More than 40 feared dead or missing in
Philippines typhoon
Published on Dec 04, 2012
9:14 PM

Philippine National Police clear a highway of toppled coconut trees after Typhoon Bopha made a landfall in Compostela
Valley in south-eastern Philippines on Tuesday Dec 4, 2012. A Philippine governor says at least 33 villagers and soldiers
have drowned when torrents of water dumped by the powerful typhoon rushed down a mountain, engulfing the victims and
bringing the death toll from the storm to about 40. -- PHOTO: AP
MANILA (REUTERS) - The strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year pounded the southern island
of Mindanao on Tuesday and about 40 people were dead or missing, media said, after the storm destroyed
homes and brought down power and communication lines.
Typhoon Bopha, with wind gusts of up to 195 kph, made landfall at dawn, uprooting trees and tearing off
roofs.
About 40 people were killed or missing in flash floods and landslides near a mining area on Mindanao,
ABS-CBN television reported, saying waters and soil had swept through an army post.
A television reporter said she saw numerous bodies lined up near the army base. A military spokesman
earlier said about 20 people, including six soldiers, were missing.
Disaster official Liza Mazo, said more casualties were expected to be discovered as search and rescue
teams fanned out.
Media said dozens of people were injured by flying debris, falling trees and swept away by swollen rivers
and flash floods.
But the relatively low death toll was due in part to an early evacuation. More than 155,000 people were in
shelters late on Tuesday.
About 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year, often causing death and destruction. Typhoon Washi
killed 1,500 people on Mindanao in 2011.
"We have suffered enough," Felicitas Cabusao said, clutching her crying 12-year-old daughter. Ms
Cabusao said her daughter survived Typhoon Washi, almost exactly a year ago, after she was washed out
to sea when flash floods swept away entire coastal villages.
Dozens of domestic flights and ferry services in the central and southern Philippines were suspended on
Tuesday. Schools and some businesses were closed.
Bopha, with a storm cloud covering of 500 km (310 miles), was moving west-northwest and was expected
to move out into the South China Sea by Thursday.
Farm Minister Proceso Alcala said on Monday he expected minimal damage to rice and corn crops as they
had only recently been planted and could be replaced quickly if damaged.
Scores dead as Typhoon Bopha slams into
Philippines
Published on Dec 04, 2012
11:44 PM
MANILA (AFP, REUTERS) - The strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year pounded the southern
island of Mindanao on Tuesday, setting off a mudslide that killed 44 people, tearing up trees, causing
floods and forcing thousands to flee their homes to emergency shelters.
Typhoon Bopha, with wind gusts of up to 195 kph, made landfall at dawn, uprooting trees and tearing off
roofs.
About 40 people were killed or missing in flash floods and landslides near a mining area on Mindanao,
ABS-CBN television reported, saying waters and soil had swept through an army post.
A television reporter said she saw numerous bodies lined up near the army base. An army truck laden with
soldiers and civilians was swept away in a flash flood that hit the town, a local official reported earlier. A
military spokesman earlier said about 20 people, including six soldiers, were missing.
Disaster official Liza Mazo, said more casualties were expected to be discovered as search and rescue
teams fanned out.
Media said dozens of people were injured by flying debris, falling trees and swept away by swollen rivers
and flash floods.
But the relatively low death toll was due in part to an early evacuation. More than 155,000 people were in
shelters late on Tuesday.
About 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year, often causing death and destruction. Typhoon Washi
killed 1,500 people on Mindanao in 2011.
Television footage showed logs being swept down a river, utility workers cutting up fallen trees that were
blocking highways, and people lying on mats and cardboard sheets on the concrete floors of gyms turned
into shelters.
People living in the path of the storm did what they could to protect their homes and possessions. "We
have taken our pigs and chickens inside our house because their shed might be destroyed," said shopkeeper
Marianita Villamor, 46, from the southern farming town of San Fermin.
Dozens of domestic flights and ferry services in the central and southern Philippines were suspended on
Tuesday. Schools and some businesses were closed.
Bopha, with a storm cloud covering of 500 kms, was moving west-northwest and was expected to move
out into the South China Sea by Thursday.
Farm Minister Proceso Alcala said on Monday he expected minimal damage to rice and corn crops as they
had only recently been planted and could be replaced quickly if damaged.
238 dead, hundreds missing in Philippines
typhoon
Published on Dec 05, 2012
5:14 PM
Residents retrieve their belongings after their house was destroyed by a fallen tree caused by Typhoon Bopha in Cagayan de
Oro City, southern Philippines, on Dec 4, 2012. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
NEW BATAAN, Philippines (AFP) - The death toll from a typhoon that ravaged the Philippines jumped to
238 on Wednesday with hundreds missing, as rescuers battled to reach areas cut off by floods and
mudslides.
Typhoon Bopha slammed into the southern island of Mindanao on Tuesday, toppling trees and blowing
away homes with 210kmh gusts before easing and heading towards the South China Sea.
A total of 142 people died in and around the mountain town of New Bataan, a gold-rush settlement that
was ravaged by flash floods and landslides, regional military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Lyndon
Paniza said.
"What's scary is that 258 people are still missing there," Lt-Col Paniza told AFP.
Eighty-one other people were killed and 21 were still missing in the nearby province of Davao Oriental,
Lt-ColPaniza said.
Civil defence officials said 15 people were killed elsewhere in Mindanao and the central islands, while
87,000 people sought refuge in gyms, schools and other government buildings.
President Benigno Aquino said the combined tally of more than 500 dead or missing was still below the
1,200 deaths from tropical storm Washi which hit in December 2011, leaving hundreds of thousands
homeless in Mindanao.
"Any single casualty is a cause for distress. Our aim must always be about finding ways to lessen them,"
he told reporters in Manila.
Mr Aquino said the government was investigating why an army patrol base in New Bataan, which was
washed away in the flash floods, had been located in a flood-prone area.
Officials are also checking reports that an evacuation centre there was among the structures wiped out in
the floods, the president added.
Bopha was the most powerful of the 16 storms to pummel the Philippines this year. The nation is hit with
about 20 cyclones annually, though Mindanao is not usually on the front line.
Leaders who flew to the south to inspect the damage described scenes of utter devastation, with countless
houses and other buildings in towns and villages ripped apart by the destructive winds.
"There are very few structures left standing in the town of Cateel," Social Welfare Secretary Corazon
Soliman and other officials told AFP, referring to an isolated town sandwiched by mountains and the sea
on Mindanao's east coast.
"We need to rush to these areas body bags, medicines, dry clothes and most importantly tents, because
survivors are living out in the open after the typhoon blew away homes and rooftops." The situation in
New Bataan town was dire, she said.
"The bodies are left lying on the ground in the open in New Bataan and we don't want to risk the spread of
disease," Ms Soliman said.
The dead in New Bataan included a soldier taking part in rescue operations, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas
said. Six other army men from the same unit were missing and three were injured.
Major General Ariel Bernardo, commander of an army division in New Bataan, said an army patrol base
and a rescue truck were washed away in the storm.
"In one of our headquarters, no bunkers were left standing and all our communication equipment has been
destroyed," he said.
Cateel and two nearby towns remained cut off due to a collapsed bridge and trees and debris blocking
roads, said Ms Corazon Malanyaon, governor of Davao Oriental province where Bopha made landfall.
"It's like we're running an obstacle course," Ms Malanyaon said on local radio, describing how rescuers
were using everything from heavy equipment to chainsaws and their bare hands to clear the roads.
Parts of Mindanao remained without power and telephone services, and food and clean water were in
limited supply.