The death toll from floods and landslides caused by the passage of tropical storm ‘Nalgae’ through the Philippines has risen to 150, authorities said Thursday, noting that another 36 people are still missing.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council of the Philippines (NDRRMC) said in a statement on its website that a total of 94 fatalities have been identified and detailed that 63 were residents of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, while 28 lived in Western Bisayas and three in Soccsksargen.
He said they are still working to «validate» information on 56 others who died – 33 in Calabarzon, five in Eastern Bisayas, four in Zamboanga, three in Mimaropa, two each in Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Bicol and Central Bisayas, and one each in Western Bisayas, Soccsksargen and Cordillera.
The agency noted that another 128 people were injured due to the passage of ‘Nalgae’ and put the total number of people affected at about four million. «Of the total, 43,996 families or 173,-957 persons are being assisted in 2,094 evacuation centers, while the rest are being assisted by relatives or friends,» it said.
On the other hand, he stressed that some 2,200 houses have suffered «total damage», while about 13,000 have suffered «partial damage», while the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has put at more than 2 billion Philippine pesos (about 34.8 million euros) the damage suffered by roads, bridges and other infrastructure in the country.
The President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, declared on Wednesday a state of calamity in more than twenty provinces in four regions due to the heavy rains that have fallen in recent days after the passage of tropical storm ‘Nalgae’, which hit mainly the south and southwest of the Philippine archipelago.
Although ‘Nalgae’ has already left, the Philippines is preparing for a new storm that will enter through the east coast and will cause more rain, although meteorologists expect that this second phenomenon, ‘Banyan’, will be downgraded to a tropical depression. The archipelago suffers an average of 20 tropical cyclones each year.
