Typhoon Spreads Trail Of Death And Destruction Across The Philippines

Wanganui Chronicle, 29 December 1947, Page 5

Typhoon Spreads Trail Of Death And Destruction Across The Philippines

GENERAL MACARTHUR OFFERS ALL POSSIBLE HELP TO PRESIDENT

(N.Z.P.A.—Copyright.) Reed. 11 p.m. MANILA, Dee. 27 The typhoon which swept the Philippines on Christmas Day, crippling- shipping, heavily damaging Manila, and cutting a path of havoc across the central Philippines, left at least 56 persons dead or unaccounted for. Of these the majority were aboard the Danish motorship Kina, which sank off Samar. Missing persons from the Kina are estimated at 46.

Damage inflicted by the typhoon, it is revealed, has been so vast that General MacArthur today offered any aid needed for the Republic’s recovery.

Communications arc still down in many areas but most of the destruction appears to have covered a strip on Luzon about 250 miles long, from Legaspi, south-east of Manila to Iba, on the west coast, north-west of the capital. The Mayor of Legaspi, which has a population of 41,000, said the city was almost totally destroyed. Reports from Lucena, which is the archipelago's coconut capital, said hundreds of homes there were wrecked and it would take at least a year for the coconut plantations to recover. Santa Cruz, capital of Laguna province, listed 80 per cent, of the city’s buildings destroyed and estimated the damage in the province at more than 2,500,000 dollars. The Red Cross announced that 500 houses were destrtiyed at Catbalogan, capital of Samar. Press reports stated that 50 downtown buildings were burned in windwhipped fire at Tacloban, capital of Leyte. , The storm also caused widespread but not serious damage at Clark Field, the big American air base 50 miles north-west of Manila. In addition to the typhoon’s toll, rain and floods wrecked a number of

bridges over the Pasig River, and, with uprooted trees, blocked the railway. Today Manila Railroad was endeavouring to locate two of its trains which had not reported since they left Bicol for Manila on Friday morning. The latest official death toll in Manila and nearby Quezon City Is five. The Red Cross reported five persons missing in Laguna province. President Roxas declared an emergency “holiday” throughout the republic to work for recovery from this fifth and most damaging typhoon to strike the island in two months. According to latest reports 32 of the 61 persons aboard the Danish ship Kina are still missing. In addition to those picked up by the Samuel Bakke five survivors were washed ashore and were taken to Catbalogan, capital of Samar. First Officer Dalberg, one of the survivors, reported that everyone oh board the Kina was able to get aboard life-rafts or floating wreckage before the bessel ank. Aircraft and salvage tugs which searched the waters around Samar yesterday found no trace of either life-rafts or the wreckage. The toll of the dead and missing as a result of the typhoon, including the Kina passengers, now stands at 49, but communications are still so disrupted that days may pass before a complete check is possible.