four survivors and three bodies as they raced against time to find more people after a massive landslide set off by Typhoon Rosita crashed down on a government building here.
Officials said four have been confirmed dead in the avalanche Tuesday while 14 others have been rescued.
Regional police director Chief Supt. Rolando Nana said rescuers are trying to locate at least 18 more people still missing from the landslide that buried a building of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Barangay Bannawel.
Smaller landslides and rockslides on roads leading to Natonin have slowed the advance of rescuers and earth-moving equipment.
Officials said there could be up to 24 people still trapped in the landslide, which occurred as Typhoon Rosita pummeled the region. At least nine people have died due to the typhoon, which blew out of Northern Luzon on Tuesday.
Rosita’s winds and rain set off landslides in the mountainous north and caused massive power outages in Isabela and outlying provinces, officials said.
In Ifugao province, Baltazar Pinay and his three young daughters died in a landslide in Banaue, which is famous for its mountainside rice terraces.
Separate landslides in the upland province of Kalinga and Mountain Province killed a 40-year-old man and a young girl.
Three men were reported missing in the region, including one who tried to cross a rampaging river and was swept away by the current.
Reports from other regional disaster offices showed a total of 18 people perished in the typhoon-affected areas in Northern Luzon, Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), however, said there were only nine typhoon-related deaths as of yesterday.
NDRRMC spokesman Edgar Posadas explained that regional and local disaster officials are still collating and verifying the reports.
“Around 31 people were trapped in the buildings – 20 laborers, one project engineer, two to three security guards and six to seven evacuees from neighboring houses. The laborers are workers under two contractors (RAF and Moment Diagram construction firms) working on the building,” the provincial disaster report said.
DPWH engineer Junel Emengga said more than 100 workers, police, firefighters and volunteers were scrambling to find more survivors in the avalanche using shovels and their bare hands because earth-moving equipment could not go through roads blocked by landslides.
“It’s a massive landslide and boulders also came rolling down the mountain. The buildings got demolished and they were entombed. They’re gone,” he said.
One new building was being constructed and an old one was being expanded, he added.
Emengga said he and other staffers of the DPWH did not report for work at the fourstory buildings on Tuesday because of the typhoon but other workers from a private company continued to work.
Nearby residents also sought shelter in the buildings when their homes were hit by landslides and fierce winds, he said.
Malacañang expressed its sympathies to the families of those who perished in the landslide in Natonin.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said President Duterte has directed all government agencies to immediately respond and undertake measures to help the victims and families.
He said Duterte stressed the need to rehabilitate the typhoon ravaged areas, including the clearing and repairing of roads that have become impassable.
“(Duterte) is on top of the situation, and he, together with the rest of the members of Cabinet, will visit the affected areas to assess the situation. The public can count on the government that it will undertake all necessary actions and not take a load off, if need be, during this time of adversity,” Panelo said.
Typhoon Rosita (Yutu) weakened considerably from its earlier super typhoon status over the Pacific Ocean before slamming into Isabela before dawn Tuesday.
Aside from the landslides, it also knocked down trees and power posts and ripped roofs off houses and stores, officials said.
Rosita weakened as it blew across mountains and then barreled westward through provinces still recovering from the death and devastation wrought by Typhoon Ompong (Mangkhut) in mid-September.
Rosita blew out into the South China Sea later Tuesday and weakened into a tropical storm, Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) senior weather specialist Chris Perez said.
Perez said fair weather is likely to persist until the weekend. He said no low-pressure area or tropical depression is expected to enter the country in the next two to three days.
Typhoon Rosita affected a total of 11,878 families, or 38,398 persons, in Regions I, II, III and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), the NDRRMC said.
A total of 8,864 families, or 32,519 persons, were preemptively evacuated in these regions.
The NDRRMC recorded a total of 10 incidents during the storm, which include landslides and flooding in Regions II and CAR.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said it had provided a total of P834,304.90 worth of assistance to the families affected.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) said Rosita left P112-million damage in rice and high value crops.
The DA said 7,429 hectares equivalent to 6,560 metric tons of rice were damaged, affecting 4,917 farmers in Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, Mountain Province, Aurora, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and Zambales.
Meanwhile, the National Food Authority (NFA) gave assurance it has enough rice stocks in its warehouses nationwide, particularly in Northern and Central Luzon.