Philippine troops rushed food and drinking water by foot and helicopters today to areas cut off by four storms that left more than 1,300 people dead or missing as residents scrambled to flee the region.
People in some of the worst-affected areas of the eastern Quezon province begged military helicopters shuttling goods and the injured to take them away from the devastation caused by four storms in two weeks. "Please take us out from here," said Ms Mary Grace Estela, pleading to helicopter pilots ferrying back civilians to army bases.
"The food is not enough here. We have no homes to return to, we have no livelihood." Army and civilian engineers worked round-the-clock to clear mud-covered roads and build temporary bridges to reach relief to coastal towns in Quezon. "People there are still in trauma and shock," Social Welfare Secretary Ms Corazon Soliman told reporters.
"We literally have to feed them because they lost everything. Even if they have money, there's nothing left to buy in that area."
She said Manila had received 29 million pesos ($518,000) worth of relief supplies from international and local agencies for distribution to over 500,000 people affected by the storms.
Drinking water, food, medicines and clothes were brought to Quezon by navy ships, airlifted by helicopters and then carried by hundreds of soldiers who walked hours to reach disaster areas.
Logging has been blamed for exacerbating the disasters and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said she was cancelling all permits to cut trees.
But experts say the problem is more complex and warned the environmental cost is likely to rise without a more comprehensive policy approach. Poverty, failure of governance and graft could be among factors for the rapid disappearance of the forests.