Nearly 160,000 in North Luzon rendered homeless by ‘Pedring,’ ‘Quiel’—NDRRMC

MANILA, Philippines—Nearly 160,000 people in the northern Philippines were affected by the two latest typhoons, Pedring (international name: Nesat) and Quiel (international name: Nalgae), which both hit that area within a span of a few days.

In the latest count of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), 159,140 persons were severely affected, majority of whom were from Region II (Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino) with 97,363 persons.

In Region III, 53,692 persons from Tarlac were affected while 7,212 persons from La Union and Pangasinan of Region I took shelter in 30 evacuation centers. The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) counted 873 affected persons.

The NDRRMC has reported three dead, two injured and six missing as of Monday morning while as many as 18 people were reported dead earlier by radio station DZIQ (990AM).

Marcos Jammas, 35, of Benguet, was killed while Melody Gomez, 22, of Mountain Province, was injured when a landslide hit their van along Gonogon section of Halsema Highway in Mountain Province.

Protacio Gelacio, 38, and Kurt Jack Candelario, 4, both from Camiling Tarlac, were reported to have drowned, while Adela Dumulag, 12, of Banaue, Ifugao, was injured due to a landslide.

A total of 5,732 houses were reported damaged according to the NDRRMC, majority of which were from Isabela in Region II.

In Isabela alone, the number of totally damaged houses was 1,403 while that of partially damaged houses was 4,224.

Ten houses were totally damaged and 78 houses only partially in Ifugao. In Benguet, one house was totally damaged while 14 were partially damaged. One house was totally damaged in Kalinga and one house was partially damaged in Apayao.

The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines’ System Operations group reported to the NDRRMC that  Benguet and Ifugao provinces are completely without power along with 73 percent of Isabela, 54 percent of Nueva Vizcaya, 52 percent of La Union, 22 percent of Pangasinan and 15 percent of Nueva Ecija.