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Tens of thousands of flash flood survivors in the Philippines face life in tent cities for months while safe areas to resettle them are sought, top relief officials said Monday.

More than 60,000 people displaced by tropical storm Washi are sheltering in government buildings in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities, most of them in schools that reopen after the holidays, civil defense chief Benito Ramos said.

"We can't construct permanent shelters for them immediately. It will take some time. They have to move into tents when schools reopen on Jan 3," Ramos told AFP.

Floods unleashed by the storm obliterated entire riverside communities on the north coast of the main southern island of Mindanao before dawn on Dec 17, many of them populated by poor migrants living in shacks built on sandbars.

Manila does not normally build houses for those left homeless by natural disasters, but President Benigno Aquino has banned the victims from returning to flood-prone areas, stationing armed police to enforce the measure.

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said Philippine Army engineering units were rushing to build temporary bunkhouses and latrines in Cagayan de Oro, which accounted for half the 1,236 officially confirmed deaths.

The same would be done in Iligan once the local government finds a stable relocation area, she added.

Local officials have reported more than 1,000 people missing, a figure that Ramos, who also supervises the corpse retrieval operation by military units, considers possibly overstated.

Many of the dead remain unidentified and unclaimed at overflowing local mortuaries.

Questions:

1. How many people have been displaced?

2. What is the name of the tropical storm?

3. How many have been officially confirmed dead?

Answers:

1. 60,000

2. Washi

3. 1,236

（中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津 Rosy 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.