Rescuers work to retrieve a body in the town of Datu Odin Sinsuat of Maguindanao, southern Philippines on Sunday. Victims of a massive landslide caused by Tropical Cyclone Nalgae in a Philippine coastal village once devastated by a deadly tsunami mistakenly believed that victims of a deadly tsunami, an official said Sunday tidal wave is coming and running up higher ground towards a mountain and buried alive.
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Rescuers work to retrieve a body in the town of Datu Odin Sinsuat of Maguindanao, southern Philippines on Sunday. Victims of a massive landslide caused by Tropical Cyclone Nalgae in a Philippine coastal village once devastated by a deadly tsunami mistakenly believed that victims of a deadly tsunami, an official said Sunday tidal wave is coming and running up higher ground towards a mountain and buried alive.
AP
MANILA, Philippines – Victims of a massive storm-induced landslide in a Philippine coastal village once devastated by a deadly tsunami mistakenly thought a tidal wave was coming and ran up the area. Higher ground where they were buried alive by rocks piled high an official said Sunday.
At least 20 bodies, including children, were dug up by rescuers in the vast mud mound that now covers much of Kusiong village in Maguindanao province, southern Philippines, one of the hardest hit. by Tropical Storm Nalgae, blowing off the northwestern Philippines early Sunday.
Officials fear an additional 80 to 100 people, including entire families, may have been buried by the flood or swept away by flash floods in Kusiong between Thursday night and early Friday, according to Naguib Sinarimbo, Interior Minister of an Islamic Autonomous Region run by the former. secessionist guerrillas.
Nalgae, home to heavy rain clouds, left at least 73 people dead in eight provinces and one city in the Philippine archipelago, including in Kusiong, and a trail of devastation and flooding in one of the countries suffering most disasters in the world.
The disaster in Kusiong, home to the ethnic minority group Teduray, was particularly dire because more than 2,000 of its villagers have been conducting annual disaster response drills for decades to combat it. with a tsunami because of a history of death. But they were not prepared for the dangers that could come from Mount Minandar, where their village lies in the foothills, Sinarimbo said.
“When people heard the warning bells, they ran and gathered at a church on a high ground,” Sinarimbo told The Associated Press, citing Kusiong villagers.
“The problem was not the tsunami that flooded them, but a large volume of water and mud pouring down from the mountains,” he said.
Rescuers carry a body in the town of Datu Odin Sinsuat of Maguindanao, southern Philippines on Sunday.
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Rescuers carry a body in the town of Datu Odin Sinsuat of Maguindanao, southern Philippines on Sunday.
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In August 1976, an 8.1 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Moro Bay occurred around midnight that killed thousands of people and devastated coastal provinces in one of the natural disasters. deadliest in Philippine history.
Located between Moro Bay and the 446-meter (1,464-foot) Mount Minandar, Kusiong was one of the places hardest hit by the 1976 disaster. The village never forgot the tragedy. Elderly villagers who survived the tsunami and strong earthquake have passed on the horrifying story to their descendants, warning them to prepare.
“Every year, they hold drills to deal with the tsunami,” Sinarimbo said. “Someone has been assigned to ring the alarm and they designate high ground for people to run to.” “The villagers were even taught about the sound of an approaching big wave based on the memories of the tsunami survivors.”
“But there hasn’t been much focus on the geographical hazards on the mountainside,” he said.
Bulldozers, bulldozers and trucks were brought to Kusiong on Saturday with more than 100 rescuers from the army, police and volunteers from other provinces, but they were unable to dig where people live Survivors say the church lies below because the mud mound is still dangerous. soft, officials said.
The National Disaster Response Agency reported 22 people missing as the storm hit several provinces. Sinarimbo said many of the missing people in Kusiong were not included in the official count by the government because the entire family may have been buried and none of the members had been given names and details to the authorities.
People walk next to damaged houses left in the town of Datu Odin Sinsuat in Maguindanao.
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People walk next to damaged houses left in the town of Datu Odin Sinsuat in Maguindanao.
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Army lieutenant colonel Dennis Almorato, who arrived at the landslide-stricken community on Saturday, said the muddy cataclysm buried about 60 rural homes in about 5 hectares (12 acres) of the community. He did not give an estimate of how many villagers may have been buried but described the extent of the landslide as “overwhelming” and said a nighttime disaster could be quick.
A regional army commander, Major General Roy Galido, has been ordered to lead an emergency command center to run the search and recovery work in Kusiong, officials said.
Stormy weather in a large swath of the country has prompted the coast guard to ban sea travel in the dangerously rough seas as millions of Filipinos have planned to travel over the long weekend to visit. Graves of loved ones and family reunions on All Saints’ Day in the largely Roman Catholic country.
More than 100 domestic and international flights have been cancelled, Manila’s international airport was briefly closed amid stormy weather and cruises in stormy waters were disrupted by the coast guard. forbidden sign, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
Floodwaters swept through many provinces and cities, swept away some people and damaged more than 700 houses. More than 168,000 people ran to evacuation camps. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr expressed disappointment at the high death toll during a televised meeting with disaster mitigation officials on Saturday.
“We should have done better,” said Marcos Jr. speak. “We could not have foreseen that the amount of water would be this much so we were unable to warn people and then evacuate them from the area of the upcoming flash flood.”
About 20 typhoons make landfall in the Philippine archipelago each year. It lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an area along most of the Pacific Rim where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur, making the country one of the most vulnerable. most disasters in the world.
