• RICHARD T. CABALLERO JR.
Authorities terminated on Sunday the search, rescue, and retrieval efforts for missing persons, while 95 deaths were confirmed as of yesterday, following the devastation caused by Typhoon Tino in Negros Occidental.
The Office of the Civil Defense Negros Island Region (OCD-NIR) Director Donato Sermeno III disclosed in an interview that the search and retrieval for missing persons, which began on November 4, has been terminated as per the advisory of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
However, the OCD-NIR has made an agreement with the Search, Rescue, and Retrieval (SRR) units to conduct the operations on a case-to-case basis. This means that despite the termination of mass search operations, families who were not yet satisfied with the efforts can appeal to the authorities to continue searching for their members.
“The family can request for a continuation if they are not satisfied,” Sermeno said, also raising concerns that not all families can be accommodated after augmented units have already been pulled out.
As per the latest death toll disclosed by the Police Regional Office Negros Island Region (PRO-NIR) and the Management of Dead and Missing Persons (MDM) to the OCD-NIR, 95 deaths were confirmed, while 40 are still missing. Three of the 95 cadavers remain unidentified.
Sermeno further clarified that contrary to the previous reports that the death toll in the NIR has risen to more than a hundred, it was corrected to 95 after they found several double entries.
“Previous reports that show more than a hundred were due to several double entries, because the first data was not yet reconciled with the different agencies,” he added, as the consolidation of data is still underway.
The numbers of the dead and the missing persons are still subject to validation and consolidation.*
