MMDA teams in Tacloban running out of body bags

MANILA -- The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) teams that are helping in the retrieval of bodies in Yolanda-ravaged Tacloban City, Leyte are already running out of body bags, according to their leader. In an interview with "Mornings @ ANC" on Tuesday, MMDA team leader Ryan Castañeda said nearly all 100 cadaver bags they brought have been used. He said the two teams that were tasked to assist the Department of Health (DOH) in packing the bodies have recovered over 80 bodies from the bay area alone in downtown Tacloban. Castañeda said they were tasked to help in packing the bodies for "sanitation purposes" as the dead were already "piled on the streets." The bodies will be turned over to the DOH for proper identification and burial, he said. Meanwhile, three other MMDA teams were tasked to help in clearing operations around the city to allow vehicles carrying relief goods to reach remote areas. "It's like a dump site," Castañeda said when asked how he would describe Tacloban. He said tons of debris and fallen trees are still blocking roads in the city. Castañeda also lamented that while they can augment forces in clearing operations, the MMDA only has limited heavy equipment. They are also already running out of fuel and gasoline, he added. He said, however, that MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino has assured him that around 200 personnel will also be deployed to the area to help in the retrieval and clearing operations. According to ABS-CBN correspondent Raffy Santos, 200 more bodies were recovered in Tacloban City today. The official death toll due to Yolanda, as per the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), still stands at 1,774. Eighty-two others, meanwhile, remain missing. Figures are still expected to rise as some areas severely battered by the typhoon remain isolated until now.