BURIED The search team tries to find more survivors in the landslide that buried the houses of the indigenous Teduray tribe in Barangay Kusiong, Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte, until the search is halted on Thursday. The Tedurays account for 24 of the 63 deaths in the Bangsamoro region, with at least four residents still missing. —DXMS’ DREMA Q. BRAVO/CONTRIBUTED
Four days after Severe Tropical Storm “Paeng” (international name: Nalgae) has left the country, the full extent of the damage it caused was still being assessed even as its death toll continued to rise and the destruction to crops and infrastructures has reached over P5 billion.
As of Friday, the number of storm-related deaths jumped to 154, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council’s (NDRRMC) report on Friday—higher than the 150 it reported on Thursday. It left 128 injured, and 35 persons were still missing.
Most of the fatalities were reported in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), with 63 deaths. Despite the region not being in the direct path of Paeng, authorities said the unprecedented volume of rain for days even before it made landfall on Oct. 29 caused flash floods and landslides that caught the residents, especially in Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur provinces, by surprise.
Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) and Western Visayas each reported 33 deaths. Nine other regions also logged dead persons.
Paeng affected more than 4 million persons, or about 4 percent of the country’s entire population, from all the 17 regions of the country. Of these, more than a million were displaced and had to be evacuated, with more than 15,000 houses nationwide were damaged, with repairs pegged at P17.3 million, the NDRRMC said.
Losses
Damage to infrastructure ballooned to P2.833 billion, with Calabarzon logging the highest damage amounting to P1.164 billion.
Of the 499 bridges and 120 roads affected by Paeng, 38 percent remain to be still not passable to all types of vehicles as of Friday. Of the ports whose operations were halted by Paeng, five out of nine airports were operational, while 65 out of 121 seaports resumed operations.
The NDRRMC reported P2.746-billion damage to agriculture, with Bicol and Calabarzon accounting for a production loss of P859 million and P726 million, respectively.
A total of 72,809 farmers and fishers had lost their source of income. The NDRRMC said 77,629 hectare of crops were affected.
A total of 437 or more than a quarter of all the cities and municipalities in the country have declared a state of calamity. This was higher than the 292 reported on Thursday, with the spike in numbers due to President Marcos’ order that placed Calabarzon, Bicol, Western Visayas and BARMM under state of calamity for six months.
According to the NDRRMC, 254 cities and towns have their power not yet restored; nine still have issues on their water supply; while 38 have their communication lines still not returned to normal.
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Paeng death toll climbs to 154 — NDRRMC