MANILA, Dec 31, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The death toll from a storm that struck
the Philippines shortly after Christmas rose to 68 with the number of
fatalities expected to climb even higher, civil defence officials said
Monday.
Fifty-seven people died in the mountainous Bicol region, southeast of
Manila, while 11 were killed in the central island of Samar, mostly due to
landslides and drownings, the officials said.
“I am afraid this (death toll) will still go up because there are a lot of
areas we still have to clear,” said Claudio Yucot, Bicol civil defence
director.
The weather disturbance locally named “Usman” hit the country on Saturday.
While it did not have powerful winds it brought heavy rains that caused
floods and loosened the soil, triggering landslides in some areas.
Many people failed to take necessary precautions because Usman was not
strong enough to be rated as a typhoon under the government’s storm alert
system, Yucot said.
“People were overconfident because they were on (Christmas) vacation mode
and there was no tropical cyclone warning,” he told AFP.
Although Usman has since moved westward away from the country, many
affected areas were still experiencing seasonal rains, hampering rescue and
recovery efforts, he added.
At least 17 people are still missing and more than 40,000 were displaced
nationwide due to the storm, the civil defence office said.
An average of 20 typhoons and storms lash the Philippines each year,
killing hundreds of people and leaving millions in near-perpetual poverty.
The most powerful was Super Typhoon Haiyan which left more than 7,360
people dead or missing across the central Philippines in 2013.