Philippines Flood Death Toll Rises to 240; Country Seeks Aid
By Aaron Sheldrick and Francisco Alcuaz Jr.
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The death toll in the Philippines from Tropical Storm Ketsana almost doubled overnight to 240 people as the government said it will seek aid for hundreds of thousands of people in emergency shelters.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council agency said at least 37 people are missing in a report issued at 6 a.m. today. At least 140 were confirmed dead, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro told reporters in Manila yesterday.
More than 374,800 people are in evacuation centers, the council said. The government declared "states of calamity" for the Manila metropolitan region and other parts of Luzon island as well as Mindoro island to the south.
The storm and floods have "really overwhelmed our system," Anthony Golez, the officer in charge of the Office of Civil Defense, said in a phone interview yesterday.
Clean water, food, cooking gas and medicines are difficult to find, said Cora Guidote, a corporate executive helping in relief operations in Marikina, northern Manila.
"The situation is pretty desperate," she said. Business is "at a standstill because of mud and muck everywhere.
People are tired of cleaning with very little sleep. Kids and old people are getting sick."
Ketsana, called Ondoy in the Philippines, was over the South China Sea heading toward Vietnam today, according to the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning center. The storm, now a typhoon with winds of 167 kilometers (101 miles) per hour, was 287 kilometers east of Hue at 1 a.m. Vietnamese time today.
Ketsana is the deadliest storm to hit the Philippines since Typhoon Fengshen slammed into the eastern island of Samar in June last year, leaving 730 people dead and 637 missing.
Ketsana dropped more than a month's rain on northern Manila, the weather bureau said. About 411 millimeters (16 inches) fell there, exceeding the September monthly average of 391 millimeters and the bureau's record for one day of 331 millimeters in 1967.
To contact the reporters on this story: Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo at asheldrick@bloomberg.net; Francisco Alcuaz Jr. in Manila at falcuaz@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: September 28, 2009 19:33 EDThttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a0eaOKrzEI0k
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