Immediate humanitarian help from the noble-hearted is needed in Kalinga province, which was the hardest hit province in the country when typhoon “Mina” battered Luzon last week.
BY ACE ALEGRE
Contributed to Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 44, December 9-15, 2007
BAGUIO CITY (246 kms north of Manila) – Immediate humanitarian help from the noble-hearted is needed in Kalinga province, which was the hardest hit province in the country when typhoon “Mina” battered Luzon last week.
Kalinga Gov. Floydelia Diasen is urgently requesting rice, canned goods and other food items for the isolated towns of Pinukpuk and Balbalan, both in upper Kalinga while tents are also needed in Balbalan for temporary schools where six classrooms of an elementary school was totally destroyed by mudslides.
Up to this writing (Dec. 8), two military Huey helicopters which earlier were ceaselessly hovering over Pinukpuk and Blabalan towns for missing villagers ravaged by mudslides, swollen rivers and landslides are ferrying relief goods and diesel fuel for government heavy equipment doing rehabilitation efforts on the damaged roads and bridges, said Andrew Uy, operations chief of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in the Cordillera region.
Aside from food, Kalinga and Apayao villagers need used clothing and medicines for common illnesses, Governor Diasen said.
Engr. Jojo Valera of the OCD said a total of 27 villagers were killed in Apayao and Kalinga, making these provinces the ones with the highest casualty rates in the country during typhoon “Mina.”
Four died from drowning in Apayao including a two year old boy in Conner town and another 78 year old farmer also in Conner: Santos Savedra, 78 Karikitan, Conner, Apayao; Felipe Abawag, 65; Melvin Viernes, 26, Panay, Sta. Marcela, Apayao; and Reiner Abawag, 2, also of Karikitan, Conner.
In Kalinga, the OCD said there were 23 killed from mudslides and drowning from flashfloods swollen rivers, mostly in Pinukpuk town.
Two remain missing in Langiden town in Abra: Pedro Orjel, 70 and another in Calanasan town in Apayao: Cosip Poquin, 70.
More than a thousand villagers in Luna and Conner towns are still living in evacuation centers in schools, a week after the typhoon, the OCD-CAR said.
At least P148.82 million ($3.55 million based on an exchange rate of $1:P41.88 as of Dec. 7) worth of agricultural produce were destroyed in CAR, P35 million ($835,721.11) of which was in Apayao province. Some P97.73 million ($2.33 million) worth of roads and bridges, mostly coming from Apayao were also destroyed. School buildings destroyed were valued at P136.1 million ($3.25 million).
Apayao and Kalinga province officials are currently preparing their rehabilitation plans while asking for outside help at the moment for the immediate needs of typhoon distraught villagers, Valera said. Contributed to Bulatlat
