ISOLATED. Officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao led by Interior Minister Naguib Sinarimbo (3rd from left with glasses) brave the strong river current to bring aid Sunday (Oct. 30, 2022) to Barangay Matuber, Datu Blah Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte. Barangay Matuber has been isolated after Severe Tropical Storm Paeng damaged a bridge and road network in the area. (BARMM photo)
COTABATO CITY – The death toll of the devastation brought by Severe Tropical Storm Paeng in Maguindanao rose to 51 with 14 others still missing, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) said Monday.
The situation report released by the BARMM’s Rapid Emergency Action on Disaster Incidence (READi) Monday morning showed that 31 others were injured, mostly residents of a relocation site in Barangay Kusiong, Datu Odin Sinsuat, hit by landslides on Thursday dawn.
BARMM READi, the humanitarian and disaster response unit of the autonomous region, said 31 of the fatalities were from Datu Odin Sinsuat town, seven in Datu Blah Sinsuat, eight in Upi, three in Barira, one in South Upi, all in Maguindanao del Norte and one in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi.
It said that 582,884 individuals were affected from 202,598 households in 389 barangays across the region.
The office of BARMM’s Education Minister Mohaqher Iqbal monitored 84 schools across the region that were submerged by floodwaters as of Sunday.
At least three bridges in Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur had been damaged and destroyed by floods.
These are the Kusiong-Tapian Bridge in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Nituan Bridge in Parang, and Labu-Labu Bridge in Datu Hofer Ampatuan, Maguindanao del Norte.
BARMM Interior Minister Naguib Sinarimbo, his staff, and relief teams braved the roads and the huge river current to reach Barangay Matuber, Datu Blah Sinsuat.
Sinarimbo brought emergency relief aid to Datu Blah Sinsuat flood victims on Sunday afternoon.
Jafeer Sinsuat, chairperson of the most devastated Barangay Kusiong, said village watchmen noticed at past 1 a.m. on Thursday the unusual flow of waters from Mount Minandar, a mountain covered with cogon grass.
“We sounded the alarm so that people can evacuate to safer ground,” Sinsuat said.
“But it was too late since an avalanche of huge rocks and boulders with mud cascaded quickly toward the relocation site inhabited by Teduray people, the Maguindanao Indigenous Peoples,” he added.
BARMM Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim has placed the entire region under a state of calamity. (PNA)
