Philippines mulls mass graves after typhoon kills hundreds

An aerial view shows shanties damaged by flash floods brought by Typhoon Washi (Sendong) in Cagayan De Oro city, southern Philippines December 18, 2011. REUTERS/Stringer

Disaster agencies Monday rushed to deliver body bags, food, water, and medicine to crowded evacuation centres in the southern Philippines as officials considered digging mass graves for hundreds killed in weekend flash floods.


The national disaster agency said 533 died and 309 remain missing, while the local Red Cross put the toll at 652 killed and more than 800 missing.

Casualties from the flashfloods exceeded the more than 450 people killed in 2009 when a tropical storm dumped heavy rains on the main Luzon island, inundating nearly the entire capital Manila.

Deadly Thai floods close factories, threaten Bangkok

Nearly 200 factories, including one run by Japanese car maker Honda Motor Co Ltd , closed in the central Thai province of Ayutthaya because of flooding, which could threaten Bangkok this week, officials said today.

About 261 people have died since late July in flood-related incidents, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said. Some 2.3 million people have been affected in the worst flooding to hit parts of Thailand in 50 years, mainly in the centre, north and northeast.

The Rojana estate in Ayutthaya province, run by Rojana Industrial Park Pcl , was flooded after a wall of sandbags failed to hold back water overnight.




“All 198 factories at Rojana have to be closed because the water is about 5.1 metres high,” Industry Minister Wannarat Channukul told Reuters.

A Honda spokeswoman said it had moved about 3,000 assembled cars from the estate to other areas. Hana Microelectronics Pcl has also had to close its plant in Ayutthaya.

On Thursday the Centre for Economic and Business Forecasting, part of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, cut its forecast for gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year to 3.6 per cent from 4.4 per cent because of the floods.

It put the impact of the flooding at between 1.0 and 1.3 percentage points of GDP and said its new growth forecast would have been lower but for recent strength in exports.

The commerce ministry said on Friday it had slashed its forecast for the main rice crop, which farmers are just starting to bring in, to 21 million tonnes from 25 million because of the flooding.

Thailand is the world’s biggest rice exporter. The crop damage will add to the pressure on export prices, already being forced up by the high buying price set under a government intervention scheme aimed at helping poor farmers.

Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra said in a statement the authorities were preparing an evacuation plan to move people from affected areas if floods hit the capital, much of which is just two metres above sea level.

Some riverside areas have already suffered minor flooding but the level of the Chao Phraya River could rise sharply from October 15-18 when a large amount of water will reach the area from the north, where dams are close to overflowing, at a time of high sea tides.

The government was trying to accelerate the drainage of water from the Chao Phraya into the sea before the high tide.

Other Southeast Asian countries have suffered serious flooding in recent weeks because of heavy monsoon rains combined with tropical storms.

The death toll from two strong typhoons that cut across the north of the Philippines’ main island and left behind widespread flooding had risen to 101 as of today, the national disaster agency said.

At least 167 people had died in Cambodia by late last week and 15 in Vietnam.

Mexico No confirm Death yet in Giant Mudslide

Pounded by incessant rain, a hillside in the state of Oaxaca collapsed onto a village early Tuesday, burying houses in mud and stones and possibly trapping hundreds of people as they slept, state authorities said.

Scores of people killed after heavy rain triggers landslides across Central and South America

Eleven people are missing after a massive landslide buried 300 homes in a remote area of southwestern Mexico.

Rescuers initially feared that hundreds of people could have been buried alive as they slept in their beds in Santa Maria de Tlahuitoltepec.

But officials are speculating that four people may now have been killed, based on a calculation of how many houses were on the slope when the landslide occurred.
Governor Ulises Ruiz said: 'So far no one is confirmed dead, only 11 missing who we hope... will be found.'

Desperate search: Rescue workers dig through mounds of mud and rock in Santa Maria Tlauiltoltepec, Mexico, after a massive landslide buried hundreds of homes

Devastation: A swathe has been cut out of the hillside near the town after mud and rock gave way yesterday morning

Scores of state police and firefighters have been digging with picks, shovels and a bulldozer in a mound of mud and stones that swept down the hillside yesterday morning.

Continued rain forced them to call off the search for eight missing children and three adults due to the threat of more landslides.

The force of the slide dragged houses some 1,300ft down the hill, along with cars, livestock and power lines.

Donato Vargas, an official in the town, said: 'We have been using a backhoe but there is a lot of mud.

'We can't even see the homes, we can't hear the shouts, we can't hear anything.

'We were left without electricity, without telephone and we couldn't help them. There was no way to move the mud.'

President Felipe Calderon reported on his Twitter account yesterday that soldiers had reached the town on foot and that there was a lot of damage, but 'perhaps not of the magnitude initially reported'.

It is the latest in a spate of landslides triggered by heavy rain from Tropical Storm Matthew, which has hit parts of Central America and the north of South America.

Another person has been killed in a mudslide in Villa Hidalgo, in the same Mexican state and 30 were killed on Monday in a landslide in Colombia.
The storm, along with the remnants of Hurricane Karl, have also caused deadly floods in southern Mexico and Honduras.

Fifteen deaths in Mexico have been blamed on flood waters caused by both storms and four people, including a child, drowned in swollen rivers in Honduras.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos visited the scene of the landslide which hit his country between the towns of Giraldo and Canasgordas, northwest of Bogota.

Rescue teams have employed sniffer dogs to search tons of earth.

Witnesses described hearing a roar as the first rocks swept over a road and flattened houses.

Heavy rain has also triggered flooding in Colombia which has led to the deaths of 74 people.

Disaster: Eleven people are missing after the wall of mud buried homes as the residents slept inside

Deluge: A rescue worker uses a zip-line to cross a swollen river in the Mexican town. Heavy rain has also caused widespread flooding

Damage: A bridge has been snapped in two in Tlacolula, Mexico, after heavy rains triggered by Hurricane Karl and Tropical Storm Matthew battered the region

Search: Rescuers dig through the remains of a destroyed house in Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec

Survivors: Rescuers search for victims of a landslide in Giraldo, Colombia, which killed 30 people on Monday

Help: Teams used sniffer dogs to highlight the position of people buried underneath the mud which was also triggered by heavy rain

Disaster: A man surveys the damage after a landslide in Caracas, Venezuela, also triggered by the heavy rain