SEARCH and rescue operations for 101 individuals buried last week in a rain-induced landslide in Barangay Pilar, Abuyog town in Leyte ended yesterday but search will continue in Barangay Kantagnos in Baybay City where 69 persons remained missing.
The official death toll rose to 175 from 172 on Monday, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
Lord Byron Torrecarion, director of the Office of Civil Defense-Eastern Visayas, yesterday said the decision to stop the search in Barangay Pilar was made because of risks faced by workers involved in the search, rescue, and retrieval operations as the ground “is very unstable,”
Citing information from the local incident management team, Torrecarion said 56 died in the landslide in Barangay Pilar and 101 are still missing.
He said local government officials also decided to stop search, rescue and retrieval operations in the landslide areas in Barangays Bunga and Mailhi, both in Baybay City, also in Leyte.
Col. Noel Vestuir, commander of the Army’s 802nd Brigade, said the search in the two barangays stopped yesterday. He said all missing individuals have been accounted in Barangay Bunga and there is only one missing in Barangay Mailhi.
As to the challenges faced by personnel, Vestuir also pointed to soft grounds.
“It’s deceiving. On the surface, you’ll think it’s hard but its actually soft, it can bury our personnel,” said Vestuir.
Torrecarion and Vestuir said search will continue in Barangay Kantagnos, also in Baybay City, where 120 died in the landslides. The 69 missing are mostly from Barangay Kantagnos.
Torrecarion said there were three other deaths reported in the Eastern Visayas region, one each in the towns of Inopacan and Villaba in Leyte and one in Motiong town in Samar, bringing the total deaths in the region to 179.
The NDRRMC said its official death rose to 175 — with 156 deaths in Eastern Visayas — or 23 lower than the 179 deaths in the region reported by Torrecarion.
The NDRRMC said 101 died in Baybay City, 52 in Abuyog, and one each in Inopacan, Villaba in Leyte and in Motiong, Samar.
In addition to the 156 fatalities it reported in Eastern Visayas, the NDRRMC said nine died in Capiz, five in Iloilo (both in Western Visayas), two in Cebu (Central Visayas), two in Davao de Oro, and one in Davao Oriental (both in Davao region).
The Capiz City government said 19 died in the city or 10 less than the NDRRMC’s figure.
The NDRRMC said the number of affected population in the Bicol, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Davao, Soccsksargen, and Caraga regions and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) increased to 599,616 families or 2,079,375 individuals.
Of the number, 40,764 families or 149,466 individuals remain in 715 evacuation centers.
The NDRRMC also said 101,475 displaced families or 158,073 individuals are staying with relatives or friends.
The cost of damage to agriculture also rose to P257.02 million in Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao and BARMM while damage to infrastructure in Western Visayas remained at P6.9 million.
President Duterte on Monday night directed government agencies to continue extending assistance to those affected by Agaton.
The President, in his weekly Talk to the People address, recalled his visit to Agaton-hit areas in Leyte and Capiz including his meeting with some of the victims of the landslides who not only lost property but also heir loved ones.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development said P76.737 million worth of assistance has been provided to the affected families. — With Jocelyn Montemayor
