MORE THAN 2,000 BODIES IN PHILIPPINE YET TO BE BURIED AFTER TYPHOON

According to report only 342 out of 2,483 bodies that were retrieved in Tacloban City have been buried since November 8.

The health department has sent 1,500 more body bags to Tacloban City for planned mass burials, said former Senator Panfilo Lacson, Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery for the typhoon-hit regions.

A government official of the Task Force Cadaver told Gulf News, “The bodies have been decomposing, but their bones and hair remain intact for identification process.”

They must be placed in cadaver bags — for burial and future identification, the same source, who requested anonymity, said.

Earlier, a report said that 1,400 unidentified bodies that were placed in cadaver bags were not yet buried in San Isidro village of Tacloban City.

In response to complaints, forensic experts cut short their holiday leave and returned to work — to resume identifying the dead, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said.

“Some agencies also advised the NBI to modify the thorough procedure of the International Police Organisation (Interpol) it has used to identify dead bodies because this is time consuming,” said Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma.

At the same time, residents in affected places have raised with local authorities their decision to kill stray dogs in their communities so that the animals would not tear up the cadaver bags containing unidentified bodies, a radio report said. 

They were also afraid that their pets might have eaten human cadavers, the same report said, adding that residents were relieved when policemen were deployed to guard cadaver bags from stray dogs.

Typhoon Haiyan killed almost 8,000 residents, including 1,785 missing. The storm injured 28,626 and affected 11 million residents; five million of whom lost their homes and jobs in 44 provinces in central Philippines. 

Source: The Agencies