THE death toll from powerful tropical storm “Sendong” in Mindanao rose from more than 50 Saturday to over 500 yesterday as government and civilian authorities stepped-up their search, rescue and relief efforts in the devastated areas.

The Philippine Red Cross said 521 people were confirmed dead. The number of people listed as missing had more than doubled to 370, it said, while cautioning that some of the missing might be among the bodies retrieved but not yet identified.

Leonardo Vicente Corrales, a freelance journalist in Cagayan de Oro, which has a population of half a million people, told AFP that fast-rotting corpses were piling up by the dozen at local mortuaries.

"The bodies are decomposing too quickly because they are drowning victims -- because there is muddy water in their bodies," he said.

"They also cannot embalm them because they do not have water and are running out of formalin (formaldehyde embalming fluid)."

In some funeral parlors, the bodies had to be stacked up because there was not enough space, Corrales said.

He added: "Electricity has been restored in the centre of the city but in the affected areas, there is no electricity and there is an emerging water crisis because there is no potable water in the houses."

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council chair, Undersecretary Benito Ramos said a massive search for the missing is still taking place in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.

He cited the PNRC death toll but pointed out the protocol is for the Department of Health to validate the information first before they officially release it.

“Right now, the basic need is water,” Ramos said as help from the government and civilian donors poured into the affected areas, mostly being coursed to 13 evacuation centers in Cagayan de Oro and 10 in Iligan.

Deaths have been recorded in Central Visayas, Western Mindanao, Northern Mindanao particularly in Bukidnon, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Occidental, Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro City), Southern Mindanao and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

In Camp Crame, Philippine National Police chief Director General Nicanor A. Bartolome said all available police personnel and resources have been deployed in affected areas in Visayas and Mindanao to help in ongoing search, rescue and relief operations by the government.

Bartolome said search-and-rescue teams from the Police Regional Offices 5,6,7,8,9,10,11 and 12 together with their water assets have been made available for deployment since the other day. Police are also securing evacuation centers in the affected regions and are advising residents in low-lying, mountainous and coastal areas to be on guard against possible flashfloods, landslides and mudslides.

More than 600 families composed of nearly 35,000 people are still staying in government shelters as of yesterday.

Members of the PNP Maritime Group and the Highway Patrol Group are also involved in the massive police operation to help the affected residents particularly in the search-and-rescue and clearing operations.

PAGASA defended

Ramos defended the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, Astronomical Services Administration from charges it failed to issue the correct storm warning.

“There was nothing wrong. PAGASA was correct in tracking the storm but it suddenly changed direction and hit the affected areas,” he said.

Ramos said that in particular, Northern Mindanao is usually not known for its typhoons. He said that people in the region who are familiar with 18 centimeters rainfall suddenly found themselves being battered by an average of 30 cm. rainfall.

“The people, the government didn’t expect this kind of rainfall,” he said.   

However, a GMA News report said that contrary to its own policy of raising storm signals at least 36 hours ahead of landfall, PAGASA issued its first storm signal Thursday, less than 24 hours before it hit land.

Murch earlier on Tuesday, the strong tropical storm was already on the US Navy radar, moving toward Mindanao.         

PNRC chair, former Senator Richard Gordon, said their volunteers are busy conducting relief and rescue work. “We are engaged in rescue operations in order to restore family links and help stressed victims,” he said.   

Authorities likened tropical storm Sendong to Typhoon Ondoy, one of the country's most devastating storms which dumped huge amounts of rain on Manila and other parts of the country in 2009, leaving a death toll of over 460.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent condolences to the Philippines and said in a statement: "The US government stands ready to assist Philippine authorities as they respond to this tragedy."

Britain also offered its condolences for the "tragic" loss of life.

Gwendolyn Pang, secretary general of the Philippine National Red Cross, warned that many more bodies could still be found.

"We are only counting the actual dead bodies that were sent to funeral parlors," she said.

"The affected area is so wide and huge and I believe they have not really gone to all areas to do a search."

There could still be bodies inside houses that were carried off by the floods, Pang said.         

With AFP