Related article (Typhoon Fengshen):
– Fishing industry suffers after ferry tragedy:
“The government suspended all diving operations to recover bodies inside the vessel and banned fishing around the island on Friday after it was revealed the ferry was carrying a highly toxic pesticide.”
“Should the chemicals leak into its pristine waters the impact on local marine life would be devastating, according to marine biologists.”
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ILOILO CITY, Philippines – A “food shortage” looms in the next one to two months after massive floods due to typhoon “Frank” (international codename: Fengshen) devastated farm lands and livestock in the Western Visayas, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s adviser for the region said Sunday.
“We may face a food shortage, that is the extent of the damage from the typhoon,” Presidential Adviser on the Western Visayas Raul Bañas told reporters here after he received a delivery of relief supplies from Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Alexander Yano.
“In our aerial sorties, we saw firsthand how grave the damage is to crops. I think that’s one of the major problems we are facing,” he said.
Bañas said one of the affected provinces, Iloilo, is one of the top three rice-producing provinces in the country.
He said the floods destroyed 22 hectares or rice lands, equivalent to 66,000 metric tons of rice, and “almost wiped out” livestock and fisheries in the region.
In Cadiz town in Negros Occidental, Bañas said the storm destroyed half a billion pesos worth of fishing boats.
Bañas appealed for donations of potable water, saying the water systems destroyed by the storm have not been repaired.
By Joel Guinto
06/29/2008
Source: Inquirer.net