Grim task of burying dead starts on hillside outside Tacloban

A city devastated by last week's typhoon buried some of its dead in a mass grave in a hillside cemetery yesterday, a sombre reminder of the tragedy that has left the Philippines with the monumental task of providing for about 11.5 million affected people.

Most of the casualties occurred in Leyte province, its capital Tacloban, and Samar island. Many bodies are still lying along the roads in the city and others are buried under debris.

Outside Tacloban City Hall, dozens of bodies in bags were lined up yesterday, waiting to be trucked to the cemetery just outside the city for burial. The stench of death filled the air.

In the first such operation, 30 bodies in leaking black bags were lowered into graves without any prayers being said.

"I hope this is the last time I see something like this," said Mayor Alfred Romualdez. "When I look at this it just reminds me of what has happened from the day the storm hit until today. There are still so many cadavers in so many areas. It's scary."

Romualdez said retrieval teams were struggling to cope.