‘Usman’ leaves 87 dead
Credit to Author: DEMPSEY REYES| Date: Wed, 02 Jan 2019 17:07:28 +0000
Tropical Depression “Usman” left 87 people dead, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said on Wednesday.
Seventy fatalities were recorded in the Bicol Region, 13 in Eastern Visayas, three in Mimaropa (Mindoro Occidental and Mindoro Oriental, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) and one in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon).
In a report, the council said the death toll would still be validated by the Management of the Dead and Missing manned by the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Twenty persons were missing and 40 others were injured in Bicol, Eastern Visayas and other regions.
A report from the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in the Bicol Region said the 70 fatalities there died in landslides in the provinces of Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur and Sorsogon.
The NDRRMC said 45,348 families or 191,597 persons were affected in 457 barangays (villages) in Bicol, Calabarzon, Eastern Visayas and Mimaropa.
Of the affected, 6,637 families or 24,894 persons are being served inside 170 evacuation centers and 12,132 families or 54,665 persons, outside the temporary shelters.
Bicol accounted for P342.2 million worth of damage to crops and livestock.
Of the damage, P309.7 million in rice and corn, P31.4 million in other crops and P975,100 in livestock was lost in Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Masbate and Sorsogon.
Albay, Sorsogon and Mindoro Oriental are still under a state of calamity, which was declared in late December, shortly after Typhoon Usman entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility.
Ricardo Jalad, OCD administrator, said the government did not expect that the number of fatalities would balloon to 87, noting that local government units have been fed with advisories on rainfall.
Jalad said Bicol lacked efforts in conducting preemptive evacuation.
Joining relief operations was the Philippine Red Cross (PRC), which on Wednesday sent over 6,000 food packs, tents and water purifiers to typhoon-hit areas.
The PRC has been helping typhoon-affected families in the Bicol Region and Eastern Samar since December 30, or two days after the typhoon hammered many provinces, according to the agency’s chairman, Sen. Richard Gordon.
It has served hot meals to 6,635 individuals, food items to 50 families, bread to 800 individuals and hygiene kits to 23 families, Gordon said.
Latest data from the PRC Operations Center showed that 10,825 individuals are still in 72 evacuation centers in Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Sorsogon, Northern Samar and Western Samar.
On Sunday, the PRC national headquarters deployed a 10,000-liter water tanker to provide clean and safe water to affected communities in Albay, Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur.
The agency also sent 2,400 Doxycycline capsules to protect people from leptospirosis and body bags for retrieval operations.
A 10-wheeler truck, with a load of 300 sets of hygiene kits and 300 water containers with a capacity of 20 liters each, was also dispatched to the calamity areas.
The post ‘Usman’ leaves 87 dead appeared first on The Manila Times Online.