Typhoon Maring deaths at 30, damage to agriculture tops P1B
FATALITIES from storm Kompasu, designated the local name Maring, has reached 30, with 19 confirmed and 11 under verification by the national disaster management agency.
There were another 14 missing and three injured from landslides and flooding after the typhoon dumped heavy rain, mostly in northern provinces of the country, according to the Oct. 14 report of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
Majority of those who died were due to flashfloods in Ilocos Sur at 14, and landslides in Benguet at nine. The others were in the following provinces: Cagayan, two; Palawan, four; and Pangasinan, one.
Response teams were continuing search, rescue, and retrieval operations while road clearing operations were also still ongoing in some areas.
Almost 194,700 people were affected across seven regions, including parts of the southern island of Mindanao, and more than 14,000 were still displaced as of Thursday.
Meanwhile, assessment of damage to the agricultural sector has climbed to P1.09 billion, according to the NDRRMC. This includes rice and other crops, livestock, fisheries, and equipment.
The Ilocos Region suffered the biggest loss at more than P633 million, followed by the Cordillera Administrative Region, a highland area, with P340.38 million. In Cagayan Valley, damage was so far estimated at P116.71 million. About P70 million in losses were also reported from Western Visayas.
The Department of Agriculture, which had a slightly lower running tally at P979.97 million, said 35,400 farmers and fisherfolk have been affected.
Some of the department’s available interventions include: a P172-million quick response fund for the restoration of affected areas; over 187,000 bags of rice, corn and assorted vegetable seeds; and an emergency loan capped at P20,000 each with zero interest and no collateral, payable in 10 years.
Maring, the 13th typhoon in the country this year, entered on Oct. 7 as a tropical depression. It absorbed the remnants of a succeeding typhoon named Nando and intensified into a severe tropical storm, packing winds of up to 100 kilometers per hour (km/h) and gustiness of up to 125 km/h. It exited the Philippine area on Oct. 12. — Marifi S. Jara with a report from Angelica Y. Yang
