Survivors of a typhoon that ravaged the southern Philippines will bypass Christmas this year as they hole up in evacuation centres and continue to bury their dead, officials said on Sunday.
Instead of presents and carols, thousands of people on the island of Mindanao will be more concerned with food, water and shelter, civil defence chief Benito Ramos said.
Instead of a traditional Christmas dinner, the government will distribute special packs of spaghetti, corned beef and fruit salad.
“There will no celebrations. It is just too sad. It will just be a regular day. We do not call it Christmas,” he said as relief workers rushed supplies to towns flattened by Typhoon Bopha, which slammed into the island on December 4.
So far 1,067 people have been confirmed dead, with more than 800 missing, according to the government.
Ramos said that – unlike in the rest of the majority-Catholic Philippines – there would be no Christmas parties in the storm hit towns, just the burials of bodies.
Many of the dead are in an advanced state of decomposition after failing to be identified.