February 22, 2008	Friday	Safar 14, 1429

MANILA, Feb 21: At least 12 people have been killed and over 100,000 displaced by flash floods and landslides as heavy rain lashed the central Philippines, relief workers said on Thursday.

The military has begun flying relief supplies to some of the worst affected areas and rescuing residents trapped by rising flood waters.

The Red Cross said some 29,000 families have been displaced as heavy rains lashed the central islands of Samar, Leyte, Biliran, Panay, and Catanduanes as well as the Bicol peninsula southeast of Manila.

Civil defence officials and the Red Cross put the death toll at 12 with six missing. Local television reported 14 dead.

The weather bureau said a low-pressure area and the tail-end of a cold front in the country’s south combined to bring unseasonal heavy rains across the islands over the past week.

The waters destroyed roads and bridges as well as farm land, cutting off access to at least 322 villages, Red Cross spokeswoman Pam Domingo said.

One C-130 military transport plane was flying emergency food and clothing to Tacloban airport in Leyte with army trucks delivering supplies to nearby Samar, the civil defence office said in a statement.

Two army battalions were drafted for rescue and evacuation operations in Samar, which accounted for about half the affected population, it added.

—AFP