Philippine typhoon survivors loot shops
8 December AFP
Hungry survivors of a deadly Philippine typhoon looted shops and
warehouses in a hard-hit town in a bid to stay alive amid stalled aid
deliveries, a rescue official said Saturday.
Local officials monitored the desperate scenes in the early aftermath
of Typhoon Bopha's onslaught in the isolated southern town of Cateel,
Cedric Daep, a provincial public safety official, told AFP.
"The food aid took so long to arrive that the locals broke into
whatever building left standing in search of something to eat," said
Daep, a specialist sent to the south by the government to help rescue
and relief operations.
Warehouses and grocery stores were broken into in Cateel, a coastal
town near where the eye of the typhoon made landfall on Tuesday, Daep
said.
Officials said damage to roads and bridges by floods and landslides
trapped 150,000 people for three days in Cateel and the nearby towns of
Baganga and Boston, where they said 97 percent of buildings were
flattened or unroofed.
The typhoon killed more than 500 people and left hundreds of others
missing across the south, rescue officials said.
A Philippine Navy vessel with 31 tonnes of emergency relief and 132
volunteer aid workers reached Baganga on Thursday, navy spokesman told
AFP.
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