Manila, Oct 9 (DPA) At least 113 people were killed in a series of landslides and floods brought about by days of heavy rains in the northern Philippines, officials said Friday.
Seventy of the victims were killed in landslides in La Trinidad town in Benguet province, 210 km north of Manila, according to provincial Governor Nestor Fongwan.
Fongwan said at least 32 houses were buried in La Trinidad when a mountain collapsed before dawn Friday.
“There is a place in La Trinidad where a mountain crushed and buried at least 32 houses.” he said. “It occurred before dawn and people were sound asleep and were not able to escape.”
Fongwan said another landslide buried at least 10 houses in Abatan town, killing at least 17 people.
Senior Superintendent Loreto Espinili, the provincial police commander, said 13 more victims were killed in separate landslides in the towns of Mankayan, Bugias, Tublay and Sablan.
“We believe the death toll will increase because the landslides were massive,” he said, adding that rampaging floods were worsening the situation in the affected areas.
In Mountain Province, five people were confirmed dead in landslides and 32 were missing, provincial Governor Maximo Dulag said.
At least eight more people were killed in various accidents in the provinces of La Union, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte and Pangasinan, according to Chief Superintendent Ramon Gatan, a regional police director.
“The floods are devastating, almost entire towns are under water now,” he said.
Floods also submerged a large portion of the northern plains, including the provinces of Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Pampanga and Bulacan after days of heavy rains brought about by a weakened typhoon Parma.
Twenty-five people were killed in previous landslides, floods and other accidents when Parma first slammed into the northern Philippines Oct 3.
The typhoon has hovered over the northern provinces and hit land two more times as it was sucked in by typhoon Melor, which passed by the country on its way to Japan.
Parma’s havoc followed the worst floods in over 40 years in Manila and outlying provinces brought about by storm Ketsana, killing 337 people with 37 still missing.
More than four million people were affected by Ketsana, with nearly 300,000 forced to stay in evacuation centres.
The two weather disturbances have caused damage to agriculture and infrastructure amounting to at least 12.4 billion pesos (269.5 million dollars).
