By KIMBERLIE QUITASOL
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY—Typhoon Maring (Kompasu) has left Baguio City and Benguet with eight dead, one missing, and one injured.

Baguio City

On Wednesday, October 13, rescuers retrieved the bodies of the two girls who went missing after a landslide buried their house at the height of on Monday, October 11, in Barangay Dominican Hill-Mirador.

Col. Glenn Lonogan, city police director, identified the victims as Judy Rose Tulipas, 12, and Thalia Kasidee Ocampo, 4. They were granddaughters of Alfredo Ocampo, who also died in the landslide. Rescuers retrieved his on Tuesday, October 12.

A team of 100 rescuers was deployed to the scene and used a life-detecting sonar to find the victims buried in 10 feet of mud behind the old Diplomat Hotel, Mayor Benjamin Magalong told reporters.

The sonar could detect a heartbeat even in depths of about 12 meters. On Monday night, rescuers extracted another occupant of the same house alive before they stopped going through the rubble due to the lashing storm.

Magalong said the family of the victims would be provided financial assistance by the local government.

Benguet

According to the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (PDRRM) report, as of October 13, Itogon town recorded two deaths and one injured; one dead and one missing person in Kibungan; and three others perished in La Trinidad.

In Itogon, Cherrie Dillam Leo, 32, died while her husband Raygan, 35, suffered minor injuries when a landslide buried their house in barangay Tuding. Colosa Tigwey, 80, also perished in a landslide in Barangay Ampucao.

Twenty-year-old June Perez Balangen died while his brother, 25-year-old Romy, is still missing. The brothers from Barangay Tacadang, Kibungan, were walking along rice paddies above a river, eroded.

In Barangay Ambiong, La Trinidad, the Telego siblings, Nigel, 8, Butchok, 6, and Ayesha, 3, perished in another landslide. Their parents were able to survive the ordeal.

The PDRRM report also showed that Maring affected 46 barangays in Benguet with 304 families (1,211 individuals). Twenty-two affected families sought shelter in the various evacuation centers offered by their barangays, while 155 families stayed with their families and neighbors.

PDRRM Officer Abner Lawangen said schools, barangay halls, and churches usually become evacuation centers when calamity strikes. He said some of the affected individuals stayed with their relatives or neighbors.

Governor Melchor Diclas said they have initially provided food packs to the affected families. He added that they coordinated with the Department of Social Welfare and Development Office to distribute food packs, especially for displaced families.

He said they recently allocated funds to create a drainage canal at the Telego residence in barangay Ambiong.

Diclas said the data gathered would help the province seek help from agencies for the necessary assistance needed by the farmers affected by the typhoon. # nordis.net