Tropical storm Megi which hit the Philippines, causing gigantic landslides, killed at least 42 people, according to the latest official reports. The search for the missing was suspended on Tuesday evening.
Hampered by mud and rain, rescuers spent the day searching, sometimes with their bare hands, for survivors in several mountain villages engulfed in mud.
In the vicinity of Baybay, the hardest hit area in central Leyte province, rescue operations were halted in the early evening as it was “too dangerous” to pursue them in the dark and in the rain , said Marissa Miguel Cano, spokesperson for the municipality.
At least 36 people died in several villages around Baybay, 26 are missing and around 100 were injured according to local authorities.
Three people were also killed in Negros Oriental province, and three others on the southern island of Mindanao, the National Disaster Management Agency said. More than 17,000 people have fled their homes. In the village of Mailhi, near Baybay, 14 bodies were found, army captain Kaharudin Cadil told AFP.
Mudslide
“It was a mudslide that buried houses. We recovered most of the bodies buried in the mud,” he said.
Of Bunga, another nearby village, only a few roofs remain emerging from the reddish mud that swept down from a hill planted with coconut palms. At least seven of its inhabitants perished and twenty are missing.
In Kantagnos, also located near Baybay, two landslides left at least four people dead and an unknown number missing.
“There was a small landslide and some managed to run for cover, followed by a bigger one that engulfed the entire village,” Baybay mayor Jose Carlos Cari told local radio. .
“We are looking for many people, there are 210 homes here,” he continued. Apple Sheena Bayno, who had to flee following her home in Baybay was flooded, said her family was still recovering from a typhoon in December.
Global warming
“We are supposedly in the middle of the dry season, but climate change must have disrupted all that,” said Marissa Miguel Cano, the municipal spokeswoman for Baybay. According to her, landslides sometimes occur in this agricultural region, but the magnitude of those on Monday was surprising.
As the planet is affected by global warming, storms and typhoons are becoming more powerful, scientists warn.
The landslides near Baybay occurred “outside the danger zones”, and many residents were taken by surprise as they were in their homes, spokesman Mark Timbal told AFP. National Disaster Management Agency.
Megi, known in the Philippines by its local name Agaton, is the first major tropical storm to hit the country this year, which is frequently hit by natural disasters.
strong waves
Causing strong waves at sea, it forced dozens of ports to suspend their activities and nearly 8,000 people were stranded before the Easter holidays, one of the major travel periods of the year.
In February, the country reopened to vaccinated tourists from most foreign countries, following lifting most national Covid-19 restrictions.
The Philippines, ranked among the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, is hit by an average of 20 storms each year. In 2013 Typhoon Haiyan, the most powerful to have ever made landfall, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing.
This article has been published automatically. Sources: ats / afp
