Classes to resume Monday unless...

ABS-CBN

MANILA - Classes in pre-school, elementary and high school will likely resume on Monday except in schools that are being used as evacuation centers and in areas still flooded, according to Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Jesli Lapus.

Based on the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) meeting on Friday, Lapus said classes should resume on Monday except:

1) where schools are being used as evacuation centers; 2) where local government authorities declare suspension of classes in their respective areas; 3) where schools are still inaccessible due to various reasons such as floods.

However, Lapus said this policy may still change depending on the impact of supertyphoon Pepeng, which was expected to hit Bicol and northern Luzon starting Saturday afternoon.

"We have to wait for what Pepeng is going to develop into as far as Metro Manila is concerned," he said in an interview with ANC on Friday. "Assuming Pepeng does not disturb the situation right now, we are inclined to localize the suspension of classes."

This means local government authorities will decide whether to resume classes on Monday.

Lapus said many believe classes, especially in private schools, should already resume on Monday in Metro Manila and other areas affected by Ondoy.

He expressed concern over the many class suspensions saying this has affected the minimum number of school days of 204.

"So marami na tayong mga araw na nawalan ng pasok. We cannot indefinitely be on regional suspension, dahil magme-make na tayo ng klase nito," Lapus said.

He suggested that schools may hold make-up classes on Saturdays or shorten the semestral break. Another option is home study.

"We have modules for home study. This is one way--to learn in the houses," Lapus said.

Pinay confirmed dead in Samoan tsunami

A Filipino immigrant was among those killed by a destructive tsunami that hit the Samoa Islands in the South Pacific on Tuesday (before dawn Wednesday in Manila), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Friday.

DFA spokesperson Ed Malaya identified the Filipino victim as 62-year-old Godofreda Reambonza-Palma of Pago Pago town in American Samoa, a US territory that is home to 65,000 people.

Malaya said Palma was a native of Dipolog, a city in the southern Philippine province of Zamboanga del Norte. She migrated as an entrepreneur to Samoa.

The DFA official said the victim had no other relative in the US territory and that the repatriation of her remains is being arranged by the Filipino community there.

Malaya said Palma's relatives in the Philippines were already informed of the incident.

News about the Filipino immigrant's death was first told to GMANews.TV on Thursday by Michelle Parungo, a resident of Samoa. According to her, the village that had the most damage were Pago Pago and Leone, which she said were "totally washed out."

"Thank God it was just 7 a.m. so most people were not at work/school yet and were able to evacuate," Parungo said in an e-mail.

An Associated Press report said enormous ocean waves caused by an earthquake swept the shores of Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga, flattening villages.

Samoan officials on Friday said the death toll rose to 169 and they were planning a mass funeral and burial on Oct. 6.

Of the dead, 129 were from Samoa, 31 from American Samoa and nine from Tonga.

According to a report by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the tsunami was triggered by a magnitude-8 earthquake that occurred at 5:48 GMT Tuesday (6:48 a.m. Tuesday, Samoan time and 1:48 a.m. Wednesday, Manila time).

Convoys of military vehicles have brought food, water and medicine to the tsunami-stricken villages as victims wandered through what was left of their villages with tales of being trapped underwater, watching young children drown and hoisting elderly parents above the waves.

The quake struck at about 11 kilometers below the ocean floor. It was centered about 200 kilometers from Samoa, an island nation of 180,000 people located about halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii and about about 190 kilometers from neighboring American Samoa.

The DFA said there are some 2,000 Filipinos in American Samoa and 25 in Samoa.

On Friday, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck at local time about 242 kilometers north-northeast of Tonga, and 377 kilometers southwest of Pago Pago, said the USGS. No tsunami warning was issued. - GMANews.TV

How can we help victims of Typhoon Ondoy?

(Flickr photo by rembcc)

I’m sure this is the top question for so many of the Pinoy Answers community right now. After Typhoon Ondoy raged across Luzon dumping a reported 34 cm of rain, equivalent to a month’s worth of rainfall, in just 6 hours, more than 200 have been reported dead and nearly 300,000 displaced from their homes.

For a quick answer to this pressing question, here’s a list of some very important information for Filipinos everywhere to take part in the relief efforts for Typhoon Ondoy victims: