‘Pedring’ toll: 50 dead, 31 missing

Fifty people were killed, 61 injured and 31 still missing in the onslaught of Typhoon “Pedring,” according to the latest tally of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

Property losses amounted to almost P6 billion, the NDRRMC said Saturday in the 6 a.m. update signed by Executive Director Benito Ramos.

All 50 deaths occurred in Luzon, and the number of affected populations has reached 2.28 million persons (or 485,311 families), it said.

Agriculture took the brunt of the damage, with P5.4 billion worth of crops, livestock and fisheries destroyed. Damage to infrastructure (school buildings, roads and bridges) amounted to some P567 million, the NDRRMC said.

It said a total of 28,342 houses were damaged in six regions, and some 60 bridges/road sections were reported impassable in five regions.

The NDRRMC said government agencies involved in relief and rehabilitation efforts had seen to 373,653 persons (or 82,196 families) inside and outside evacuation centers.

It said some P34 million worth of food and other forms of aid had been distributed to affected populations in seven regions.

Call for donations

With one typhoon after another devastating the country, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) called for donations of relief goods—bottled water, biscuits and easy-to-cook food—and for volunteers who could help repack these for distribution to those in need.

Donors may go to the National Resource Operations Center at the Naia Chapel Road in Pasay City. It is beside the Airport Police Department and at the back of the Air Transportation Office.

The center is open 24 hours a day and volunteers may work in shifts. Interested parties may call numbers 852-8081 and 851-2681.

As of Saturday, P35.3 million worth of relief goods had been distributed to families displaced by Pedring.

The relief goods came from the DSWD, local government units and nongovernment organizations.

The DSWD said its social workers continued to provide assistance to 37,397 families still in 449 evacuation centers. It said 47,234 families outside evacuation centers also continued to receive relief goods. DJ Yap and Leila B. Salaverria