[Vnbiz] Asia's death toll from Typhoon Xangsane rises to 119, expected to go higher

[Phan, Tai]

Asia's death toll from Typhoon Xangsane rises to 119, expected to go higher  
The Associated Press

Published: October 2, 2006
 
 
DANANG, Vietnam Asia's death toll from Typhoon Xangsane rose Tuesday to 119 and was expected go higher as authorities fully assess the disaster in the Philippines and Vietnam, where officials said tens of thousands of people were displaced.
 
The typhoon ripped into Vietnam's central coast on Sunday, killing at least 41 people, after ravaging the Philippines, where the official toll stood at 78 dead and 69 missing.
 
The storm hit Vietnam's port city of Danang especially hard, killing 26 people, most by collapsing houses, city disaster official Huynh Van Thang said Tuesday. Reports of new deaths were still coming in from districts where communications were poor.
 
In the neighboring province of Quang Nam, 12 people were killed, deputy provincial governor Nguyen Ngoc Quang said Tuesday.
 
Two people were killed and another was still missing in Quang Tri province, and one was killed in Quang Binh province, according to the National Floods and Storms Control Committee.
 
In the Philippines, the toll was expected to go higher once hospitals in remote areas confirm additional deaths, said Glen Rabanza, the executive officer of that country's National Disaster Coordinating Council.
 
Rabanza said that local officials informed him and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during a visit to typhoon-hit Cavite province on Monday that the death toll in four northern provinces was as high as 141, which would bring the overall total to 178.
 
However, he said, the figures could not be verified until hospitals provided death certificates - a painstaking procedure that has delayed the official count.
 
In Vietnam, officials said Tuesday that three deaths in Binh Dinh province that were previously attributed to the storm were unrelated to Typhoon Xangsane.
 
As the storm approached Vietnam on Saturday, officials evacuated more than 200,000 people from nine coastal provinces.
 
Many of them returned Monday to find their houses reduced to rubble.
 
So far, the storm damage is estimated at 4.9 trillion dong (US$306 million; EUR243 million), according to the National Flood and Storm Control Committee. The national government has provided 1,500 tons of rice and 50 billion dong (US$3.1 million; EUR2.5 million) to storm victims.
 
"In some areas, all houses were destroyed," said Danang disaster official Huynh Van Thang. "You can't imagine how many people could have been killed if people were not evacuated ahead of the typhoon."
 
Thang said 12,000 homes were destroyed and 113,000 others were damaged in the city of 770,000 residents.
 
Tens of thousands of people whose houses were destroyed or badly damaged were still taking shelter in schools and government buildings, or sharing homes with relatives or neighbors, he said.
 
Soldiers and police have been mobilized to help residents to repair their homes.
 
Trinh Luong Tran, director of Danang's health department, said no disease outbreaks due to contaminated water have been reported in the city. The health department has distributed medicine to the villages in case outbreaks occur, he said.
 
Health workers will disinfect the city after the cleanup work is completed in a day or two, he said.
 
 DANANG, Vietnam Asia's death toll from Typhoon Xangsane rose Tuesday to 119 and was expected go higher as authorities fully assess the disaster in the Philippines and Vietnam, where officials said tens of thousands of people were displaced.
 
The typhoon ripped into Vietnam's central coast on Sunday, killing at least 41 people, after ravaging the Philippines, where the official toll stood at 78 dead and 69 missing.
 
The storm hit Vietnam's port city of Danang especially hard, killing 26 people, most by collapsing houses, city disaster official Huynh Van Thang said Tuesday. Reports of new deaths were still coming in from districts where communications were poor.
 
In the neighboring province of Quang Nam, 12 people were killed, deputy provincial governor Nguyen Ngoc Quang said Tuesday.
 
Two people were killed and another was still missing in Quang Tri province, and one was killed in Quang Binh province, according to the National Floods and Storms Control Committee.
 
In the Philippines, the toll was expected to go higher once hospitals in remote areas confirm additional deaths, said Glen Rabanza, the executive officer of that country's National Disaster Coordinating Council.
 
Rabanza said that local officials informed him and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during a visit to typhoon-hit Cavite province on Monday that the death toll in four northern provinces was as high as 141, which would bring the overall total to 178.
 
However, he said, the figures could not be verified until hospitals provided death certificates - a painstaking procedure that has delayed the official count.
 
In Vietnam, officials said Tuesday that three deaths in Binh Dinh province that were previously attributed to the storm were unrelated to Typhoon Xangsane.
 
As the storm approached Vietnam on Saturday, officials evacuated more than 200,000 people from nine coastal provinces.
 
Many of them returned Monday to find their houses reduced to rubble.
 
So far, the storm damage is estimated at 4.9 trillion dong (US$306 million; EUR243 million), according to the National Flood and Storm Control Committee. The national government has provided 1,500 tons of rice and 50 billion dong (US$3.1 million; EUR2.5 million) to storm victims.
 
"In some areas, all houses were destroyed," said Danang disaster official Huynh Van Thang. "You can't imagine how many people could have been killed if people were not evacuated ahead of the typhoon."
 
Thang said 12,000 homes were destroyed and 113,000 others were damaged in the city of 770,000 residents.
 
Tens of thousands of people whose houses were destroyed or badly damaged were still taking shelter in schools and government buildings, or sharing homes with relatives or neighbors, he said.
 
Soldiers and police have been mobilized to help residents to repair their homes.
 
Trinh Luong Tran, director of Danang's health department, said no disease outbreaks due to contaminated water have been reported in the city. The health department has distributed medicine to the villages in case outbreaks occur, he said.
 
Health workers will disinfect the city after the cleanup work is completed in a day or two, he said