AT least 19 people have died and 15 others were injured due to the combined effects of Tropical Cyclones Luis and Maymay and the southwest monsoon, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said Tuesday.
The NDRRMC’s report as of 6 a.m. on Aug. 11 listed four people missing as weather-related incidents affected 646,676 families or 2,270,862 people in Region 1 (Ilocos Region), Region 2 (Cagayan Valley), Region 3 (Central Luzon), Region 5 (Bicol Region), Region 6 (Western Visayas), Region 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula), Region 4A (Calabarzon), Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), National Capital Region (NCR) and Region 4B (Mimaropa).
Benguet recorded the highest number of deaths at 12, including nine in Baguio City, two in La Trinidad and one in Atok. All 12 deaths were attributed to landslides.
Rizal reported four deaths — two in Rodriguez due to landslides, one in Antipolo due to a fallen tree and one in Binangonan due to drowning.
Batangas recorded three deaths, with one each in Batangas City due to drowning, Lipa due to electrocution and Santa Teresita due to a landslide.
Of the 15 injured, 12 were reported in Benguet, including eight in Baguio City and two in La Trinidad, both due to landslides. One person was injured in Kapangan due to a vehicular accident, while another was injured in Atok due to a landslide.
Ilocos Sur reported one injured person in Suyo due to a landslide, while Rizal reported one in Rodriguez due to strong currents. Another person was injured in a vehicular accident in Naic, Cavite.
Four people remained missing, three in Benguet — two in Baguio City and one in Atok — due to landslides, and one in Batangas.
The NDRRMC said 919 evacuation centers had been established, sheltering 26,174 families or 94,997 people.
The weather disturbances also damaged 684 houses, of which 639 were partially damaged and 45 were totally damaged.
Infrastructure damage was estimated at P1.456 billion, while agricultural losses reached P135.33 million.
Government agencies and other responders have so far provided P73.52 million worth of assistance to affected communities.
The government has provided about P43 million worth of assistance to families affected by the storms and the enhanced southwest monsoon, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said.
The aid was extended to affected communities in the National Capital Region; Regions 1, 2, and 3; CAR; Calabarzon (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon); Mimaropa (Mindoro-Marinduque-Romblon-Palawan); and Regions 5, 6 and 9.
In a Palace press briefing on Monday, OCD Assistant Secretary Laurence Mina said the OCD-CAR also distributed of food and nonfood items amounting to P1.67 million.
Mina said the OCD, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), local government units (LGUs) and other partners coordinated to distribute the aid.
DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian on Tuesday said the government is ready to distribute close to 5.2 million family food packs nationwide for calamity-stricken areas.
“This is the biggest number in the administration’s history of relief operations,” Gatchalian said in a chance interview at an evacuation center in Las Piñas.
The president on Tuesday inspected the evacuation center in Las Piñas City, and hot meals, family food packs, sleeping kits, hygiene kits, and financial assistance were distributed to the affected families.
