Philippines rescuers struggle to reach isolated areas

PHILIPPINEs: Search and rescue teams on Sunday struggled to reach areas of the northern Philippines cut off by storm-triggered landslides and flooding that have left more than 600 people dead, officials said.

In the heavily-damaged northern province of Pangasinan, many towns remained under water while landslides had virtually cut off mountainous communities from rescuers, disaster relief officials said.

There have given varying reports of casualties, but the police in the Cordillera Administrative Region, which includes several provinces hit with deadly landslides, said the death toll there alone had reached over 221 Sunday.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council in Manila placed the official toll at 193 from tropical storm Parma, which finally blew out into the South China Sea late Friday after pummelling northern Luzon for a week.

Altogether the death toll from Parma and tropical storm Ketsana, which killed 337 in Manila and surrounding areas, stands at 636, according to the civil defence office, with fears the toll could rise.

Ketsana triggered the worst flooding in Manila and nearby areas in four decades on September 26, and many areas still remain flooded two weeks later.

Both storms affected over six million people, with over 300,000 people remaining in evacuation camps.

Manila, Sunday, AFP