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ASSOCIATED PRESS People carried their supplies past a littered shoreline after a long walk yesterday in Real, east of Manila. Landslides uprooted trees, mud and other debris from nearby hills and mountains that some say had been denuded by logging.

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Typhoon triggers
aid from Hawaii

Isle residents collect donations
to help the Philippines recover
after four fatal storms

Isle Filipinos are mobilizing to help the northern and eastern regions of the Philippines, where more than 1,000 people are dead or missing after four deadly storms in the last two weeks.

As flood waters from the latest storm system, Typhoon Nanmadol, subside, people are returning to ruined homes, washed-out fields and buildings. In the town of Real, health officials are urging residents to burn their dead to prevent cholera, hepatitis and other diseases.

"Victims are floating on the water," said Leo Gozar, president of the Tagalog Assembly in Honolulu. "Some of our members' families are hit directly by the typhoon.

"We are thinking of cash donations, and collecting food and clothing. Preferably cash, because we don't know the agencies who we will be working with yet."

State Rep. Felipe "Jun" Abinsay Jr. (D, Moanalua-Kapalama) said he is calling for a meeting with Filipino community leaders tomorrow at the FilCom Center in Waipahu to try to set up drop-off locations for donations. Abinsay said he also would be live on-air at 6:30 a.m. on KMVI 1270 AM radio to make a public plea for assistance for typhoon relief efforts.

"This is the talk of the town ... We have to initiate something," said Abinsay. "We've received a letter already from a nonprofit organization in the Philippines asking for help, so we have to respond."

In the meantime, rescue efforts are under way.

Helicopters delivered food to famished survivors and picked up casualties in ravaged villages yesterday. Most of the devastation was wrought by a tropical storm that blew through northeastern provinces Monday, killing at least 527 people, including the 240 in Real, military Chief of Staff Gen. Efren Abu said.

Hardest hit was Quezon province, where 484 bodies have been recovered and 352 people are still missing, he said.

As helicopters delivered aid, officials asked for more food, clothing, medicine and construction materials to help villagers overcome the devastation from the storm and typhoon.

"If there's a continuous flow of support, we can make it," Mayor Arsenio Ramallosa said as he supervised the distribution of food and relief goods. "But at the moment, the government's relief supplies would only be good for three days."

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, her boots muddied after visiting ravaged areas, received loud applause from residents of Real, a coastal town of about 40,000 farmers and fishermen. Their homes were damaged when floodwaters uprooted trees and sent boulders and debris rampaging down nearby hills that many say were denuded by loggers.

Arroyo said the illegal loggers would be prosecuted like terrorists, kidnappers, drug traffickers and other hardened criminals.

"Our unity will lift up the nation from this tragedy in no time and bring justice to those who have needlessly suffered," she said. "We are determined to make those responsible for widespread death and destruction to pay the price for their misdeeds."

Millions of dollars in relief aid for the victims has begun arriving from foreign governments and international aid organizations, according to a report from the Manila Times.

In Brussels, the European Union's executive arm on Friday released 1 million euros ($1.3 million) in emergency aid for the Philippines.

Belgium pledged 30,000 euros for relief efforts, Germany 50,000 euros and Spain donated P4.2 million (about $75,000).

Australia contributed half a million Australian dollars ($387,000), the United States pledged $100,000 and Japan offered 28 million yen ($280,000).

Tokyo will dispatch a mission to Manila tomorrow to assess further aid requirements, while various United Nations agencies will provide emergency funding.