Daraga, Philippines – The Red Cross estimated Sunday that up to 1,000 people may have died in the typhoon that unleashed walls of black mud on entire villages in the Philippines. The country’s president declared a state of national calamity.
Typhoon Durian struck the Philippines with winds reaching 165 mph and torrential rains Thursday, causing ash and boulders from the Mayon volcano on Luzon island to swamp villages around its base – a scene Philippine Sen. Richard Gordon described Sunday as a “war zone.”
Hopes of finding survivors beneath the volcanic mud, debris and boulders had virtually vanished. Bodies were buried in mass graves to prevent them from decomposing in the tropical heat.
Gordon, who heads the Philippine National Red Cross, estimated the death toll could reach 1,000 people.
“There are many unidentified bodies. There could be a lot more hidden below. Whole families may have been wiped out,” he told The Associated Press.
The Red Cross has thus far recorded at least 406 deaths, with 398 others missing, based on figures provided by mayors of devastated towns in Albay province, which was worst affected by the storm. The government placed the number of dead at 324, with 302 missing and 438 injured.
The state of national calamity declared by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will allow the government to rapidly release funds needed to bolster search- and-rescue efforts. She was scheduled to fly for a second time to Albay province Tuesday, her spokesman said.
More than 50 tons of relief goods, medicine, body bags and other aid have been flown to the province by air force C-130 cargo planes, officials said.
