Philippine government strives to finish burying remaining typhoon victims

The Philippine government is targeting to finish the work of burying all those who perished from super typhoon Haiyan, locally known as Yolanda by early next week, a senior government official said Saturday. Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery Panfilo Lacson said that the burial of some 1,400 cadavers, which are rotting on mass graves in Tacloban City in central province of Leyte, considered as the worst-hit area, will be completed by Tuesday next week, if "weather permitting." Health Undersecretary Janette Garin was in Suhi, Leyte, personally supervising the burial, he said. Lacson also said that the Department of Public Works and Highways sent additional backhoe and payloaders to hasten the mass burial. Some 300 bodies were expected to be processed and buried on Saturday, he added. In an interview with a state-run radio station on Saturday, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said that the fatalities of Typhoon Haiyan were being buried in temporary mass grave sites which will allows still-unidentified bodies to be exhumed once forensic teams need to process them for identification. She also said that the National Bureau of Investigation Disaster Victim Identification Team had returned to Tacloban City last Thursday to speed up the processing of the remains. Typhoon Haiyan, which struck the Philippines last Nov. 8, left more than 6,100 people dead, and some 1,700 missing.