The death toll from floods and landslides caused by the passage of tropical storm ‘Nalgae’ through the Philippines has risen to 155, authorities said Saturday, noting that another 34 people are still missing.
The Philippines’ National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said in a statement on its website that a total of 121 fatalities have been identified. Another 34 remain to be confirmed.
As many as 63 were residents of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, while 34 lived in Calabarzon, 33 in Western Bisayas, five in Eastern Bisayas, four in Zamboanga Peninsula and four more in Soccsksargen. Mimaropa accumulated three fatalities followed by Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Bicol and Central Visayas (two) and Cordillera Administrative Region (one).
The agency noted that another 129 people have been injured as a result of the passage of ‘Nalgae’ and put the total number of people affected at 4.2 million. There are 111,910 people who are still staying in shelters and 904,528 are staying with friends or relatives.
On the other hand, it has reported infrastructure damages of 4,170 million pesos (about 72 million euros) and 2,790 million pesos in agricultural losses (more than 48 million euros).
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared on Wednesday a state of calamity in more than twenty provinces in four regions due to heavy rains in recent days following 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 rains, 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.
