PHILIPPINES: Philippine officials have sought international help to rebuild villages devastated by back-to-back storms that left more than 1,100 people either dead or missing and devastated mostly poor northern agricultural regions.
The storm and typhoon that struck late last Monday and Thursday left 566 people dead and 546 others missing and set off flash floods and landslides that destroyed hundreds of houses, farms, roads and bridges.
Damaged infrastructure has hampered rescue efforts and the flow of relief goods to far-flung villages, officials said.
Social Welfare Secretary Ms Corazon "Dinky" Soliman appealed to foreign governments for help. "The appeal we're now making is in rehabilitation," Ms Soliman said. "That really means rebuilding water systems, toilets, livelihood in agriculture for people whose farmlands were buried in mud."
Australia, the European Union, Japan, New Zealand, the United States as well as UN agencies and the International Red Cross were among the first to respond with financial help, transport and relief goods.
US ambassador Mr Francis Ricciardone, who flew by helicopter to villages in the hard-hit eastern province of Quezon, said roads and bridges needed to be repaired immediately to allow relief goods to get to isolated areas. "The devastation was worse than I had imagined," Mr Ricciardone said. "It was quite distressing - logs everywhere, mud everywhere, roads were cut off in many places and bridges were down." Washington offered to dispatch troops to undertake humanitarian help, including at least one helicopter for transport and a team of US military damage assessment experts.
Even as help got under way, hundreds of villagers tried to leave hard-hit areas, including Real town in Quezon, where more than 400 people jammed on to a ferry capable of carrying only 108 passengers.
The coast guard allowed the ferry to sail to a nearby town after passengers agreed to get off.
The Philippines is hit by about 20 storms and typhoons a year.